Preliminary Product Design Based on the Cumulative Functions Concept

Abstract

This article presents the new concept of cumulative functions and its use in the preliminary product design phase. The first part of the article concentrates on the cumulative functions concept. There is a description from the manufacturer’s perspective of product functions followed by the customer’s perspective of product functions. Combining these perspectives leads to the creation of the new cumulative functions concept. The second part of the article concentrates on preliminary product design, where the cumulative functions are used. It consists of three main parts: Morphological analysis, Crude design structures and Evaluation of product design variants.