The Experts below are selected from a list of 54 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Wei Chen - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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a multidimensional network approach for modeling customer product relations in Engineering Design
ASME 2015 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC CIE 2015, 2015Co-Authors: Mingxian Wang, Wei Chen, Yun Huang, Noshir ContractorAbstract:Analytical modeling of customer preferences in product Design is inherently difficult as it faces challenges in modeling heterogeneous human behavior and product offerings. In this paper, the customer-product interactions are viewed as a complex socio-technical system and analyzed using social network theory and techniques. We propose a Multidimensional Customer-Product Network (MCPN) framework, where separate networks of “customers” and “products” are simultaneously modeled, and multiple types of relations, such as consideration and purchase, product associations, and customer social networks are considered. We start with the simplest unimodal network configuration where customer cross-shopping behaviors and product similarities are analyzed to inform Designers about the implied product competition, market segmentation, and product positions in the market. We then progressively extend the network to a multidimensional structure that integrates customer preference decisions with product feature similarities to enable the modeling of preference heterogeneity, product association and decision dependency. Finally, social influences on new product adoption are analyzed in the same framework by introducing customer-customer relations together with other product-product and customer-product relations. Beyond the traditional network descriptive analysis, we employ the Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) as a unified statistical inference framework for analyzing multiple relations in MCPN to Support Engineering Design decisions. Our approach broadens the traditional utility-based logit approaches by considering the dependency among product choices and the “irrationality” of customer behavior induced by social influence. While this paper is focused on presenting the conceptual framework of the proposed methodology, examples on customer vehicle preferences are presented to illustrate the progressive development of the MCPN framework from a simple unimodal configuration to a complex multidimensional structure.Copyright © 2015 by ASME
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examination of customer satisfaction surveys in choice modelling to Support Engineering Design
Journal of Engineering Design, 2011Co-Authors: Christopher Hoyle, Wei ChenAbstract:With the rapid expansion of customer satisfaction survey (CSS) data collected after product purchases, there is a growing interest in utilising such data for consumer choice modelling to guide Engineering Design. The question remains whether individual ratings can be directly used as a measure for qualitative product attributes in consumer choice modelling. A close examination of CSS data with respect to its applicability to consumer choice modelling is first provided in this work. Several key issues are identified, including ownership bias, differences in rating style, and missing choice alternatives’ attributes. To alleviate these limitations, a systematic mixed logit-based choice modelling procedure is developed to incorporate the use of both quantitative and subjective rating measures in the model utility function, together with the consumer demographic attributes. The customer satisfaction index is introduced to measure consumer opinion in the form of ratings with respect to each Design in the choice...
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a mixed logit choice modeling approach using customer satisfaction surveys to Support Engineering Design
Design Automation Conference, 2009Co-Authors: Christopher Hoyle, Wei ChenAbstract:Choice modeling is critical for assessing customer preferences as a function of product Design attributes and customer profile information. Previous works have focused upon the use of survey data in which respondents are presented with a set of simulated product options from which they make a choice. However, such data does not represent real purchase behavior and these surveys require significant time and additional cost to administer. For these reasons, an approach to estimate a choice model using widely available customer satisfaction survey data for actual purchases is developed. Through a close examination of customer satisfaction survey data, several key characteristics are identified, including the lack of defined choice sets and missing choice attributes, the use of subjective measures such as ratings by customers to describe product attributes, multiple collinearity among many of the product attributes, and potentially insufficient attribute variation in the product Designs evaluated by the respondents in the survey. A mixed logit based choice modeling procedure is developed in this paper to incorporate the use of both survey ratings as subjective measures and Engineering attributes as quantitative measures in the model utility function. In order to accurately reflect choice behavior in actual market conditions, heterogeneity in customer preference is explicitly considered in the demand model. A case study using the Vehicle Quality Survey data acquired from J.D. Power and Associates demonstrates many of the key features of the proposed approach. The estimation results show the mixed logit model to be successful in modeling customer choices at the individual level, demonstrating the potential of being integrated with Engineering models for Engineering Design.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Christopher Hoyle - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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examination of customer satisfaction surveys in choice modelling to Support Engineering Design
Journal of Engineering Design, 2011Co-Authors: Christopher Hoyle, Wei ChenAbstract:With the rapid expansion of customer satisfaction survey (CSS) data collected after product purchases, there is a growing interest in utilising such data for consumer choice modelling to guide Engineering Design. The question remains whether individual ratings can be directly used as a measure for qualitative product attributes in consumer choice modelling. A close examination of CSS data with respect to its applicability to consumer choice modelling is first provided in this work. Several key issues are identified, including ownership bias, differences in rating style, and missing choice alternatives’ attributes. To alleviate these limitations, a systematic mixed logit-based choice modelling procedure is developed to incorporate the use of both quantitative and subjective rating measures in the model utility function, together with the consumer demographic attributes. The customer satisfaction index is introduced to measure consumer opinion in the form of ratings with respect to each Design in the choice...
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a mixed logit choice modeling approach using customer satisfaction surveys to Support Engineering Design
Design Automation Conference, 2009Co-Authors: Christopher Hoyle, Wei ChenAbstract:Choice modeling is critical for assessing customer preferences as a function of product Design attributes and customer profile information. Previous works have focused upon the use of survey data in which respondents are presented with a set of simulated product options from which they make a choice. However, such data does not represent real purchase behavior and these surveys require significant time and additional cost to administer. For these reasons, an approach to estimate a choice model using widely available customer satisfaction survey data for actual purchases is developed. Through a close examination of customer satisfaction survey data, several key characteristics are identified, including the lack of defined choice sets and missing choice attributes, the use of subjective measures such as ratings by customers to describe product attributes, multiple collinearity among many of the product attributes, and potentially insufficient attribute variation in the product Designs evaluated by the respondents in the survey. A mixed logit based choice modeling procedure is developed in this paper to incorporate the use of both survey ratings as subjective measures and Engineering attributes as quantitative measures in the model utility function. In order to accurately reflect choice behavior in actual market conditions, heterogeneity in customer preference is explicitly considered in the demand model. A case study using the Vehicle Quality Survey data acquired from J.D. Power and Associates demonstrates many of the key features of the proposed approach. The estimation results show the mixed logit model to be successful in modeling customer choices at the individual level, demonstrating the potential of being integrated with Engineering models for Engineering Design.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Timothy W Simpson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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prototype for x pfx a holistic framework for structuring prototyping methods to Support Engineering Design
Design Studies, 2017Co-Authors: Jessica Menold, Kathryn Weed Jablokow, Timothy W SimpsonAbstract:While scholars have studied benefits and drawbacks of prototype development, few have attempted to create a holistic framework to structure prototyping and combine insights from across technical domains. An extensive literature review of prototyping research and study of novice Designers' mental models of prototyping is used to develop and validate a set of specifications for a holistic and structured prototyping framework. This work then introduces a novel framework to help structure prototyping, Prototype for X (PFX), as an alternative to traditional prototyping approaches in Engineering Design. Early results highlight the potential impact PFX can have on the Design process and on the final Design product compared to those achieved through ‘prototyping in the wild’. Future research directions are also discussed.
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a work centered visual analytics model to Support Engineering Design with interactive visualization and data mining
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2012Co-Authors: Xin Yan, Timothy W Simpson, Mu Qiao, Gary Stump, Xiaolong ZhangAbstract:To Support the knowledge discovery and decision making from large-scale, multi-dimensional, continuous data sets, novel systems of visual analytics need the capability to identify hidden patterns in data that are critical for in-depth analysis. In this paper, we present a work-centered approach to Support visual analytics of complex data sets by combining user-centered interactive visualization and data-oriented computational algorithms. We Design and implement a specific system prototype, Learning-based Interactive Visualization for Engineering Design (LIVE), for Engineering Designers to handle overwhelming information such as numerous Design alternatives generated from automatic simulating software. During the exploration within a "trade space" consisting of possible Designs and potential solutions, Engineering Designers want to analyze the data, discover hidden patterns, and identify preferable solutions. The proposed system allows Designers to interactively examine large Design data sets through visualization and interactively construct data models from automatic data mining algorithms. We expect that our approach can help Designers efficiently and effectively make sense of large-scale Design data sets and generate decisions. We also report a preliminary evaluation on our system by analyzing a real Engineering Design problem related to aircraft wing sizing.
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evaluating the performance of visual steering commands for user guided pareto frontier sampling during trade space exploration
Design Automation Conference, 2008Co-Authors: Dan Carlsen, Matthew Malone, Josh Kollat, Timothy W SimpsonAbstract:Trade space exploration is a promising decision-making paradigm that provides a visual and more intuitive means for formulating, adjusting, and ultimately solving Design optimization problems. This is achieved by combining multi-dimensional data visualization techniques with visual steering commands to allow Designers to “steer” the optimization process while searching for the best, or Pareto optimal, Designs. In this paper, we compare the performance of different combinations of visual steering commands implemented by two users to a multi-objective genetic algorithm that is executed “blindly” on the same problem with no human intervention. The results indicate that the visual steering commands — regardless of the combination in which they are invoked — provide a 4x–7x increase in the number of Pareto solutions that are obtained when the human is “in-the-loop” during the optimization process. As such, this study provides the first empirical evidence of the benefits of interactive visualization-based strategies to Support Engineering Design optimization and decision-making. Future work is also discussed.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
M J L Van Tooren - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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domain specific modeling languages to Support model driven Engineering of aircraft systems
Proceedings of the 26th congress of international Council of the Aeronautical Sciences ICAS 2008 Anchorage Alaska 14-19 September (2008) paper AIAA 20, 2008Co-Authors: S W G Van Der Elst, M J L Van ToorenAbstract:Knowledge is a vital component of Engineering Design. Computer systems enriched with logic and Engineering knowledge can Support Engineering Design by automating repetitive and time-consuming processes. This automation is best structured in the framework concept of a Design and Engineering Engine, applying Knowledge Based Engineering techniques. The lack of recognized methodologies implies significant investments for the development and maintenance of Design and Engineering Engines. To alleviate the required effort a Domain Specific modeling Language is developed, enabling the representation of conceptual classes of the problem domain and is considered a visual dictionary of noteworthy abstractions, domain vocabulary and knowledge content. A Domain Specific modeling Language provides an intuitive environment to model domain specific Engineering knowledge and enables a tight coupling between modeled knowledge and software program code. The Domain Specific modeling Language is used to develop a Knowledge Based Engineering application dedicated to aircraft wiring harness Design processes.
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application of a knowledge Engineering process to Support Engineering Design application development
Collaborative product and service life cycle management for a sustainable world (2008), 2008Co-Authors: S W G Van Der Elst, M J L Van ToorenAbstract:The Design, analysis and optimization process of complex products can be Supported by automation of repetitive and non-creative Engineering tasks. The Design and Engineering Engine (DEE) is a useful concept to structure this automation. Within the DEE, a product is parametrically defined using Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) techniques. To develop and successfully implement the concept of the DEE in industry, a Knowledge Engineering (KE) process is developed, integrating KBE techniques with Knowledge Management (KM). The KE process is applied to develop an application Supporting the Design and manufacturing of aircraft wiring harnesses, focussing on the assignment of electrical signals to connectors. The resulting Engineering Design application reduces the recurring time of the assignment process by 80%.
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application of knowledge Engineering methodologies to Support Engineering Design application development in aerospace
7th AIAA ATIO Conf 2nd CEIAT Int'l Conf on Innov and Integr in Aero Sciences 17th LTA Systems Tech Conf; followed by 2nd TEOS Forum, 2007Co-Authors: C L Emberey, M J L Van Tooren, N R Milton, J P T J Berends, Ben VermeulenAbstract:3 . A suitable application to Support knowledge Engineering is PCPACK 4 . A practical application is chosen to demonstrate the use of KE techniques in a real-life situation. The example that is chosen is the Design of Fibre Metal Laminate (FML) fuselage skin panels for the Airbus A380 aircraft at Stork Fokker AESP, Papendrecht, The Netherlands. Within the FML Engineering process, various opportunities for KBE applications are identified. The most beneficial KBE application is the automation of the sub-division process of the prepreg plies. The sub-division process of the prepreg plies accounts for approximately 20% of the total production preparation time. The produced informal model of the Design process is used to produce a KBE application. With respect to the traditional prepreg sub-division process, a lead-time reduction of 75% can be gained using this KBE application. In contrast to the theoretical development time, the development time for the KBE system is equal to approximately six Design cycles of the traditional prepreg ply sub-division process. The results of the KBE application in relation to the Design made by the Design engineer are highly accurate. The prepreg cutting waste can be reduced by 50% for the basic laminate of the panels.
S W G Van Der Elst - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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domain specific modeling languages to Support model driven Engineering of aircraft systems
Proceedings of the 26th congress of international Council of the Aeronautical Sciences ICAS 2008 Anchorage Alaska 14-19 September (2008) paper AIAA 20, 2008Co-Authors: S W G Van Der Elst, M J L Van ToorenAbstract:Knowledge is a vital component of Engineering Design. Computer systems enriched with logic and Engineering knowledge can Support Engineering Design by automating repetitive and time-consuming processes. This automation is best structured in the framework concept of a Design and Engineering Engine, applying Knowledge Based Engineering techniques. The lack of recognized methodologies implies significant investments for the development and maintenance of Design and Engineering Engines. To alleviate the required effort a Domain Specific modeling Language is developed, enabling the representation of conceptual classes of the problem domain and is considered a visual dictionary of noteworthy abstractions, domain vocabulary and knowledge content. A Domain Specific modeling Language provides an intuitive environment to model domain specific Engineering knowledge and enables a tight coupling between modeled knowledge and software program code. The Domain Specific modeling Language is used to develop a Knowledge Based Engineering application dedicated to aircraft wiring harness Design processes.
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application of a knowledge Engineering process to Support Engineering Design application development
Collaborative product and service life cycle management for a sustainable world (2008), 2008Co-Authors: S W G Van Der Elst, M J L Van ToorenAbstract:The Design, analysis and optimization process of complex products can be Supported by automation of repetitive and non-creative Engineering tasks. The Design and Engineering Engine (DEE) is a useful concept to structure this automation. Within the DEE, a product is parametrically defined using Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) techniques. To develop and successfully implement the concept of the DEE in industry, a Knowledge Engineering (KE) process is developed, integrating KBE techniques with Knowledge Management (KM). The KE process is applied to develop an application Supporting the Design and manufacturing of aircraft wiring harnesses, focussing on the assignment of electrical signals to connectors. The resulting Engineering Design application reduces the recurring time of the assignment process by 80%.