A Model-driven and Knowledge-based Methodology for Engineering Design Change Management

Abstract

Change management is very important to the success of new product development. The earlier that change issues are addressed, the greater that product lifecycle costs can be saved. This paper presents a novel methodology that has been developed to help designers trace, analyse and evaluate engineering changes occurring in the product design phase. A modelling method is employed to enhance the traceability of potential design changes occurring between the functional and structural domains of design. Based on functional and physical models, a matrix is developed to analyse change propagations and help identify design conflicts arising from design changes. A knowledge based methodology has been developed to resolve design conflicts by reusing previous design change knowledge. A wind turbine for power generation from the collaborating company is used to evaluate the developed methodologies.

Keywords:

• engineering change
• design conflict resolving
• knowledge management