摘要：This paper introduces a web-based application that enables engineers or designers to identify risks during the conceptual phase of a product design. This software application was developed based on the Risk in Early Design (RED) method developed by Author, Stone, and Tumer. The RED method demonstrates that risks can be identified in the early phase of product design by relating recorded historical failure information to product functions. Based on the concept of RED theory and current industry needs, the goals of a web-based RED application were defined. These goals are the intended benefits or functionalities that the web-based RED application would provide. In addition, a multi-level evaluation framework was adopted to determine how well the application meets the needs of various organizations. As part of the evaluation, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample industrial and academic user group. The results of the evaluation indicate that the web-based RED software application meets many of the goals to help an organization in performing product risk analysis.

摘要：This paper presents a part count tool that predicts the part count for a particular product concept during the conceptual design phase. The part count tool will also aid in ranking the design concepts by the criterion of number of components for a product. This tool utilizes existing automated concept generation algorithms to generate the design concepts. It extracts the available data from the Design Engineering Lab Design Repository to determine an average number of parts per component type in the repository and then calculates an average part count for new concepts. The part count tool also uses an algorithm to determine how to connect two non-compatible components through the addition of mutually compatible components. While emphasis is placed on the average parts per product in evaluating designs, the overall functional requirement of the product is also considered.