Trends and Challenges in System Optimization

Proceedings of the International Workshop on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization, Pretoria, S. Africa, August 7-10, 2000

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES IN SYSTEM DESIGN OPTIMIZATION

Panos Y. Papalambros Nestor F. Michelena Optimal Design Laboratory Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

ABSTRACT Design optimization is now a mainstream discipline in high technology product development and a natural extension of the ever-increasing analytical abilities of computer-aided engineering. Business factors, such as globalization, outsourcing, supply-chain management, and rapid new product deployment, are placing increased emphasis on a “systems” approach to product design. Technological factors, such as the emergence of new technologies at the intersection of traditional ones (e.g., MEMS, nanotechnologies, and biotechnologies) and the widespread use of the internet, are also forcing increased emphasis on the same “systems” approach. As a result, there has been an increased need to study design optimization methods that can address effectively the “system” problem. In this article we view a system as a collection of entities that might be properly structured so that some form of decomposition is possible. The problem has two parts: finding a proper system partition that captures an appropriate structure, and solving the partitioned problem with a coordination method that guarantees some form of convergence that is meaningful for the original undecomposed problem. We review some key ideas in these two issues and we show how they can be used effectively in product development processes, such as target cascading, product family design, and combined design and control of “smart” artifacts. 1 INTRODUCTION

Perhaps one of the few agreed-upon characterizations of the world today is its “complexity.” This complexity is nothing new, but the present emphasis stems from an often undeclared desire to deal with it directly. This desire in...