Technical Debt (TD) is a buzzword that has gained traction among IT practitioners and researchers, as a financial metaphor explaining how existing elements can hinder future changes. In engineering design terminology, managing TD can be equated to managing the redesign of existing systems, a task in which change propagation plays a key role. Via a partnership with Ubisoft, a game development firm that owns and operates a global IT network, we present a case study showcasing a novel way to explore interfaces and propagations in engineering systems interventions, analyzed using Axiomatic Design.

In the early design stage of AI systems, designers face the challenge of addressing interdisciplinary needs with technical feasibility. This case study presents learnings from engaging a cross-functional team in the early design of an AI Vision System to support operators in the assembly process of electrical equipment. Our approach has been to embed Human-AI guidelines into boundary objects. The findings indicate that boundary objects helped participants reach common understandings, identify needs, and develop plans to mitigate future problems during the development of the AI system.

Imperfect CAD models with non-smooth features are common outputs of the latest digital tools. These are unsuitable for the feature recognition needed for end applications like computer-aided manufacturing. This paper proposes to recognise features from imperfect models by contributing a comprehensive dataset, a novel data surrogation method, and ML-based automated feature recognition model. Results show that the data surrogation method accurately replicates manual imperfections with voxel accuracy >0.9 and a Dice coefficient >0.6. Ultimately, feature recognition achieves 92.8% test accuracy.

This study explores how users perceive the centrality and sustainability of design attributes associated with modular design, energy efficiency, and design for disassembly, selected as illustrative eco-design strategies. 42 participants evaluated nine products through a bespoke online survey. The results show that salience and clarity of the environmental benefits associated with product attributes outweigh centrality in the perception of sustainability. This stresses the importance of clear and interpretable sustainability cues to improve users’ understanding of environmental performance.

We experimentally characterise the effect of layer temperature on the mechanical properties of PA6-CF manufactured by MEX. Ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and tensile modulus was investigated across layer temperatures ranging from 67 °C to 165 °C. UTS increased from 7.55 MPa at 67 °C to 36.04 MPa at 165°, while tensile modulus increased from 1.6 GPa at 67°C to 4.0 GPa at 140 °C. Measurements on a manufactured component show in-process layer temperatures between 88 °C and 123 °C. These findings quantify the attainable performance window and implications for functional component design.

Academic tools for sustainable product development often fail to achieve widespread use in industry. Based on a case study of a consultancy firm, this study explores factors that enable consultants to adopt and adapt such tools and act as intermediaries that translate and integrate academic findings into practice. Interviews and a survey revealed that a solid conceptual foundation, clear client value, result visualization, adaptability, and integration with existing workflows are most important, and the study proposes nine lessons learned to guide future tool development and collaboration.

Delving into a case company, this paper provides a practitioner perspective on implementing sustainable product development (SPD). Strategic implementation is achieved when i) tools are integrated at critical stages of product development, ii) awareness and responsibility are spread across the organization and iii) there is cohesiveness between tools sustainability approach and metrics used. While SPD tools are systematically used and help the company in capability building, the current process does not guarantee systematic sustainability improvements, calling for further research.

Mixed reality assistance guide posture and hand positioning, and familiarize material behaviour within craft prototyping. The development of the resulting framework focuses on non-intrusive assistance. Barriers include reduced immersion, observing precise hand movements, limited spatial interpretation, and understanding material behaviour. A 3D animation prototype, with roots in embodied knowledge, intends to improve spatial comprehension and enhance process and material understanding. The eventual framework should aid virtual assistance for design skill transfer.

While top-down System Engineering supports the definition of system boundaries and interfaces, practical implementation often proceeds in a bottom-up manner, resulting in the need for model integration of SysML models. This is currently hindered by inconsistent naming, different abstraction levels, and unclear interfaces. In this work, a novel approach to integration is proposed, utilizing RDF knowledge graphs and LLM-driven entity alignment with similarity thresholds to perform semantic fusion. A practical use case shows correct consolidation based on cosine similarity thresholds.

To bridge capability gaps between designers and artisans that hinder fashion and textile business collaboration and social innovation effects, this study explores how capability-based co-design fosters sustainable partnerships. Based on 20 case studies in China’s textile sector, it connects craft values, product features, and capability-based interactions. The model links this approach to make co-design practical amid skill gaps and enhance social innovation. It offers actionable strategies for balancing co-design methods in skill asymmetric partnerships in cultural and creative industries.

Additively manufactured particle-damped (AMPD) beam structures produced by PBF-LB/M are tested in the Einstein-Elevator under microgravity conditions. The first bending mode is evaluated by laser Doppler vibrometry and compared with results from microgravity experiments, using power spectral density inputs resynthesised from those runs and replayed on a shaker. Frequency-domain transmissibility with confidence intervals shows stable mode-specific damping behaviour and supports a validated workflow for future space structures.

The early stages of NewSpace missions can be in the fuzzy front end because of unclear requirements. This paper explores clearing this design phase through low-fidelity prototyping, using a case study of 23 prototypes organized into five concepts. The goal is to enable post-launch deployment and focus of a modified commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) telescope for an Earth observation hyperspectral imaging satellite mission. A final payload design is developed, and the lessons learned inform the design methodology for the early phases of NewSpace projects.

This study identifies the challenges design educators face in understanding, using, and teaching design methods and derives features from these challenges for an enhanced methods repository to support design practice and pedagogy. Interviews with 21 educators yielded 14 distinct themes of challenges, based on which the following features are proposed: (a) detailed method information with context-based recommendations and teaching resources, (b) a platform to learn and practice with guidance, and (c) step-by-step walkthroughs with cross-disciplinary examples.

Here we propose seven meta-theoretical parameters of change (7MTPC)—Plannability, Manageability, Stability, Trajectory, Origin, Motor, and Scale—to provide a shared coordinate system for comparing organizational change approaches. Derived from classic and contemporary theories, the 7MTPC make explicit the assumptions about predictability, agency, and causality that underlie them. The framework offers scholars and practitioners a common language to map, contrast, and combine models, towards a systematic and evolutionary understanding of organizational change.

Engineers often treat margins as buffers or excesses which are added to parameters, appearing much later in the product development process. However, many key lifecycle properties e.g., reliability stem from early architectural decisions which either need margins for their enablement or create margins in the process. These buffers are rarely treated explicitly as margins. This paper argues that there is a clear relationship between architectural objectives and margins and explores four examples of ilities providing a new perspective for reasoning about ilities in early system design.

Engineering software is evolving through the integration of artificial intelligence, creating new opportunities for enhanced assistance within product development. This paper proposes a use context model to systematically align and classify the functionalities of Generative Engineering and Design software with respect to the combination of product development phase, the nature of the task, and the level of support provided. Based on this model, a methodological guideline is proposed, offering a structured framework for the development and application of these tools in product development.