PARTITIONING AND PLANNING AIDS FOR UNIFIED LIFE-CYCLE ENGINEERING DESIGN

WE ASSERT THAT THE PRINCIPAL ROLE OF AN ENGINEER IS TO MAKE DECISIONS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DESIGN OF AN ARTIFACT. WE DEFINE DECISION-BASED DESIGN AS THE PROCESS OF PARTITIONING, PLANNING AND MAKING DECISIONS TO DESIGN AND ARTIFACT THAT MEETS SPECIFIED OBJECTIVES. DECISIONBASED DESIGN IS A NEW TERM COINED TO EMPHASIZE A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE FROM WHICH TO DEVELOP METHODS FOR DESIGN. IN THE CONTEXT OF DECISION-BASED DESIGN WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP FOR USE IN UNIFIED LIFECYCLE ENGINEERING DESIGN: A CONCEPTUAL MODEL FOR UNIFYING THE PROCESS ASSOCIATED WITH DESIGN, MANUFACTURING AND MAINTENANCE; THE MEANS TO PARTITION AN ARTIFCAT MODEL INTO SUBSYSTEMS AND COMPONENTS, AND THE MEANS TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN OF ACTION FOR OBTAINING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE ARTIFACT SO THAT IT CAN BE MANUFACTURED.