Adaptable mechatronic engineering design processes: Process reference model and methodology

Abstract

Mechatronic product development is a complex endeavor. Process and project management are approaches expected to handle the arising complexity in engineering design. Formal yet adaptable design processes have been identified as best practice in empirical studies, but an effective management requires appropriate process models. While general design methodologies in literature do exist, they are often very abstract and need to be adapted to an organization’s context as well as the context of its individual projects. In this paper, we present a reference model for mechatronic system design along with an initial methodology for systematic organization-specific process concretization. The reference model has been developed from a literature basis as well as in cooperation with five SMEs with a background in mechatronic system development, performing an analysis of the company-specific processes regarding commonality and differences.