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Where is the 'Why' in Axiomatic Design?

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Axiomatic Design (AD) Theory describes the design process as a mapping of ‘what’ to ‘how’ across four design domains. Every decision during this process is made deliberately, from the highest-level functional requirements to the lowest level process variables. However, it is unclear how and where to document that information within the AD framework. This paper investigates where and how the goals, motivation, values, and rationale of a design project – the ‘why’ – are, could, and should be specified within AD. It presents three options for where to find the goals and motivation (the highest-level ‘why’) of a design project. It explores the various ‘whys’ associated with the requirements and mapping and decomposition processes. The design domains are then viewed as a whole and a new model that defines the relationship between ‘why,’ ‘what,’ and ‘how’ information in AD is presented.
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... The zig process corresponds to the process that flows from "what" to "how". The hierarchical decomposition includes a reverse process, the zag that flows from "what I achieved" to "why" [4]. D. Tate proposed a "roadmap of activities in decomposition" concerning the process of the zig [5, p. 42] and the process of zag [5, p. 40]. Figure 2 depicts the diagram proposed by D. Tate for the zig process, showing two main tasks: "defining and selecting sub-DP", and "setting DP parameter values". ...
... In the AD theory the zig process is a synthesis process that expresses the "what" to "how" and the zag process that goes from "what" to "why" in the next level of decomposition [4]. In the end of the zag, the design process achieves the children FRs that have to be CEME. ...
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The AD's design equation depicts the relationship between the functional requirements (FR) and the design parameters (DP) by the design matrix (DM), through a unique zigzag decomposition path. At the “zig part” of each level of the zigzag decomposition, the designer needs to find out the DPs that can fulfil the given FRs. This paper proposes that the designer has to perform three main actions in a zig process in order to define the design equation: to define the DPs at a nominal condition and its magnitude; to evaluate the interactions of the DP with the system at actual conditions; and to check back the set of FRs verifying if they fit inside the design range. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the actions performed on a zig, emphasising the changes that may occur in the arrangement of the design during the synthesis of the DM at any level of the decomposition. At each level of decomposition, the estimation of the DPs that fulfil the FRs allows the designer to define a subset of the DM, making it possible to evaluate afterwards the DM with all the interactions of the system. Moreover, in what concerns to the information content, it is possible to evaluate the probability of success of the system taking into account the interactions of the system and the tolerances of the DPs. This paper presents an example regarding the evaluation of the DM using the equations of the design for a variable air volume (VAV) air conditioning system.
... A system might satisfy a given function, but that do not automatically translate to satisfy a set of performance parameters related to the given function and vice versa. There have been previous attempt to improve the process of requirement management in axiomatic design [21,22] through the generation of a stakeholder spreadsheet. In a model-based environment, the functional and non-functional requirements need to exist in the same environment with a traceable relationship established between both types of requirements and the corresponding functions and logical relations. ...
... However, this needs to be accomplished without the benefit of any closely aligned prior art and its documentation. In reverse-engineering any given product, the iterative, top-down, forward flow between FR→DP is reversed into an iterative, bottom-up, FR←DP reverse flow [24][25][26]. In the case of nature's designs, the fundamental problem that exists in regard to the above reverse engineering exercise is that of hydrating natures FR←DP hierarchies in a bottom-up sense. ...
... However, this needs to be accomplished without the benefit of any closely aligned prior art and its documentation. In reverse-engineering any given product, the iterative, top-down, forward flow between FR→DP is reversed into an iterative, bottom-up, FR←DP reverse flow [24][25][26]. In the case of nature's designs, the fundamental problem that exists in regard to the above reverse engineering exercise is that of hydrating natures FR←DP hierarchies in a bottom-up sense. ...
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... Thus, the ability to rapidly scale up or down a certain web site based on the seasonal load at hand is most definitely a functional requirementexcept that instead of it being at a final user level, it is now at a system-wide/population-wide level. It is, therefore, a failure in the design community to understand the functional domain when it asserts that the above list of requirements is somehow non-functional [66,67]. ...
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... Thirdly, decomposition can include non-essential functions, which aim to increase attractive qualities of a product [18]. For instance, primary functions of a mobile phone are to send and receive phone calls, provide access to the Internet, take photos etc., but adding additional features to the camera can make the mobile phone more desirable. ...
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... Thirdly, decomposition can include non-essential functions, which aim to increase attractive qualities of a product [18]. For instance, primary functions of a mobile phone are to send and receive phone calls, provide access to the Internet, take photos etc., but adding additional features to the camera can make the mobile phone more desirable. ...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
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