A design reuse system

Abstract Successful past design is the largest accumulation of expertise in the entire manufacturing sector and effective exploitation needs to structure this store of information. This paper shows that the design model under which this information is going to be used greatly influences the structuring process. Within design function deployment past designs should be structured as (a) a product concept, (b) a solution concept, (c) an embodiment design and (d) a detailed design, for efficient reuse. Illustrative examples are provided to explain their reuse. The methods for representing the structured information are also described.