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DECISION-BASED DESIGN OPEN WORKSHOP
July 2001 Newsletter
Workshop Organizers
Wei Chen
Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL
Linda Schmidt
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Maryland
University Park, MD
Kemper Lewis
Associate Professor
Dept of Mech & Aero Engineering
State University of New York at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY
In this Edition
Upcoming Events
Wrap-Up of 11th DBD Open Workshop
Summary of Question for Debate
New Question for Debate
Upcoming Events
12th Face-to-Face DBD Open Workshop Meeting
To be held at:
2001 Design Engineering Technical Conferences
Sunday, September 9th, 2001
Hilton Pittsburgh and Towers
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
8:30AM-Noon (Tutorial T3)
Description:
- The workshop will be structured around a panel made up of representatives from
both academia and industry
, who will provide their views on how a design utility (preference) function
should be constructed in engineering design. The panelists will be asked to address a set of
questions, such as, how should the preferences of both end users, product designers and company managers be
captured? What are the methods they use for constructing a design utility function? How
would their methods address uncertainty and everybody's risk attitude? What should be the role
of multi-criteria decision making approach vs. the single-criterion approach? After the
panelists present their unique perspectives on the challenges in constructing a design utility
function, there will be an open-floor discussion on the topics covered.
- If you are interested in attending please register through ASME and let one of the organizers
know that you are attending the workshop. The organizers can be contacted at:
Wei Chen
weichen1@uic.edu
(312) 996-6072
Linda Schmidt
lschmidt@eng.umd.edu
(301) 405-0417
Kemper Lewis
kelewis@eng.buffalo.edu
(716) 645-2593 x2232
*****
Wrap-Up of 11th DBD Open Workshop
- Presentations and a discussion overview from the 11th Face-to-face DBD workshop held
in Tampa, FL at the 2001 NSF Design, Service and Manufacturing Grantees and Research Conference,
January 7th 2001, has been available for download at
http://dbd.eng.buffalo.edu/11th_meet/
11meet.html.
*****
Summary of Question for Debate Responses
- The Decision Based Design Workshop's home page posed a series of questions on
multi-criteria decision making approaches versus single-criterion approach in engineering design.
We received 115 responses to the statement that "Existing multi-criteria decision making
approaches are flawed. Only single-criterion approaches (such as maximization of the profit)
should be used for product design." About 87% of respondents disagreed with that statement,
only 7% of respondents agreed with the statement, while the rest were neutral. Significantly fewer
responses were submitted to the five supporting views that further survey a respondent's position.
It appears that the respondents only picked one of the five views as the one that they support
instead of expressing their positions on each of the support views. Over all the responses, 12
respondents expressed their support of the view that existing multi-criteria decision making
approaches are flawed. 9 respondents supported the view that multi-criteria decision making
approaches have their limitations but still can by used if they are exercised properly and the
assumptions are satisfied. 7 respondents agreed with the view that the paradoxes associated
with multi-criteria decision making approaches only happen in very limited situations. About 8
respondents agree that the use of a single-criterion approach in product design is not practical.
- The overall consensus gained from this survey is that the multi-criteria decision making
approaches should still play an important role in engineering design even though they have
limitations. Due to the limited number of responses received for the supporting views, we are
not able to draw any further conclusions.
*****
New Question for Debate
- Topic:
-
Is game theory applicable for decision making in engineering design?
- Views:
1. Since each designer has their own set of payoffs and preferences and they
may be in conflict with other designers' sets, game theory can be used to
guide decision making in design.
2. Each designer does not have their own payoffs and preferences. There is only
one design preference and that is maximization of overall profit.
3. Game theory should be applied in design processes where people from multiple
companies are interacting, since each company has its own set of payoffs and preferences.
4. Payoffs and profits are too difficult to model and quantify. Therefore design
decision making should be based on technical performance and quality issues which
will increase profit anyway.
- Submit your views
Visit the Decision Based Design Open Workshop web page at
http://dbd.eng.buffalo.edu