PROCESS VISUALISATION OF PRODUCT FAMILY DEVELOPMENT METHODS

Development methods for modular product families have shown their usefulness in case studies, but are only seldom applied in practice. To support the active transfer of methods from research into practice an understanding of the working principles of methods is needed. In this contribution, a newly developed process visualisation approach is presented that allows design researchers to visualise and analyse existing methods to create this understanding. A special emphasis of the visualisation task is set to the analysis of interfaces that are used to include information and knowledge from different company stakeholders into method based development processes and back into the business. A visualisation nomination is presented that gives an easy and intuitive way of understanding this interaction. The approach is exemplary applied to the method "Integrated PKT-Approach for the Development of Modular Product Families". Finally an outlook on the possible use of the presented visualisation approach to foster methods transfer to practice is given.