Design Methods and Design Management


Academic Staff

Fields of competence

The aim of our research is to develop the engineering methods and processes of tomorrow for industrial product development and university teaching in mechanical engineering. Our research focuses on current challenges in advanced systems engineering and the development of cyber-physical systems. In innovation formats, we generate direct impact in development practice. Our unique selling point is the holistic view of development methods and processes from corporate strategy to innovation management, product management and pre-development through to technical problem solving with the human being at the center.

  • SGE - System Generation Engineering: Develop where it pays off. We support you in aligning your development activities for new product generations based on your core competencies and suitable for your product portfolio.
  • ASD - Agile Systems Design: Structured planning - agile execution: Innovate flexibly with measure and purpose. We develop methods to determine and implement the right level of agility and measure the success of the transformation.
  • Product development in distributed teams: Product development in times of globalization: We digitalize product development and enable worldwide collaboration across development locations and cultures.
  • Knowledge management: We enable your development by a pro-active integration of knowledge management methods.
  • Product strategy & foresight: Looking ahead is essential in order to be successful tomorrow! The use of situation- and demand-oriented methods of strategic potential identification is therefore absolutely essential in order to plan innovative product architectures and system generations.
  • Innovation management: Innovation requires market success. The necessary building blocks for this are a valid product profile based on customer needs, new technical solutions or inventions and a successful market launch with the right business model. We develop methods and tools integrated into holistic innovation processes that support all of the above.
  • Knowledge management: We empower your product development through the proactive integration of knowledge management methods.
  • Design methods: The problem-solving methodology SPALTEN is a universal methodology for systematic problem solving. We are researching virtual design methods to exploit creative potential.
  • Sustainable product development and circular economy: Higher-value R strategies (reuse, refurbish/repair, remanufacture) offer great potential, but pose major challenges in terms of implementation. We are researching methods and processes to develop products for the circular economy at a cross-generational subsystem level and to consider the associated production system (product-production co-design).
  • System modelling and modularization: The complexity of today's cyber-physical systems can be countered by (model-based) systems engineering (MBSE) and view-based development. In order to remain competitive over the entire product life cycle, updates and upgrades must be planned in advance.

Contact

Publications


2022
Foresight in Product Development - A Review on Existing Understandings and Approaches
Thümmel, C.; Schlegel, M.; Kübler, M. S.; Schwarz, S. E.; Siebe, A.; Albers, A.; Nolte, B.; Sommer, S.; Vietor, T.
2022. Proceedings of the 1st Australian International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, 261–271, IEOM Society International. doi:10.46254/AU01.20220086
New Work - Erfahrungen der Piloten - Pilotprojekt von IPEK
Dühr, K.
2022. (I. Hartmann-Dietsch & M. Landgraf, Eds.)
SGE – Systemgenerationsentwicklung : Analyse und Zusammenhänge von Entwicklungspfaden in der Produktentstehung
Albers, A.; Kürten, C.; Rapp, S.; Birk, C.; Hünemeyer, S.; Kempf, C.
2022. Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000151151
Product-Production-Co-Design for Agile Production of Electric Traction Motors
Fleischer, J.; Doppelbauer, M.; Albers, A.; Fraider, F.; Halwas, M.; Schmitt, M.; Breining, P.; Braumandl, A.; Kübler, M.; Bause, K.; Ott, S.
2022. T. E. A. for Electromobility (Ed.), 35th International Electric Vehicle Symposium and Exhibition
Final Report Sino-German Industry 4.0 Factory Automation Platform
Albers, A.; Ovtcharova, J.; Becker, J.; Lanza, G.; Zhang, W.; Zhang, T.; Qiao, F.; Ma, Y.; Wang, J.; Wu, Z.; Ehrmann, C.; Gönnheimer, P.; Behrendt, M.; Mandel, C.; Stürmlinger, T.; Klippert, M.; Kimmig, A.; Schade, F.; Yang, S.; Heider, I.; Xie, S.; Song, K.; Peng, J.; Goncalves, P.; Kampfmann, R.; Schlechtendahl, J.; Kattner, J.; Straub, C.; May, M.; Zhu, Z.; Bai, O.; Lin, Y.; Yang, Z.; Ding, L.; Rossol, A.-S.
2022. (J. Fleischer, Ed.), Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). doi:10.5445/IR/1000143693
Implications of Creating Solution Concepts Based on the Use of References
Schlegel, M.; Pfaff, F.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. Proceedings of the Design Society, 2, 781–790. doi:10.1017/pds.2022.80
Potentials and Needs of Research References in Corporate Product Engineering
Kempf, C.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. ISPIM Connects Athens – The Role of Innovation: Past, Present, Future, on 28-30 November 2022
Descriptive model for evolutionary innovation research in Product Generation Engineering
Pfaff, F.; Eberhardt, C.; Patlakis, C.; Nowak, M.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. The XXXIII ISPIM Innovation Conference "Innovating in a Digital World", Copenhagen, Denmark on 05 June to 08 June 2022
Review of Evolutionary Approaches in Design Research to Support PGE - Product Generation Engineering
Pfaff, F.; Kempf, S.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. DS 118: Proceedings of NordDesign 2022, Copenhagen, Denmark, 16th - 18th August 2022 : "How product and manufacturing design enable sustainable companies and societies". Ed.: N.H. Mortensen, 12, The Design Society. doi:10.35199/NORDDESIGN2022.15
Evaluation of Engineering Changes Based on Variations from the Model of PGE – Product Generation Engineering in an Automotive Wiring Harness
Albers, A.; Altner, M. M.; Rapp, S.; Valeh, B.; Redinger, H.; Winter, R.
2022. Proceedings of the Design Society, 303–312, Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/pds.2022.32
Product-Production-CoDesign: An Approach on Integrated Product and Production Engineering Across Generations and Life Cycles
Albers, A.; Lanza, G.; Klippert, M.; Schäfer, L.; Frey, A.; Hellweg, F.; Müller-Welt, P.; Schöck, M.; Krahe, C.; Nowoseltschenko, K.; Rapp, S.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 167–172, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.231
Improving engineering change management by introducing a standardised description for engineering changes for the automotive wiring harness
Altner, M.; Redinger, H.; Valeh, B.; Kevin, E.; Neckenich, J.; Rapp, S.; Winter, R.; Albers, A.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 538–543, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.291
Improving distributed collaboration at Porsche Engineering Services GmbH through the application of the EDiT Method
Duehr, K.; Burkhardt, M.; Endepols, S.; Machauer, T.; Albers, A.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 239–244, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.243
Gaining insights through qualitative modelling - industrial project analysis with focus on derived hypotheses based on the contact and channel approach
Grauberger, P.; Bremer, F.; Pfaff, F.; Tröster, P.; Nelius, T.; Eisenmann, M.; Stöberl, T.; Albers, A.; Matthiesen, S.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 478–483, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.281
Analysis of Factors Influencing Knowledge Transfer between the Product and Production System Development as well as Production
Klippert, M.; Preißner, A.; Rust, H.; Albers, A.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 340–348, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.260
The EDiT method guideline - enabling distributed teams through situation-adequate method application
Albers, A.; Duehr, K.; Zech, K.; Rapp, S.
2022. 32nd CIRP Design Conference (CIRP Design 2022) - Design in a changing world. Ed.: N. Anwer, 155–160, Elsevier. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2022.05.229
Identifying Factors Influencing the Design of a Suitable Knowledge Base in Product Engineering Projects
Kempf, C.; Sanke, F.; Heimicke, J.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. Proceedings of the Design Society, 2, 733–742. doi:10.1017/pds.2022.75
Interaction of Agility and Flexible Production Systems in Innovation [in press]
Schöck, M.; Voß, D.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2022. XXXIII ISPIM Innovation Conference "Innovating in a Digital World", Copenhagen, Denmark on 05 June to 08 June 2022, Lappeenranta University Press
2021
Automotive UX design and data-driven development: Narrowing the gap to support practitioners
Ebel, P.; Orlovska, J.; Hünemeyer, S.; Wickman, C.; Vogelsang, A.; Söderberg, R.
2021. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 11, Art.-Nr.: 100455. doi:10.1016/j.trip.2021.100455
Herausforderungen bei der Systems-Engineering-basierten Definition von Anforderungen anhand von Bedarfen in der Automobilentwicklung
Kubin, A.; Etri, M.; Dühr, K.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.; Eckhardt, A.; Kattwinkel, D.; Bender, B.
2021. 16. Symposium für Vorausschau und Technologieplanung - SVT 2021, Berlin
Methods and Tools to Identify References in Product Engineering
Kempf, C.; Derst, M.; Hirschter, T.; Heimicke, J.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2021. ISPIM Connects Valencia – Reconnect, Rediscover, Reimagine, on 30 November to 2 December 2021. Event Proceedings
Wertstromkinematik – Produktionssysteme neu gedacht: Interdisziplinäres Forscherteam arbeitet an der Produktionstechnik der Zukunft (Teil 2)
Kimmig, A.; Schöck, M.; Mühlbeier, E.; Oexle, F.; Fleischer, J.; Bönsch, J.; Ovtcharova, J.; Hahn, J.; Grunwald, A.; Albers, A.; Rapp, S.; Hagenmeyer, V.; Scholz, S. G.; Schmidt, A.; Müller, T.; Becker, J.; Schade, F.; Beyerer, J.; Rehak, J.; Zwick, T.; Pauli, M.; Nuß, B.; Lanza, G.; Schild, L.; Overbeck, L.
2021. Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, 116 (12), 935–939. doi:10.1515/zwf-2021-0207
The positive impact of agile retrospectives on the collaboration of distributed development teams – A practical approach on the example of Bosch engineering GmbH
Duehr, K.; Efremov, P.; Heimicke, J.; Teitz, E. M.; Ort, F.; Weissenberger-Eibl, M.; Albers, A.
2021. Proceedings of the Design Society, 3071–3080, Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/pds.2021.568
Selection of reference system elements in the model of PGE - Product generation engineering: Method for the integration of customer and user satisfaction in product planning
Albers, A.; Zimmermann, V.; Marthaler, F.; Bursac, N.; Duehr, K.; Spadinger, M.
2021. 23rd International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED 2021, Gothenburg, 16 August 2021 through 20 August 2021, 2611–2620, Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/pds.2021.522
Examining the quality of knowledge transfers – the draft of an empirical research
Grum, M.; Klippert, M.; Albers, A.; Gronau, N.; Thim, C.
2021. Proceedings of the Design Society, 1431–1440, Cambridge University Press (CUP). doi:10.1017/pds.2021.404
Virtual-Reality-Umgebung für die Visualisierung von Entwicklungszielgrößen auf Basis des Referenzsystems im Modell der PGE – Produktgenerationsentwicklung
Pfaff, F.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2021. EEE 2021 - Entwerfen Entwickeln Erleben in Produktentwicklung und Design 2021. Hrsg.: R. Stelzer, 175–187, TUDpress. doi:10.25368/2021.20
Characterizing Product Development Processes in Start-ups – an Empirical Study
Pfaff, F.; Kubisch, J.; Rapp, S.; Albers, A.
2021. Proceedings of the XXXII ISPIM Innovation Conference, Berlin, Germany, 20-23 June 2021 (Online). "Innovating our Common Future"
A Validation Environment for a method to enable distributed agile product development teams [in press]
Duehr, K.; Hofelich, M.; Beck, L.; Albers, A.
2021. R&D Management Conference 2021 “Innovation in an Era of Disruption”, Glasgow, Scotland, July, 6th - 8th, 2021
EDiT – Requirements of Enabling Distributed Collaboration in Product Development Teams
Duehr, K.; Schiele, A.; Mueller, H.; Kopp, D.; Hofelich, M.; Albers, A.
2021. The ISPIM Innovation Conference – Innovating Our Common Future, Berlin, Germany on 20-23 June 2021
Knowledge types to support product developers in different product engineering activities - a Systematic Literature Review
Kempf, C.; Klippert, M.; Sadic, E.; Albers, A.
2021. R&D Management Conference 2021 “Innovation in an Era of Disruption”, Glasgow, Scotland, July, 6th - 8th, 2021
Dealing with Market Uncertainty in Product Development – A Systematic Literature Review
Zimmermann, V.; Kempf, C.; Lutz, S.; Bursac, N.; Albers, A.
2021. R&D Management Conference 2021 “Innovation in an Era of Disruption” July, 6th - 8th, 2021, Glasgow, Scotland
Umgang mit Marktunsicherheiten in der Zielsystementwicklung: Methode zur Reduktion von Definitionslücken bei der Konkretisierung des Initialen Zielsystems
Zimmermann, V.; Kempf, C.; Hartmann, L.; Bursac, N.; Albers, A.
2021. EEE 2021 - Entwerfen Entwickeln Erleben in Produktentwicklung und Design 2021. Hrsg.: R. Stelzer, TUDpress
A framework for generating agile methods for product development
Heimicke, J.; Dühr, K.; Krüger, M.; Ng, G.-L.; Albers, A.
2021. Procedia CIRP, 100, 786–791. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2021.05.043
2020
METHOD for the IDENTIFICATION of REQUIREMENTS for DESIGNING REFERENCE PROCESSES
Wilmsen, M.; Gericke, K.; Jäckle, M.; Albers, A.
2020. Proceedings of the Design Society, 1, 1175–1184. doi:10.1017/dsd.2020.301
Charakterisierung der Entwicklungsaufgabe zur methodischen Potentialfindung in der standortverteilten Produktentwicklung
Duehr, K.; Nix, B.; Albers, A.
2020. Nachhaltige Produktentwicklung : KT 2020 : 18. Gemeinsames Kolloquium Konstruktionstechnik : am 1. und 2. Oktober 2020 in Duisburg : Tagungsband. Hrsg.: B. Corves, 221–232. doi:10.17185/duepublico/73094
Literature-based identification of success-relevant influencing factors of distributed product development
Albers, A.; Weissenberger-Eibl, M. A.; Duehr, K.; Zech, K.; Seus, F.
2020. Procedia CIRP, 91, 415–420. doi:10.1016/j.procir.2019.11.007
Defining, Formulating and Modeling Product Functions in the Early Phase in the Model of PGE - Product Generation Engineering
Albers, A.; Fahl, J.; Hirschter, T.; Haag, S.; Hünemeyer, S.; Staiger, T.
2020. 6th IEEE International Symposium on Systems Engineering (ISSE) 2020, October 12 - November 12 (virtual conference), 2020, Vienna, Austria
Intelligente Modularisierung für den skalierbaren Betonbau durch Adaption der Methoden zur Baukastenentwicklung
Albers, A.; Kempf, C.; Renz, R.; Spadinger, M.; Stempniewski, L.; Manny, A.
2020. Betonwerk international, (3), 27
Smart education concept for product development teams in agile innovation projects
Niever, M.; Brandstetter, C.; Hahn, C.; Duehr, K.; Albers, A.
2020. Digital Proceedings of TMCE 2020 : 11-15 May, 2020, Dublin, Ireland / edited by I. Horváth and G. Keenaghan, 431–444, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft)
Benchmarking Of Risk Management Methods With Regard to Variations As A Source Of Risk
Rapp, S.; Altner, M.; Albers, A.
2020. Proceedings of the Design Society: DESIGN Conference, 1, 677–686. doi:10.1017/dsd.2020.292
2019
Comparison of Existing Agile Approaches in the Context of Mechatronic System Development: Potentials and Limits in Implementation
Heimicke, J.; Niever, M.; Zimmermann, V.; Klippert, M.; Marthaler, F.; Albers, A.
2019. Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 1 (1), 2199–2208. doi:10.1017/dsi.2019.226
The Product Developer in the Centre of Product Development: A Systematic Literature Review on Describing Factors
Albers, A.; Heimicke, J.; Spadinger, M.; Degner, N.; Duehr, K.
2019. Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design, 1 (1), 1843–1852. doi:10.1017/dsi.2019.190
Vergleich von Produktinnovationsarten – Worin die Unterschiede wirklich begründet liegen
Heimicke, J.; Zimmermann, V.; Klippert, M.; Spadinger, M.; Albers, A.
2019. Proceedings of Entwerfen - Entwickeln - Erleben. Produktentwicklung und Design 2019, Dresden, 27.-28. Juni 2019. Hrsg.: R.H. Stelzer, 165–180, TUDpress
Einflussfaktoren in der standortverteilten Produktgenerationsentwicklung – Eine literaturbasierte Momentaufnahme
Duehr, K.; Kopp, D.; Walter, B.; Spadinger, M.; Albers, A.
2019. Proceedings of Entwerfen - Entwickeln - Erleben. Produktentwicklung und Design 2019, Dresden, 27.-28. Juni 2019. Hrsg.: R.H. Stelzer, 309–326, TUDpress
An Investigation of Use Cases for Customer-Integrated Product Validation
Reinemann, J.; Hirschter, T.; Fahl, J.; Hünemeyer, S.; Albers, A.
2019. R&D Management Conference 2019, Paris, F, June 17-21, 2019, 10
Identification of Indicators for the Selection of Agile, Sequential and Hybrid Approaches in Product Development
Albers, A.; Hirschter, T.; Fahl, J.; Reinemann, J.; Spadinger, M.; Hünemeyer, S.; Heimicke, J.
2019. 29th CIRP Design Conference - Open Design and Design as exponential technology, Póvoa de Varzim, P, May 8-10, 2019
2018
KaLeP: A Holistic Case-based Action learning Environment to Educate Successful Future Engineers
Niever, M.; Richter, T.; Duehr, K.; Wilmsen, M.; Lanz, L.; Walter, B.; Alber, A.; Hahn, C.
2018. Atiner’s Conference Paper Series, ENGEDU 201 8–2 542
A project monitoring methodology for distributed product generation engineering
Walter, B.; Duehr, K.; Bursac, N.; Albers, A.
2018. Proceedings of the TMCE 2018, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, E, May 7-11, 2018
2017
Kreativitätsmethoden im digitalen Umfeld - Aktive Förderung von Innovationsimpulsen in standortverteilten Entwicklungsteams
Walter, B.; Klippert, M.; Kunz, M.; Albers, A.; Reiß, N.
2017. 15. Gemeinsames Kolloquium Konstruktionstechnik: Interdisziplinäre Produktentwicklung, Duisburg, 05.10. – 06.10.2017. Hrsg.: K. Brökel, 267–276, Universitätsbiblithek. doi:10.17185/duepublico/44616