About Course
Course Summary Learning Objectives Who Should Attend Program Outline About the Lecturers Apply
Axiomatic Design for Complex Systems [2.882s]
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Date: June 15-17, 2009 | Tuition: $2,000 | Continuing Education Units (CEUs): 2.0
Course Summary
Learn how the Axiomatic Design helps top-down thinking when we design complex systems. This course will introduce design principles that will enable you to define problems free from preconceived solutions and help you to see the functional interdependence among the subsystems that is the major source of complexity. We will apply these principles to a number of case studies and industrial examples ranging from large scale systems to nano-scale systems, design for six sigma to design for health-care systems. The instructors will engage the course participants through interactive discussion using many industrial cases including, where possible, the participants’ own problems.
Many of today’s engineered systems are complex systems. For these systems, most challenging problems manifest at the system level. The conventional process for addressing these system problems is to recursively “design/build/test” the individual elements and subsystems that make up the system. This recursive process is ineffective and at times very complex, resulting in deficient designs because important functional requirements (FR) are missed, FRs are coupled by failing to properly understanding interrelationships among subsystems, and designs at different level or scale are inconsistent, etc. This course will explore the Axiomatic Design approach to analyzing problems and synthesizing solutions for complex systems. Axiomatic Design approach emphasizes top-down functional thinking to separate problem definition from concept generation, encouraging completeness and solution neutrality during problem definition. Axiomatic Design process allows decision makers to systematically examine the interrelationships across various subsystems to ensure functional couplings are eliminated or clearly understood. We will introduce the basics of the Axiomatic Design approach, and will examine how each element of the Axiomatic Design process relates to complex systems design problems. We will present the latest developments of the Axiomatic Design approach to complex systems as well as a number of case studies and industrial examples on this important topic.
One example of our case studies is nanoassembly. The degree of complexity increases rapidly as the system shrinks to sub micron scale. The micro- and nano-assembly research should, therefore, focus on finding a proper manufacturing process which can reduce the complexity of assembly. By dividing the large scale-order to smaller ones and having nanostructures self-assemble within each reduced scale-order systems, multi-scale assembly can be achieved at much reduced complexity and a lower cost, which will pave the way to commercial product development. This case will show you how Axiomatic Design and Thinking can be used for a complex problem we are facing.
Fundamentals: Core concepts, understandings and tools (50%)
Latest Developments: Recent advances and future trends (25%)
Industry Applications: Linking theory and real-world (25%)
Lecture: Delivery of material in a lecture format (70%)
Discussion or Groupwork: Participatory learning (20%)
Labs: Demonstrations, experiments, simulations (10%)
Introductory: Appropriate for a general audience (60%)
Specialized: Assumes experience in practice area or field (20%)
Advanced: In-depth explorations at the graduate level (20%)
Learning Objectives
- Understand the important role of top-down functional thinking during problem definition and concept generation phase.
- Grasp fundamental concepts in Axiomatic Design approach such as design domains, design hierarchy, and functional coupling.
- Understand Axiomatic Design approach in the context of other design tools and methodologies such as DFSS.
- Be able to formulate system design problems separate from preconceived solutions and use the concept of functional coupling in concept generation.
- Be able to promote collective agreement in system-level discussions by providing clarity and accountability of system’s functional requirements.
Who Should Attend
This course is suited to anyone who handles complex systems or design, and those who want to improve the quality and performance of their operations and decision making. Attendees will include engineers, division leaders, and program managers in industries such as automotive, aerospace, semiconductors, and health-care.
Program Outline
- Introduction
- Understanding Complexity
- Design (synthesis) vs. analysis
- Functional thinking
- Fundamental concepts: Axiomatic Design (AD)
- Design Domains
- Design decomposition - Top-down design process
- Functional independence
- Information contents
- Axiomatic Design in various design context
- Other design tools and methodologies
- AD and Robust Design (RD) as a unified approach to DFSS
- A primer on Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS)
- Concept and elements of Robust Design
- Integrating AD and RD into DFSS
- Case studies and examples
- Design of a health care delivery system
- Micro-nano system design
- Design of an IC wafer processing system (Track machine)
- Vehicle (automotive) system design
About The Lecturers
Professor Sang-Gook Kim
Dr. Kim is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, and currently serves as an acting director of the Park Center for Complex Systems.
Professor Kim has spent his professional career equally in academia and industry, and has extensive experience in the design and commercialization of microelectromechanical systems, commonly known as MEMS. Prof. Kim has been an MIT Mechanical Engineering faculty since 2000. His areas of research include MEMS by digital printing, piezoelectric micro actuators, energy harvesting, and assembly of carbon nanotubes.
Dr. Kim received a B.S. from Seoul National University (1978), an S.M. from KAIST (1980), and a Ph.D. from MIT (1985) in mechanical engineering.
Dr. Taesik Lee
Dr. Lee is an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). He is also affiliated with MIT as a research engineer in the department of Mechanical Engineering.
His research interest is in the area of product/system design, innovation, and understanding complex systems. Most recently, his work is on the design and operation of health care delivery systems.
Dr. Lee received a B.S. from Seoul National University (1997), and his SM (1999) and Ph.D. (2003) from MIT.
Dr. Hilario Oh
Dr. Oh is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.
Dr. Oh spent 19 years in research on brittle fracture, fatigue, sheet metal forming, digital signal processing and wafer processing. He spent another 20 years in problem solving and in design for quality and productivity of semiconductor equipments and automotive parts and subsystems.
Dr. Oh received a B.S. from University of the Philippines, an MS from Purdue University, and a Ph. D from University of California, Berkeley.
