Multi-objective conceptual design: an approach to make cost-efficient the design for manufacturing and assembly in the development of complex products

Conceptual design is a central phase for the generation of the best product configurations. The design freedom suggests optimal solutions in terms of assembly, manufacturing, cost and material selection but a guided decision making approach based on multi-objective criteria is missing. The goal of this approach is to define a framework and a detailed approach for the definition of feasible design options and for the selection of the best one considering the combination of several production constrains and attributes. The approach is grounded on the concept of functional basis and the module heuristics used for the definition of product modules and the theory of Multi Criteria Decision Making approach (MCDM) for a mathematical assessment of the best design option. A complex product (tool-holder carousel of a machine tool) is used as a case study to validate the approach. Product modules have been re-designed and prototyped to efficiently assess the gain in terms of assembly time, manufacturability and costs.