Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Sep 25, 2020
Transdisciplinary (TD) working offers the potential to bring together potentially disparate eleme... more Transdisciplinary (TD) working offers the potential to bring together potentially disparate elements of engineering projects permitting them to concomitantly be addressed on empirical, pragmatic, normative and purposive levels. Whilst the importance and potential benefits of working in this manner are widely accepted, a key inhibitor to the adoption and embedding of TD working in practice is the variety and diversity of design tools employed and their relative levels of ability to support TD working. To explore what can be thought of as the enabling or inhibiting roles of design tools, this paper appraises common design tools and classifies them according to the level of transdisciplinary working that they permit. This is achieved by considering the capturable level of design rationale for each design tool as per Jantsch and contextualising each within the design process. The discussion considers how these findings are reflected in practice and how chains of particular tools could be employed to support TD working across the different phases of the design process. In total 41 tools are appraised with 6 acting as enablers of interdisciplinary working but none identified as truly TD. Most notably, a much greater proportion of TD enabling design tools are available to support the early phases of design. Further work might consider how education can be used to ensure effective use of current design tools and how knowledge transfer can and should be, applied to enable use of TD tool chains in industry.
International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2021
The term 'transdisciplinary' is receiving increased attention within engineering academic and res... more The term 'transdisciplinary' is receiving increased attention within engineering academic and research funding communities. We survey authors of papers presented at the 27 th ISTE International Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference (TE2020) to answer two research questions: 1) How do authors define transdisciplinary engineering? 2) What do authors perceive differentiates interdisciplinary engineering research from transdisciplinary engineering research? Responses from thirty-four participants (50%), are qualitatively analysed. Results show that for the three characteristics commonly used in characterisations of transdisciplinarity (goal, collaboration and integration), multiple concepts exist. These range from generic expressions which overlap with how interdisciplinarity is defined within the general literature, to stronger, more definitive expressions. Conclusions find that rather than a single definition a transdisciplinary landscape exists. To enable users to define where they sit in the transdisciplinary landscape, we create a framework enabling users to map their position under the three key characteristics of goal, collaboration and integration.
Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack ... more Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a TD research approach persists. This paper aims to reduce ambiguity by characterising TD and identifying when the TD approach should or should not be used. Specifically, the research answers the question: when might it be beneficial to take a TD rather than a single, multi or interdisciplinary research approach? Survey responses from twenty-eight authors (50%) who presented papers at the 28 th ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2021) were qualitatively analysed. Findings show a TD approach to research is beneficial for complex problem-solving. New understanding reveals that TD could be used to evidence scientific and social impact, and that context determines the appropriateness of TD adoption. However, even where TD adoption is deemed appropriate, institutional barriers to adoption may exist. In other words, the work environment (culture) in which we do our research, may determine if any meaningful benefits from TD are, or are not realised. Lessons from engineering education are used to discuss how to institutionalise TD, future transdisciplinary engineers and researchers might be taught and socialised in the competencies needed for transdisciplinary research.
Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Oct 31, 2022
Transdisciplinary projects claim to be driven by societal needs and hence it would be expected th... more Transdisciplinary projects claim to be driven by societal needs and hence it would be expected that motivations are driven by the societal and project beneficiaries. Projects conducted in respect of COVID-19 instinctively meet transdisciplinary status with societal benefit being paramount. This paper presents an analysis of six transdisciplinary COVID-19 projects, assessing the motivations of twenty-nine participants involved. Primary data was collated through semistructured individual interviews and thematic analysis was used to evaluate the reasons for individual participation. The findings show that of the motivations for participation, ethical motivation was 16%, personal fulfilment was 21% and being able to help was 19%. The extrinsic motivations such as expected rewards and benefits was still present but remained very low at 6%. The qualitative responses from the interviews give an indication that although a societal challenge, the motivations remained more of a personal nature aligning with the societal need.
Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Oct 31, 2022
Industry 5.0' has been used as a term to describe alternative visions of the future of industry. ... more Industry 5.0' has been used as a term to describe alternative visions of the future of industry. Recently, a European Union Research and Innovation Policy Brief used the label Industry 5.0 to define a vision which is not driven by a new technology, but by a changed perception of value founded on human-centricity, sustainability and resilience. Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE) seeks to integrate knowledge and understanding to reduce the negative effect of engineering innovation on the environment and society, thus there likely exists a natural synergy between Industry 5.0 and TE. Consequently, in this paper we seek to understand what the opportunities and challenges of the emergence of Industry 5.0 might be for the field of TE now and in the future. A workshop involving multidisciplinary experts was convened to brainstorm and then explore perceptions. Opportunities include new research areas and potential access to funding. Challenges center on the extent that TE could, or should, align itself with Industry 5.0, and the lack of consensus around definitions of TE. Conclusions find that to attract funding, the community should clearly articulate how TE differs from complimentary and overlapping fields such as interdisciplinarity and systems engineering.
Transdisciplinary working is claimed to be critical to meet future societal needs, with engineers... more Transdisciplinary working is claimed to be critical to meet future societal needs, with engineers being at the core to provide solutions to these challenges. However, there is little available that enables one to assess whether they or their team have the competencies required. Within this paper we propose a selfassessment framework to ascertain whether design engineers have the competencies which enable transdisciplinary working. We describe how the competencies were identified using a systematic literature review, we then describe how we utilised coded decision trees to classify which disciplinary level a particular competency can enable. In total 76 competencies were classified; the results of the analysis show 20 of these displaying transdisciplinary attributes as defined by Jantsch. The novelty of the approach: (1) In this paper we propose a novel way to map the identified competencies against the levels of Jantsch's hierarchical framework. (2) The proposed framework enables self-assessment of individual or team competencies to assess whether they have the competencies which enable transdisciplinary working. (3) It enables a move towards incorporating transdisciplinary practices in engineering projects.
Life cycle cost is an important consideration for the development and selection of new power gene... more Life cycle cost is an important consideration for the development and selection of new power generation technology. Large nuclear power plants (NPPs) have been subject to capital cost escalation, stemming from delays related to late design changes, procurement issues for major components, and regulatory enforced changes. These factors have contributed to the significant risk premium associated with gigawatt scale “Gen III+” designs, which have incurred significant financing costs. Large NPPs have become prohibitively expensive for many utility investors in liberalized markets and smaller economies. The challenge of reducing upfront capital costs is one of the requirements that have driven the development of innovative Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These designs are said to offer reduced unit cost and reduced risk due to certainty of delivery, which could lead to a lower cost of capital for a utility customer. By offering a product with more cost certainty the SMR could restore inve...
Many modern engineering projects are required to coordinate multiple project teams, utilise distr... more Many modern engineering projects are required to coordinate multiple project teams, utilise distributed resources and integrate knowledge across multiple disciplines. Hence, the execution of these projects needs to involve high volume of remote communications, synchronous or asynchronous interactions, complicated decision-making and control processes. By considering these factors, human-centred management approaches could be problematic at times to handle the large amount of project data and manage the complex project processes. In order to improve the management efficiency and effectiveness, this paper presents an automatic approach on process reconstruction and process visualisation. As shown in a case study, this approach has the potential to support the information reuse, capture process dynamics, enhance process comprehensibility, as well as reduce human intervention in general process management. Keywords : collaborative engineering projects, process management, process recons...
The suppliers of long-life assets such as submarines and airplanes no longer simply sell these as... more The suppliers of long-life assets such as submarines and airplanes no longer simply sell these assets but provide advanced engineering services. In other words companies that traditionally designed and manufactured long-life products now compete through the provision of a service, such as asset availability. These companies face a high level of uncertainty due to the novelty of the process and the long-term nature of services. However, regardless of these uncertainties the service provider needs to estimate the cost and expected profits for such provision. The pricing decision of these service contracts is influenced by multiple factors and considerations and as a minimum the supplying contractor needs to yield suitable profit to sustain their business. From current research it is known that the estimated company profit is often optimistic. This places pressure on both the customer and the service provider. From our research we found examples of reductions in profits for those provi...
Businesses are dynamic environments. If decision support tools do not evolve in line with the org... more Businesses are dynamic environments. If decision support tools do not evolve in line with the organisational requirements they risk suffering from performance decay. This may present as a decline in their use, or a reduction in the value they offer. In collaborationwith National Grid we address this challenge. Our research proposal is that decision support tools should be evaluated for the risk of performance decay. The results of this risk assessment should be used to develop management strategies. Where sustained performance of the existingdecision support tool is the preferred solution, a quality management system approach incorporating continuous improvement should be taken.
Cost estimating is a business process that is critical to the defence sector, where many products... more Cost estimating is a business process that is critical to the defence sector, where many products have low volumes and long life cycles. The nature of a defence system is often unique (for example, a naval platform) which consists of a number of sub-systems and components. For the design of such a system cost estimating is a critical task, in particular the requirement to predict the cost throughout the systems lifetime. The aim of this paper therefore is to discuss an integrated approach that provides a general framework for through life costing in defence systems via the development of: (1) a generic data library to support designers and cost estimators, (2) data searching and transfer mechanisms to support a top-down and bottom-up hybrid cost modelling approach, (3) capturing reliability data to support product services. The paper is divided into several sections, first, a review of relevant research projects concerning integration and data capture for cost modelling. This is fol...
This paper presents our findings from thirteen industrial interviews, to investigate the signific... more This paper presents our findings from thirteen industrial interviews, to investigate the significance of transdisciplinarity (TD) in an industrial context. Thus to gain insight into the resilience of industrial manufacturing in rapidly changing environments and establish what enabling or disabling practices may currently exist. The interviews were conducted as an initial part of a wider case study approach being undertaken by the TREND research team and were semi-structured in format. We present the background and research questions being addressed and outline our exploratory research approach. The analysis of interview transcriptions is provided answering our research questions and identifying any emerging themes. Of the industry interviews, only five interviewees had heard of the term TD, the definition of TD varied between companies and did not align with the primordial system of Jantsch’s work. A number of focal enabling and disabling industrial themes emerge from the interviews...
Over the past few decades there has been increasing dialogue around transdisciplinary (TD) resear... more Over the past few decades there has been increasing dialogue around transdisciplinary (TD) research. However, within engineering it has received less attention and there remains a lack of consensus over both the definition, and the methods through which to conduct transdisciplinary engineering (TE). Within this paper we describe and outline the salient points of TD and the Design Research Methodology (DRM) and create a proposal to combine the two. A case study of National Grid Electric Transmissions (NGET) demonstrates application. The case study shows that through TE DRM a conceptual process for managing decision support tool (DST) performance is created. This process integrates academic and non-academic perspectives. Evaluation, by NGET subject matter experts found the process to be logical and useable within NGET, with approval given to proceed to implementation. Conclusions find that application of TE DRM increases the possibility of industry uptake and the potential impact of a...
Highlights: Nuclear power cost experts are consistent in their understanding of what will impac... more Highlights: Nuclear power cost experts are consistent in their understanding of what will impact on the commercial success of a near-term deployable SMR. Stakeholders from different lifecycle stages were interviewed to elicit their preferences on SMR cost characteristics. AHP with expert elicitation is used to rank the relative importance of cost factors influencing the LCOE. Project financing is ranked as the most important cost factor influencing the commercial success of the SMR. Further research is required to understand the interdependencies between cost factors influencing the LCOE.
International Journal of Production Economics, 2017
Long-term support agreements such as availability-based contracts are often associated with the s... more Long-term support agreements such as availability-based contracts are often associated with the servitization of business models in such sectors as defence aerospace. In practice, there is no unambiguous way of linking availability and service outcomes from an operational perspective; rather, the focus tends to be placed almost exclusively on product-related metrics. To address this gap, this paper outlines a conceptual model of how advanced service outcomes should be delivered under an availability-based contract for defence avionics. The model is grounded on empirical evidence gathered through an in-depth case study in the UK defence sector. The research is one of the first attempts to shift the focus away from a notion of availability as a property designed into a piece of equipment, and to detect its emergence from the interactions between relevant socio-technical elements within the underpinning advanced service delivery system, or Product-Service-System (PSS), identified by analysis of empirical data. This research provides insights into where action should be taken within a PSS that would be difficult to obtain from the analysis of field reliability data alone. It also provides a conceptual model that can assist the formulation of scientific models based on quantitative data such as multiechelon inventory systems for repairable items. While the transferability of the findings is limited by the specificity of the case, a detailed description is provided to facilitate comparison with other cases.
Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Sep 25, 2020
Transdisciplinary (TD) working offers the potential to bring together potentially disparate eleme... more Transdisciplinary (TD) working offers the potential to bring together potentially disparate elements of engineering projects permitting them to concomitantly be addressed on empirical, pragmatic, normative and purposive levels. Whilst the importance and potential benefits of working in this manner are widely accepted, a key inhibitor to the adoption and embedding of TD working in practice is the variety and diversity of design tools employed and their relative levels of ability to support TD working. To explore what can be thought of as the enabling or inhibiting roles of design tools, this paper appraises common design tools and classifies them according to the level of transdisciplinary working that they permit. This is achieved by considering the capturable level of design rationale for each design tool as per Jantsch and contextualising each within the design process. The discussion considers how these findings are reflected in practice and how chains of particular tools could be employed to support TD working across the different phases of the design process. In total 41 tools are appraised with 6 acting as enablers of interdisciplinary working but none identified as truly TD. Most notably, a much greater proportion of TD enabling design tools are available to support the early phases of design. Further work might consider how education can be used to ensure effective use of current design tools and how knowledge transfer can and should be, applied to enable use of TD tool chains in industry.
International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2021
The term 'transdisciplinary' is receiving increased attention within engineering academic and res... more The term 'transdisciplinary' is receiving increased attention within engineering academic and research funding communities. We survey authors of papers presented at the 27 th ISTE International Transdisciplinary Engineering Conference (TE2020) to answer two research questions: 1) How do authors define transdisciplinary engineering? 2) What do authors perceive differentiates interdisciplinary engineering research from transdisciplinary engineering research? Responses from thirty-four participants (50%), are qualitatively analysed. Results show that for the three characteristics commonly used in characterisations of transdisciplinarity (goal, collaboration and integration), multiple concepts exist. These range from generic expressions which overlap with how interdisciplinarity is defined within the general literature, to stronger, more definitive expressions. Conclusions find that rather than a single definition a transdisciplinary landscape exists. To enable users to define where they sit in the transdisciplinary landscape, we create a framework enabling users to map their position under the three key characteristics of goal, collaboration and integration.
Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack ... more Despite increasing attention and calls for transdisciplinary (TD) working in engineering, a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a TD research approach persists. This paper aims to reduce ambiguity by characterising TD and identifying when the TD approach should or should not be used. Specifically, the research answers the question: when might it be beneficial to take a TD rather than a single, multi or interdisciplinary research approach? Survey responses from twenty-eight authors (50%) who presented papers at the 28 th ISTE International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE2021) were qualitatively analysed. Findings show a TD approach to research is beneficial for complex problem-solving. New understanding reveals that TD could be used to evidence scientific and social impact, and that context determines the appropriateness of TD adoption. However, even where TD adoption is deemed appropriate, institutional barriers to adoption may exist. In other words, the work environment (culture) in which we do our research, may determine if any meaningful benefits from TD are, or are not realised. Lessons from engineering education are used to discuss how to institutionalise TD, future transdisciplinary engineers and researchers might be taught and socialised in the competencies needed for transdisciplinary research.
Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Oct 31, 2022
Transdisciplinary projects claim to be driven by societal needs and hence it would be expected th... more Transdisciplinary projects claim to be driven by societal needs and hence it would be expected that motivations are driven by the societal and project beneficiaries. Projects conducted in respect of COVID-19 instinctively meet transdisciplinary status with societal benefit being paramount. This paper presents an analysis of six transdisciplinary COVID-19 projects, assessing the motivations of twenty-nine participants involved. Primary data was collated through semistructured individual interviews and thematic analysis was used to evaluate the reasons for individual participation. The findings show that of the motivations for participation, ethical motivation was 16%, personal fulfilment was 21% and being able to help was 19%. The extrinsic motivations such as expected rewards and benefits was still present but remained very low at 6%. The qualitative responses from the interviews give an indication that although a societal challenge, the motivations remained more of a personal nature aligning with the societal need.
Advances in transdisciplinary engineering, Oct 31, 2022
Industry 5.0' has been used as a term to describe alternative visions of the future of industry. ... more Industry 5.0' has been used as a term to describe alternative visions of the future of industry. Recently, a European Union Research and Innovation Policy Brief used the label Industry 5.0 to define a vision which is not driven by a new technology, but by a changed perception of value founded on human-centricity, sustainability and resilience. Transdisciplinary Engineering (TE) seeks to integrate knowledge and understanding to reduce the negative effect of engineering innovation on the environment and society, thus there likely exists a natural synergy between Industry 5.0 and TE. Consequently, in this paper we seek to understand what the opportunities and challenges of the emergence of Industry 5.0 might be for the field of TE now and in the future. A workshop involving multidisciplinary experts was convened to brainstorm and then explore perceptions. Opportunities include new research areas and potential access to funding. Challenges center on the extent that TE could, or should, align itself with Industry 5.0, and the lack of consensus around definitions of TE. Conclusions find that to attract funding, the community should clearly articulate how TE differs from complimentary and overlapping fields such as interdisciplinarity and systems engineering.
Transdisciplinary working is claimed to be critical to meet future societal needs, with engineers... more Transdisciplinary working is claimed to be critical to meet future societal needs, with engineers being at the core to provide solutions to these challenges. However, there is little available that enables one to assess whether they or their team have the competencies required. Within this paper we propose a selfassessment framework to ascertain whether design engineers have the competencies which enable transdisciplinary working. We describe how the competencies were identified using a systematic literature review, we then describe how we utilised coded decision trees to classify which disciplinary level a particular competency can enable. In total 76 competencies were classified; the results of the analysis show 20 of these displaying transdisciplinary attributes as defined by Jantsch. The novelty of the approach: (1) In this paper we propose a novel way to map the identified competencies against the levels of Jantsch's hierarchical framework. (2) The proposed framework enables self-assessment of individual or team competencies to assess whether they have the competencies which enable transdisciplinary working. (3) It enables a move towards incorporating transdisciplinary practices in engineering projects.
Life cycle cost is an important consideration for the development and selection of new power gene... more Life cycle cost is an important consideration for the development and selection of new power generation technology. Large nuclear power plants (NPPs) have been subject to capital cost escalation, stemming from delays related to late design changes, procurement issues for major components, and regulatory enforced changes. These factors have contributed to the significant risk premium associated with gigawatt scale “Gen III+” designs, which have incurred significant financing costs. Large NPPs have become prohibitively expensive for many utility investors in liberalized markets and smaller economies. The challenge of reducing upfront capital costs is one of the requirements that have driven the development of innovative Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These designs are said to offer reduced unit cost and reduced risk due to certainty of delivery, which could lead to a lower cost of capital for a utility customer. By offering a product with more cost certainty the SMR could restore inve...
Many modern engineering projects are required to coordinate multiple project teams, utilise distr... more Many modern engineering projects are required to coordinate multiple project teams, utilise distributed resources and integrate knowledge across multiple disciplines. Hence, the execution of these projects needs to involve high volume of remote communications, synchronous or asynchronous interactions, complicated decision-making and control processes. By considering these factors, human-centred management approaches could be problematic at times to handle the large amount of project data and manage the complex project processes. In order to improve the management efficiency and effectiveness, this paper presents an automatic approach on process reconstruction and process visualisation. As shown in a case study, this approach has the potential to support the information reuse, capture process dynamics, enhance process comprehensibility, as well as reduce human intervention in general process management. Keywords : collaborative engineering projects, process management, process recons...
The suppliers of long-life assets such as submarines and airplanes no longer simply sell these as... more The suppliers of long-life assets such as submarines and airplanes no longer simply sell these assets but provide advanced engineering services. In other words companies that traditionally designed and manufactured long-life products now compete through the provision of a service, such as asset availability. These companies face a high level of uncertainty due to the novelty of the process and the long-term nature of services. However, regardless of these uncertainties the service provider needs to estimate the cost and expected profits for such provision. The pricing decision of these service contracts is influenced by multiple factors and considerations and as a minimum the supplying contractor needs to yield suitable profit to sustain their business. From current research it is known that the estimated company profit is often optimistic. This places pressure on both the customer and the service provider. From our research we found examples of reductions in profits for those provi...
Businesses are dynamic environments. If decision support tools do not evolve in line with the org... more Businesses are dynamic environments. If decision support tools do not evolve in line with the organisational requirements they risk suffering from performance decay. This may present as a decline in their use, or a reduction in the value they offer. In collaborationwith National Grid we address this challenge. Our research proposal is that decision support tools should be evaluated for the risk of performance decay. The results of this risk assessment should be used to develop management strategies. Where sustained performance of the existingdecision support tool is the preferred solution, a quality management system approach incorporating continuous improvement should be taken.
Cost estimating is a business process that is critical to the defence sector, where many products... more Cost estimating is a business process that is critical to the defence sector, where many products have low volumes and long life cycles. The nature of a defence system is often unique (for example, a naval platform) which consists of a number of sub-systems and components. For the design of such a system cost estimating is a critical task, in particular the requirement to predict the cost throughout the systems lifetime. The aim of this paper therefore is to discuss an integrated approach that provides a general framework for through life costing in defence systems via the development of: (1) a generic data library to support designers and cost estimators, (2) data searching and transfer mechanisms to support a top-down and bottom-up hybrid cost modelling approach, (3) capturing reliability data to support product services. The paper is divided into several sections, first, a review of relevant research projects concerning integration and data capture for cost modelling. This is fol...
This paper presents our findings from thirteen industrial interviews, to investigate the signific... more This paper presents our findings from thirteen industrial interviews, to investigate the significance of transdisciplinarity (TD) in an industrial context. Thus to gain insight into the resilience of industrial manufacturing in rapidly changing environments and establish what enabling or disabling practices may currently exist. The interviews were conducted as an initial part of a wider case study approach being undertaken by the TREND research team and were semi-structured in format. We present the background and research questions being addressed and outline our exploratory research approach. The analysis of interview transcriptions is provided answering our research questions and identifying any emerging themes. Of the industry interviews, only five interviewees had heard of the term TD, the definition of TD varied between companies and did not align with the primordial system of Jantsch’s work. A number of focal enabling and disabling industrial themes emerge from the interviews...
Over the past few decades there has been increasing dialogue around transdisciplinary (TD) resear... more Over the past few decades there has been increasing dialogue around transdisciplinary (TD) research. However, within engineering it has received less attention and there remains a lack of consensus over both the definition, and the methods through which to conduct transdisciplinary engineering (TE). Within this paper we describe and outline the salient points of TD and the Design Research Methodology (DRM) and create a proposal to combine the two. A case study of National Grid Electric Transmissions (NGET) demonstrates application. The case study shows that through TE DRM a conceptual process for managing decision support tool (DST) performance is created. This process integrates academic and non-academic perspectives. Evaluation, by NGET subject matter experts found the process to be logical and useable within NGET, with approval given to proceed to implementation. Conclusions find that application of TE DRM increases the possibility of industry uptake and the potential impact of a...
Highlights: Nuclear power cost experts are consistent in their understanding of what will impac... more Highlights: Nuclear power cost experts are consistent in their understanding of what will impact on the commercial success of a near-term deployable SMR. Stakeholders from different lifecycle stages were interviewed to elicit their preferences on SMR cost characteristics. AHP with expert elicitation is used to rank the relative importance of cost factors influencing the LCOE. Project financing is ranked as the most important cost factor influencing the commercial success of the SMR. Further research is required to understand the interdependencies between cost factors influencing the LCOE.
International Journal of Production Economics, 2017
Long-term support agreements such as availability-based contracts are often associated with the s... more Long-term support agreements such as availability-based contracts are often associated with the servitization of business models in such sectors as defence aerospace. In practice, there is no unambiguous way of linking availability and service outcomes from an operational perspective; rather, the focus tends to be placed almost exclusively on product-related metrics. To address this gap, this paper outlines a conceptual model of how advanced service outcomes should be delivered under an availability-based contract for defence avionics. The model is grounded on empirical evidence gathered through an in-depth case study in the UK defence sector. The research is one of the first attempts to shift the focus away from a notion of availability as a property designed into a piece of equipment, and to detect its emergence from the interactions between relevant socio-technical elements within the underpinning advanced service delivery system, or Product-Service-System (PSS), identified by analysis of empirical data. This research provides insights into where action should be taken within a PSS that would be difficult to obtain from the analysis of field reliability data alone. It also provides a conceptual model that can assist the formulation of scientific models based on quantitative data such as multiechelon inventory systems for repairable items. While the transferability of the findings is limited by the specificity of the case, a detailed description is provided to facilitate comparison with other cases.
Nowadays manufacturing involves high volume of complex operational processes, distributed resourc... more Nowadays manufacturing involves high volume of complex operational processes, distributed resources and international/intersectional collaborations, which cause the evaluation of performance for related engineering projects to become a challenge. The performance of project is a key factor that determines the quality of output, and its temporal changes could reflect the status of project execution at current time, as well as indicate the potential issues for the near future. As a result, monitoring the change of performance is an essential approach to ensure the project execution is on track. It could raise awareness of project participants upon any issue occurs, and enable them to make appropriate decisions on a real-time basis. To facilitate the evaluation of project performance in collaborative environments, this research aims to propose an automatic approach to extracting key performance indicators (KPIs) from project related data, and also to demonstrate how the domain knowledge can facilitate the process of KPIs identification and visualisation.
The increasing complexity of current engineering projects causes uncertainty for project executio... more The increasing complexity of current engineering projects causes uncertainty for project execution, and creates challenges for project design and management. To attempt to reuse the information of previously completed projects for current project planning, this paper introduces the definition of the “Engineering Document Pattern” (EDP), and proposes some EDP identification methods. EDP is really a form of knowledge and activity representation and as an approach is suitable for representing large scale projects, and can potentially be used to help decision makers understand the initial requirements and potential risks of current projects. The experimental study evaluates the EDP identification methods by analysing and profile some completed In-Service design repair reports, and the result shows the identified EDPs accurately represent the report-related project characteristics.
Engineering projects are often highly complex, unique and safety critical, which can lead to the ... more Engineering projects are often highly complex, unique and safety critical, which can lead to the complex engineering processes and activity. To ensure the success of engineering projects, the projects often have to comply with stringent regulations and company processes. In addition, the increasing in-service lifespan of products has led to an increase in the number of redesign and maintenance projects. These are often run concurrently in a highly time-constrained and high-pressured environment, which has led to the monitoring of the sequence of engineering activity becoming difficult. This is because, the sequence of engineering activity is typically achieved through the ability of the project managers to use their knowledge, experience and constant contact with the engineers. However, the viability of the current method to manually generate and evaluate the activity plan is becoming an issue due to the increasing number and distributed nature of these projects. As regulatory and/or company process demands, the data relating to the project is often archived and thus, provides a wealth of potentially useful information that could be utilised in the management of current projects. Therefore, this research investigates the potential value provided by the automatic construction of past project activity sequences, and proposes analytical methods to represent the normality of project activity based on the extracted patterns from their sequences. The evaluation applies industrial data, and shows that the results generated by the proposed approach can accurately reflect the similarity and normality of the projects.
Uploads
Papers by Linda Newnes
To facilitate the evaluation of project performance in collaborative environments, this research aims to propose an automatic approach to extracting key performance indicators (KPIs) from project related data, and also to demonstrate how the domain knowledge can facilitate the process of KPIs identification and visualisation.