Axiomatic Design for Creativity, Sustainability, and Industry 4.0

¹ Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 01609 Worcester, MA, USA
² Industrial Engineering and Automation (IEA), Free University of Bozen–Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100 Bolzano, Italy

^* Corresponding author: brown@wpi.edu

Abstract

This paper discusses how to foster creativity and sustainability during Axiomatic Design processes, including Industry 4.0 as an example application. Creativity is generating valuable, new ideas. Innovation is making new ideas viable. This paper explains how AD theory and methods can improve the selection process in evolution-inspired creativity for formulating functional requirements and generating and selecting design parameters. FR formulation is a key to creating value in design solutions. No design solution can be better than its FRs. The FRs must capture the true, underlying essence of customer needs. In addition, an FR must define the solution space appropriately, so that all the best DP candidates are included. Suh’s axioms are used to select the single best DPs from the candidates. In AD, viabilityis established systematically during the axiomatic decomposition and the physical integration processes. Methods for detecting poor design thinking are presented. Metrics and tests for evaluating FRs’ facility for creativity and innovation are proposed. Techniques for improving FRs are proposed, decomposed, and reviewed for their compliance with the axioms.