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Control the Design Process in the Building Industry |
| Corresponding Author: Veenvliet, Karel |
| Author(s): Veenvliet, K. Th. |
| Organisation(s): University of Twente (the Nertherlands) |
| Input to the design phase of both the ability to construct and the
importance of construction, is one of the factors which leads to an optimal
use of available knowledge, money, and time, in respect of functionality,
safety, durability (see also Tatum, 1985). The present working methods,
decision support tools and information systems to integrate constructabi-lity
in the design process often fall short. Interviews held in several design
firms in the Netherlands confirm that the planning of the design process
is forced by minimising engineering time and engineering costs, fragmented
design process on the one hand and on the other by a decision process that
takes into account the life-cycle aspects by minimising the design risks
and maximising the constraints. The traditional way of working, in the
design firm, carried out in sequential processes and with a low degree
of collaboration between different domains fails often to eliminate this
pressure. The interdisciplinary concept of Systems Engineering (SE) is
aimed at product develop-ment work carried out in parallel processes and
with a high degree of collaboration between different do-mains and the
explicit distinction of requirements and solutions. One of the major ingredients
is the use of efficient methods for support in product development. Tools
to support the design process are QFD, FMEA, DFA, VA/FA, EPS (Norell, 1996).
Important attention has to be paid to the disposition data necessary to
make design decisions. (Myrup Andreasen & Olesen, 1990). Besides the
implementation of support tools, the integrated methods of working and
relevant information transferring systems are also important to apply the
SE concept.
Analysis of the application of decision support tools, based on constructability issues, in different design firms in the Netherlands confirmed an implicit way of working. Almost none explicit way of working based on decision support tools was found. Confronting the firms with the possibilities of the explicit way of working based on the SE-concept confirms on the one hand an interested attitude on the other hand they keep a distance. Designers are not aware of the impact and benefits of support tools into the design process (Norell, 1996). However, development, adaptation and implementation of design for X tools, analogous to the industry, will lead to a better performance during the design process. In this paper a study is made of the possibilities to implement the SE concept during the design process of civil engineering projects. Particular attention is made to the scope of the support tools, the effects on process convergence and the implementation observations. Literature:
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