Value driven design of product families

Abstract

This research proposes and applies a VDD approach for the design of product families that novelly integrates a constraint management metric to provide greater visibility to designers with regards where a design resides relative to the constraints to which it is subject, namely the Integrated VDD Approach. The application of the approach in an initial exploratory case study enabled the formulation of four key design principles that can aid design decisions, allowing value to be used to drive the design and development whilst mitigating the potential occurrence of technical issues later in the design process that could result in undesirable cost and schedule overruns. The usefulness and versatility of the formulated design principles is further demonstrated through their application to two separate aircraft product family design studies using the integrated VDD approach.

Ultimately, this work has addressed the lack of research into the application of VDD for product families, presenting practical case studies enabling the formulation and subsequent application of four key design principles, communicating how value may be used to drive product design and development, and solve real world problems by providing powerful support to the designers making decisions.

Such an approach will be of interest, not only in the aviation sector, but in the wider design community, particularly those faced with satisfying the demand for variety in the most economically efficient manner possible.

Date of Award	Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Sponsors	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Supervisor	Mark Price (Supervisor), Frank Kirkland (Supervisor) & Trevor T Robinson (Supervisor)