1. Introduction
6. Publication
Concept design is
the most critical step in product development. To a large extent, its quality determines the
fate of the product. Support
for concept generation is mainly intuitive.
SOS (subjective
objective system) is a method that remedies this situation. It is a simple yet
powerful method for generating optimal concepts in diverse disciplines.
The method rests on
four mathematical metaphors:
1.
it is composed of an objective and subjective components (somewhat
similar to the solution for differential equations),
2.
it allows varying degrees of precision in modeling,
3.
it works by decomposing a complex problem into smaller sub-problems, and
4.
it uses highly simplified evaluations.
SOS also reminds
aspects of QFD but is quite different from it. It not only structures the
decision process but also outputs the optimal concept given the customer
objectives, the company context, and the available constraints. Furthermore,
SOS allows exploring the design problem formulation, the solution space, and
address various what if questions.
Some properties of
SOS:
1.
SOS can handle very large problems and solve them in negligible time.
2.
SOS is general; it can create concepts in consumer products, medical
treatment, service related products, and others.
3.
SOS has been evolved and refined over years of practical
experience and
research.
4.
The present version has been used in numerous successful real projects
at Ziv-Av Engineering LTD.
We are seeking collaboration with people interested in configuring diverse products:
1. Medical treatment as a product
2. Service (e.g., banking) as a product
3. Software products
4. multidisciplinary products (e.g., hardware+software, MEMS)
We are also seeking collaboration with parties interested in the following properties of product concepts or configurations:
1. Products expressed at multiple levels of details (hierarchical description)
2. Products that evolve over time
3. Families of products
4. Robust product concepts
1. Y. Reich and A. Ziv-Av, A comprehensive optimal product concept generation framework, in Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology (DTM), (New York, NY), ASME, 2003.
2. A. Ziv-Av and Y. Reich, A comprehensive optimal product concept generation framework, in CD-ROM Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED), The Design Society, 2003.
3. A. Ziv-Av and Y. Reich, SOS Subjective objective system for generating optimal product concepts, Design Studies, 26(5): 509-533, 2005.
4. Y. Reich and A. Ziv-Av, Robust product concept generation, Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED), The Design Society, 2005.
5.
D. Rosenstein, and Y. Reich, Hierarchical
Concept Generation by SOS, International Conference on Engineering
Design, ICED'11,
6. J. Shabi and Y. Reich, Developing an analytical model for planning the verification, validation & testing process, Advanced Engineering Informatics, in press, 2012. [Employs a variation of SOS.]
Last
modified: 7 February 2012 3:44:00 PM