From DDL Wiki

Revision as of 12:39, 2 March 2009

The Design Decisions Laboratory was established at Carnegie Mellon University by Professor Jeremy J. Michalek in 2005. The lab develops theories and tools to understand and assist decision-making in design and product development. The group is interested in the preferences and economics that drive design tradeoff decisions as well as the impact of those decisions on public and private stakeholders. Drawing upon research in economics, econometrics, marketing and public policy as well as engineering and design optimization, the lab pursues three primary thrust areas:

1. Systems Optimization: Develop fundamental knowledge and new methods for multidisciplinary design and complex systems optimization;
2. Design for Market Systems: Measure and model consumer choice in the marketplace to optimize engineering systems for profitability; and
3. Green Design & Environmental Policy: Study the effects of economics, competition and public policy on design decisions and the resulting environmental impact of those decisions.

Research

Systems optimization

The design and optimization of complex systems pose unique challenges: Subsystems and components must be designed such that they are compatible and consistent with one another while delivering properties that, in combination, achieve targets for the overall system. DDL develops mathematical tools for decomposing complex design tasks into smaller subsystem design tasks and coordinating design of these subsystems to achieve optimal system solutions.

Sample Publications:

• Khajavirad, A. and J.J. Michalek (2008) "A decomposed approach for solving the joint product family platform selection and design problem with generalized commonality," ASME Journal of Mechanical Design v130 p071101.
• Li, Y., Z. Lu and J.J. Michalek (2008) "Diagonal quadratic approximation for parallelization of analytical target cascading", ASME Journal of Mechanical Design v130 n5 p051402.
• Michalek, J.J. and P.Y. Papalambros (2005) "An efficient weighting update method to achieve acceptable consistency deviation in analytical target cascading," ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, v127 p206-214.

Design for market systems

Whether interested in profit or in social welfare, designers are concerned with the preferences people have and the choices they make. Design decisions are driven by the preferences of various stakeholders, and the decisions made by designers have impact on these stakeholders, including those who produce, use, sell, distribute, maintain, invest in, supply for, and dispose of the product as well as socioeconomic, cultural and environmental effects on society as a whole. DDL develops quantitative tools to model preferences of stakeholders and coordinate them with decisions about the design of products.

Sample Publications:

• Shiau, C.-S. and J.J. Michalek (2008) "Should designers worry about market systems?" in press, ASME Journal of Mechanical Design.
• Michalek, J.J., O. Ceryan, P.Y. Papalambros, and Y. Koren (2006) "Balancing marketing and manufacturing objectives in product line design" ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, v128 n6 p1196-1204.
• Michalek, J.J., F.M. Feinberg and P.Y. Papalambros (2005) "Linking marketing and engineering product design decisions via analytical target cascading," Journal of Product Innovation Management, v22 p42-62.

Green design and environmental policy

Environmental regulations attempt to correct for market failures by altering incentive structures or restricting the space of options available to designers. Such regulations have direct impact on the decisions made by designers, and the success of any such policy depends upon the product designs that result under regulated market conditions. DDL builds models to understand and predict the effects of policy on the incentives that drive design decisions and the resulting impact on producers, users, society and the environment.

Sample Publications:

• Shiau, C.-S., C. Samaras, R. Hauffe and J. Michalek (2008) “Impact of battery weight and charging patterns on the economic and environmental benefits of plug-in hybrid vehicles,” in review, Energy Policy.
• Michalek, J.J., P.Y. Papalambros, and S.J. Skerlos (2004) "A study of fuel efficiency and emission policy impact on optimal vehicle design decisions," ASME Journal of Mechanical Design, v126 p1062-1070.
• Skerlos, S.J., W.R. Morrow and J.J. Michalek (2006) "Sustainable design engineering and science: selected challenges and case studies," Chapter 3.10 in Sustainability Science and Engineering, Volume 1: Defining Principles, edited by M. Abraham, Elsevier Science.

Lab Business

Spring 2009 Presentation Schedule

During the spring 2009 semester, weekly lab seminar meetings will be held on Tuesdays 1-2pm in Scaife Hall 205. Visitors are welcome to attend.

Borrowed Item Checkout List

Publication Planning

Conference Presentation Planning

Links

• Lab Website