Paradigm shift and the integrated feedback approach

With the increased competition in today's world market, emphasis has been on the ability to shift from an existing paradigm to a new paradigm so as to create new opportunities and to gain new market. A successful paradigm shift is dependent on two factors: (1) the ability to pinpoint the inherent weaknesses in the existing paradigm, (2) the ability to find a paradigm that can replace the old paradigm. In this paper, we show how the integrated feedback approach is able to address these two concerns. The integrated feedback approach was proposed to integrate the design phase with the downstream activities so as to achieve a design that is better for assembly. The approach operates in two phases: an evaluation phase and a redesign suggestion generation phase. A number of objective criteria have been proposed to evaluate a given design from the functional perspective, from the assembly plan perspective, and from the tolerance perspective. Through the evaluation process, weaknesses in the design are identified and techniques for generating feasible redesign suggestions are examined. By encouraging greater participation from the designer, a systematic aid to paradigm shifting can be obtained. A prototype system implementing the integrated feedback approach has been developed on a Sun Sparcstation with graphics simulation on a Silicon Graphics Iris workstation. A real life product, the telephone, is used as an illustration.