A methodology for the strategic selection of lightweight design tools along the product development process

Abstract

The combination of progressive population growth and accelerating global warming necessitate a responsible and sustainable use of resources to guarantee the well-being of current and future generations. Therefore, lightweight design emerges as one possibility to reduce material and energy consumptions across the entire product life cycle. The resulting demand for lightweight products and systems has led to a large diversity of strategies, construction techniques and methods (summarized as tools), whose application has not yet proceeded in a systematic and target-oriented way. Therefore, this publication presents a methodology for the situation-appropriate selection of lightweight design tools along the product development process. For this purpose, requirements of lightweight design as well as generic targets and boundary conditions have first been identified, followed by the determination of their interrelationships with existing lightweight design tools based on an expert survey. This facilitates the selection of appropriate tools for optimal lightweight design through a quality-function-deployment-oriented approach. The proposed methodology is validated on the conceptual design of two bicycle trailers (cargo vs. children’s trailer) with distinct requirements. The results indicate that the methodology provides a strategic and systematic guidance for the implementation of lightweight design in products to developers and can thus reduce development efforts.