Design Sciences Series: Set-Based Design

The ASNE Design Sciences Series of workshops and conferences will explore emerging design approaches, methods, processes and tools for the successful design of naval engineering projects. This first conference focuses on Set-Based Design (SBD), a design method that has proven useful for projects with a large number of design variables, tight coupling among design variables, conflicting requirements, flexibility in requirements allowing for trades, or technologies and design problems that are not well understood. SBD is characterized by

1. Communicating Broad Sets of Design Values
2. Developing sets of design solutions
3. Evaluating sets of design solutions by multiple domains of expertise
4. Delaying design decisions to eliminate regions of the design space until adequate information is known, and
5. Documenting the rationale for eliminating a region of the design space. 

The Toyota Motor Corporation developed the SBD method to guide their product development processes which complemented the Toyota Production System and enabled Toyota to achieve great success within the automotive industry. Within the Department of the Navy, SBD has been applied to several programs including the ship to shore connector, amphibious combat vehicle, and the small surface combatant task force. These and other programs have demonstrated SBD's value in enabling senior leaders to make informed decisions. Consequently, there is great interest in applying SBD to more projects and improving the processes and tools for implementing SBD. This conference will explore the SBD method and present the results of recent relevant research.