Mapping the landscape of product models in embodiment design

Abstract

During an engineering design process, designers create sequences of product models by switching between product models with different purposes. To enable an efficient use of these product models, researchers are required to anticipate the compatibility of the models in application by designers. This is necessary as the information in an existing product model may not be usable for a subsequent product model. However, the corresponding information on compatibility was not accessible to researchers as it was scattered across various publications. Hence, the objective of this contribution was to develop a structured overview, a landscape of linkable and non-linkable product models in embodiment design to merge the information. For this purpose, a literature review containing a grounded theory-based analysis was conducted and the results were visualized using the network visualization software Gephi. The key learnings of the visualized landscape of 52 product models can be summarized as follows: (1) some models are already closely linked to each other by compatible inputs and outputs; (2) other product models are noticeable with mostly unknown linking possibilities due to incompatible inputs and outputs or insufficient descriptions in the literature. 14 product models offer two linking possibilities or less. In these cases, it is unclear how they interact with other product models in an engineering design process. In conclusion, the product model landscape provides insight into the compatibility of product models to support the development of existing and new product models for sequential use by designers.