Industrial Product Design

Purpose-With the release of headsets such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift in 2016, fully immersive virtual reality (VR) technology has become available for industrial designers to represent and communicate design ideas. However, how this development will affect industrial design education practice is not clear enough yet. The purpose of this study is to reveal and discuss the current status of using VR in industrial design education and potentials of it. Design/methodology/approach-In the first part of the study, the use of computer technology in industrial design education and how VR can be positioned in the existing system is discussed by the acceptance of "design" as "representation". In the second part, the literature review carried out to unveil and analyse the efforts for using VR in industrial design practice and education is presented. The results of the review are interpreted together with the design process in industrial design education. Findings-VR has the potential for changing the operating ways of not only sketching, visualising, modelling, prototyping, presenting, demonstrating and evaluating design ideas, but also getting inspiration and collaborating in industrial design education. However, it is first necessary to solve the issue of how it will be integrated into industrial design education. Originality/value-This paper presents the preliminary presumptions regarding the integration of VR into industrial design education that can contribute to future studies.

This paper describes the development of CADET, a stand-alone Computer-Aided Design Evaluation Tool [1], into an Internet-based implementation (WebCADET). The original CADET was used as a decision support system for evaluating conceptual designs of various classes  of consumer products. CADET was implemented using a commercial expert system shell (Flex) and was deployed as a stand-alone system, validating the models underpinning the design evaluation methodology.
Current trends in product design and development are towards more flexible and distributed organisations where various aspects of product design are being subcontracted to independent and/or dispersed enterprises. Consequently design expertise will fragment unless action is taken to preserve and improve such knowledge and information through facilitating greater communication and collaboration.
Stand-alone systems fare badly in this new environment. A system that requires a specific hardware and operating system delivery environment may  meet resistance from potential users who prefer a more flexible environment. Cross-platform systems require either significant development to support multiple environments or implementation in a platform-neutral language such as Java which is not without its own problems. Maintaining the currency of knowledge in expert systems is an arduous task, but unless updated versions are distributed to the user community, such efforts are in vain. First-generation expert systems were islands of knowledge, unable and unwilling to bridge to other sources of information and knowledge. Today the Internet and in particular the World Wide Web provides access to vast quantities of information. By tapping the on-line knowledge resources, decision support systems can better justify their recommendations and direct the user to alternative answers.

In this paper we introduce a vision for a new type of domestic appliance, a soft-appliance, constructed from aggregations of elementary network services. The vision is based on the possibility of ‘deconstructing’, logically, conventional home appliances such as TVs into their elemental functions which may then be combined in novel ways with other deconstructed services to generate soft-appliance of a person’s own choosing. Additionally our aim is to describe the computer science challenges involved in fulfilling this vision. An essential component of this vision is a concept called a MAp (metaappliance/ application); a semantic data template that describes the soft or virtual-appliance that can be instantiated by manufacturers and end-users in a way that redefines the nature of an appliance and which can be created, owned and traded. We also present a socio-technical framework to motivate the discussion of this research agenda, especially the use of the agent technology that would be needed to realise this vision.

This research presents a design proposal for extremes where men and women perform similar tasks in the same workstations. Within assembly lines hydraulic presses that allow to be adjusted to different heights are used. However, at the initial workstation of the cell production, a high fixed workstation is used. In addition, workers have to handle axis of different dimensions. For example, the shortest is 50 centimeters while the longest is 90 centimeters. Medical service department has received constant complaints from workers assigned to this workstation, which reported mostly musculoskeletal discomfort in shoulders, neck and back. The objective of this research is to develop a new workstation design that allows adjusting its dimensions according to the worker ́s statures and part ́s sizes used in the assembly lines. Ergonomic assessment was developed applying the Muscular Fatigue Assessment (MFA) and Biomechanics analysis before and after workstation implementation. The MFA method shows very high levels of ergonomic risk on shoulders, neck, back, and hands. While the biomechanical evaluation shows overload on shoulder (321%), elbow (490%), L5/S1 (518%), and hip (118%). A workstation that reduces risk levels from very high to medium is designed and also eliminates overloading in shoulder and ankle. This is confirmed by the methods of assessment after implementation of the new design workstation.

En el presente trabajo se analizan las nuevas teorías y conceptos relacionados con la gestión del diseño, que centran su atención en las experiencias de las personas y en las características particulares de cada una de ellas. Específicamente, con un enfoque desde el Diseño Industrial, se estudiarán los alcances y las relaciones entre estas definiciones conceptuales —ahora visibilizadas— que siempre pertenecieron al campo proyectual de la disciplina y se intentará identificar cómo influyen en la innovación y el desarrollo de productos. Finalmente, se concluirá acerca de su relevancia estratégica para las organizaciones públicas y privadas, y la incorporación al conjunto de las actividades profesionales.

The paper analyzes the processes involved in the design and development of new products, in different business scales, depending on the approach offering the perspective of industrial design, marketing and engineering, by describing the methodologies proposed by other authors. From the conclusions reached in the analysis of a series of casoss, a methodological approach that integrates the sequence of steps comprising the process of developing products and linking tools proposed by the mentioned disciplines to meet the expectations formulated their field.

RESUMEN. El trabajo analiza los procesos implicados en el diseño y desarrollo de nuevos productos, en distintas escalas empresariales, según el enfoque que ofrecen la perspectiva del diseño industrial, del marketing y de la ingeniería, mediante la descripción de las metodologías propuestas por distintos autores. A partir de las conclusiones alcanzadas en el análisis de una serie de casoss, se formula una propuesta metodológica que integra las secuencias de las etapas que comprende el proceso de desarrollo de productos y que vincula las herramientas que proponen las mencionadas disciplinas para cumplir con las expectativas de su campo.

The phenomenon of entrepreneurship has been installed in the Argentine imaginary and its dissemination has been possible, due to the construction of microsubjective discourses directed at young professionals who seek individual and self-organized ways of insertion into the labor market (Bonsiepe, 2013), acting in a disjointed way with industry and the productive sector. In this way, “industry simulations” are often created that differ from what it really is to start a business. It is intended to delve into three problematic nuclei: 1) The La Plata entrepreneurial ecosystem (EEP): The replacement of the figure of the individual entrepreneur, towards a theoretical model that focuses on the “entrepreneurial process”, raises the need to understand how the actors co-evolve of the system and how are the governance relationships between them. 2) The study plan taught in the Industrial Design career at UNLP and its relevance regarding the specific skills and knowledge to undertake in design; 3) The undertakings in which the industrial designers graduated from UNLP participate. Period 2001-2019, in which these self-management practices were exacerbated by designers (Correa, 2018). General objectives: 1) Characterize the EEP, define its constituent actors and the possible articulations with the industrial designers graduated from the UNLP; 2) Analyze the academic training of DI graduates in relation to specific topics and skills necessary to undertake; 3) Characterize the enterprises in which DI graduates of the National University of La Plata participate, and identify the main practices of entrepreneurship in Industrial Design. Specific objectives: 1) To carry out an "entrepreneurial map of La Plata". It is intended to generate a document for those design professionals who decide to undertake from this disciplinary field. This will provide the possibility of visualizing in a practical way, the actors that participate in the La Plata ecosystem and their interactions, and thus establish more effective linkage strategies with these agents; 2) Contrast and relate the actions carried out in the practice of entrepreneurial industrial design observed in the case studies, and those design methodologies taught during the training of industrial design at UNLP. 3) Based on the case studies, it is intended to identify the main features of said ventures and identify various typologies and categories that can be replicated by future ventures.

RESUMEN. El fenómeno del emprendedorismo se ha instalado en el imaginario argentino y su difusión, ha sido posible, debido a la construcción de discursos microsubjetivos dirigidos a los jóvenes profesionales que buscan modos de inserción individuales y auto organizados al mercado laboral (Bonsiepe, 2013), actuando de manera desarticulada con la industria y el sector productivo. De este modo se crean con frecuencia “simulacros de industria” que difieren de lo que realmente es poner en marcha un emprendimiento. Se pretende profundizar en tres núcleos problemáticos: 1) El ecosistema emprendedor platense (EEP): El remplazo de la figura del emprendedor individual, hacia un modelo teórico que se centra en el “proceso emprendedor”, plantea la necesidad de comprender cómo coevolucionan los actores del sistema y cómo son las relaciones de gobernanza entre ellos. 2) El plan de estudio impartido en la carrera de Diseño Industrial de la UNLP y su pertinencia respecto a las habilidades y conocimientos específicos para emprender en diseño; 3) Los emprendimientos en los cuales participan los diseñadores industriales egresados de la UNLP. Período 2001-2019, en el cual se exacerbaron esas prácticas de autogestión por parte de los diseñadores (Correa, 2018). Objetivos generales: 1) Caracterizar el EEP, definir sus actores constitutivos y las posibles articulaciones posibles con los diseñadores industriales egresados de la UNLP; 2) Analizar la formación académica de los egresados de DI en relación a temas y capacidades específicas necesarias para emprender; 3) Caracterizar los emprendimientos en los que participen DI egresados de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata, e identificar las principales prácticas del emprendedorismo en Diseño Industrial. Objetivos particulares: 1) Realizar un “mapa emprendedor platense”. Se pretende generar un documento destinado a aquellos profesionales del diseño que decidan emprender desde este campo disciplinar. Esto brindará la posibilidad de visualizar de manera práctica, los actores que participan del ecosistema platense y sus interacciones, y de este modo establecer estrategias de vinculación más efectivas con dichos agentes; 2) Contrastar y relacionar las acciones llevadas a cabo en la práctica del diseño industrial emprendedor observadas en los casos de estudio, y aquellas metodologías de diseño impartidas durante la formación del diseño industrial en la UNLP. 3) En base a los casos de estudio, se pretende, identificar los principales rasgos de dichos emprendimientos e identificar diversas tipologías y categorías que puedan replicarse por futuros emprendimientos.

This book gathers experiences, reflections and new pedagogical proposals that are being incorporated to the teaching practices, in different levels of the technical education in our countries. The authors' interventions, which cover different perspectives and depth, allow us to understand and evaluate: the trajectories that technical education has had since its origins with the advances and setbacks it has experienced with political, economic and productive changes; the methodologies to incorporate the new models of industrial production; the experiences of education for entrepreneurship; and, technical-professional education in development processes.

RESUMEN. Este libro recoge experiencias, reflexiones y nuevas propuestas pedagógicas que se vienen incorporando a las prácticas docentes, en diferentes niveles de la educación técnica en nuestros países. Las intervenciones de los autores que abarcan diferentes perspectivas y grado de profundidad, nos permiten comprender y evaluar: las trayectorias que la educación técnica ha tenido desde sus orígenes con los avances y retrocesos que ha experimentado con los cambios políticos, económicos y productivos; las metodologías para incorporar los nuevos modelos de producción industrial; las experiencias de educación para el emprendimiento; y, la educación técnico-profesional en los procesos de desarrollo.

The project is about developing the user experience of an existing sterilizer aimed at the domestic market. This paper attempts to find the insights and the needs of a small portable household appliance that is relevant to the home context. The results found from the user study suggest criteria for home appliance units in general and 3 main keywords were developed using the results. The paper shows how the results found in the user study are used to generate appropriate concepts for small portable home appliances.

In: Advances in Cognitive Ergonomics. Kaber, David B.; Boy, Guy (ed.) CRC Press, Boca Raton, USA. pgs. 336-345. 2010. ISBN: 9781439834916. ABSTRACT: Every product design implies in a step of alternatives generation where creativity is employed. Creativity is one of the more active skills of the human beings; by it is possible to solve ergonomic problems and develop innovative ideas. The techniques able for exercising the right hemisphere of the brain, responsible for symbolic thinking and creativity, can be used in an "ad hoc" or "explicit" way. This paper presents evidence about the efficiency of their "explicit" use when compared to the "ad hoc" one, and also about which conditions can impact and be impacted in this use.

Este artigo descreve a literatura sobre ergonomia e assentos e seu papel para o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta que busca adaptar conjuntos de mesas e cadeiras residenciais vendidos no mercado popular como commodities, competindo basicameente por preço. Tais produtos apresentam defeitos de natureza ergonômica que podem ser melhorados com a aplicação de certos princípios relacionados a medidas antropométricas e posicionamento ou postura do corpo. A plataforma ergonômica é esse meio, que busca facilitar a aplicação desses princípios pelas empresas fabricantes, reduzindo a etapa de prototipagem para que se chegue a um modelo final com medidas e angulações finais do produto.