Taxonomy of selected design tools for cost-effective design

Abstract

For a company to be competitive, it must design a product or provide a service in the most effective and efficient way. This project studies four design tools: Quality Function Deployment, Taguchi Methods, Design for Assembly, and Activity-Based Costing. The need for a better design process is addressed by means of a particular taxonomy.

The three objectives of the project are: 1) to make the managers, designers, and others, aware of when and why the design tools are needed; 2) to make the different tools easily understandable; 3) to create a mind-set for good design rules, and to improve the ability of association among the different design tools.