The Future of Design Methodology

Herbert Birkhofer was awarded a PhD from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Technische Universität Braunschweig. He is currently Professor and Head of the Product Development and Machine Elements Institute at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He is a member of the Scientific Association for Machine Elements and Design Research and of Berliner Kreis (association for the advancement of product innovation in German industry). He co-edits the journal Zeitschrift Konstruktion and is Programme Chair of two events: the annual Applied Engineering Design Systems workshops in Czechoslovakia, and the biennial DESIGN conferences in Croatia. His main research interests are product development and design methodology, knowledge management in design, empirical design research, development of environmentally sound products, and lifetime theory of solid-lubricated bearings.

1. Introduction.- 2. Is Engineering Design Disappearing from Design Research?.- 3. Methodical Support for the Development of Modular Product Families.- 4. Risk-Driven Design Processes: Balancing Efficiency with Resilience in Product Design.- 5. Methodology and Computer-Aided Tools - A Powerful Interaction for Product Development.- 6. A Reuse Design Decision Support System Based on Self-Organizing Maps.- 7. Increasing Effectiveness and Efficiency of Product Development – A Challenge for Design Methodologies and Knowledge Management.- 8. Design Theory and Methodology – Contributions to the Computer Support of Product Development/Design Processes.- 9. Summary - Specific Ways to Further Develop Design Methodology.- 10. Boundary Conditions for a New Type of Design Task: Understanding Product/Service-Systems.- 11. Product/Service System Design and Beyond.- 12. Open Product Development.- 13. Managing Virtual Product Creation.- 14. Systems Engineering Versus Design Methodology.- 15. The Autogenetic Design Theory - Product Development as an Analogy to Biological Evolution.- 16. Towards a Designer-Centred Methodology - Descriptive Considerations and Prescriptive Reflections.- 17. A New Perspective on Product Engineering Overcoming Sequential Process Models.- 18. Summary - Holistic Ways to Supply, Extend or Replace Design Methodology.- 19. What Designers Can Learn from Leonardo, an Ingenious Artist, Scientist and Engineer.- 20. “Design … but of What”?.- 21. Transferring Design Methods into Practice.- 22. Towards a Taxonomy of Design Research Areas.- 23. Design Research and Education: A University Perspective.- 24. The Future of Design Research: Consolidation, Collaboration and Inter-Disciplinary Learning?.- 25. Summary - General Reflections on Design Methodology.- 26. Conclusions.