Modeling a constraint-based Design Risk Management tool: An empirical study for collaborative product design

This paper proposed a constraint-based Design Risk Management (DRM) tool for the improvement of design decision-making under a collaborative product environment. This tool is developed by incorporating collaborative design features, risk management process and theory of constraints (TOC). The research is focused on: 1) exploration of various design constraints from all possible design variables, 2) identification of critical design constraints as design risk factors for design management and decision-making, and 3) evaluation of design risks as a project risk based on the Bayesian theorem. This tool has been prototyped to show that, design managers can use this tool to gain overall design risks during a product design process for their decision-making, and meanwhile it enables other designers to get involved and provide first-hand information on dependency of risk factors, probability and severity.