Systems Engineering and Design Science Research for Effective Product Development
Johann Erich Wolfgang Holm, G.P.R. van der Merwe · 2019
The value of Design Science Research (DSR) is well known for producing artifacts from research. The context is shifted slightly in this paper to show the value of using a combination of Systems Engineering (SE) and DSR in a product development context. SE is a well-established framework for bringing systems into being, with well-defined resources to support development in a system's full life cycle. SE is useful to place focus on system relevance by using requirements management in a formal way, while research provides novelty and decision support in the SE and business processes. A case is provided for development of mine safety equipment. SE was used to develop a winch signaling system, with research conducted on the system's effectiveness in terms of reducing both production downtime and hazardous exposure. As the developed system was a safety system, it was imperative to conduct research in a simulated environment on relevant simulation models to prevent harm to end-users. For different technology options, end-user risk appetite was translated to behavioral failures and each technology option's effectiveness evaluated for an integrated system as if in operation. Operational risk and productivity were thus modeled using a new method called Activity Based Risk (ABR). The ABR method showed the sensitivity of an integrated production system with respect to technology variation in high-risk environments. It was concluded that combining SE and research resulted in a well-defined DSR framework that produced both a physical artifact and an improved acquisition process for mines.