Conceptual Design Assessment Method for Collaborative CAD System

Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology has been developed for years and is used extensively in the detail design phase. Unfortunately, CAD is still unable to fully support the collaborative design activity or the early design phases of the design process, such as the conceptual design phase. Due to the high creativity needed in the conceptual design phase, there will usually be a number of different ideas and there is a need to converge the different designs into one design that can be further elaborated into the detail design phase. On the other hand, finding an optimal design is difficult in this phase as the designs usually do not have sufficient detail to be assessed quantitatively. The problem is even more pronounced in collaborative conceptual design, as the number of designs will increase and arriving at an agreement for the best design without a proper assessment method is hard to do. This paper will introduce a conceptual design assessment method that can be used in a collaborative design situation. The method uses a combination of Hurwicz criterion and an estimated range of the product function fulfillment to determine the best design. A case study will also be used to illustrate the use of the method. The method shows a potential to be used in a CAD system designed to support the collaborative conceptual design phase.