Mohammad Hassannezhad, Marco Cantamessa, Francesca Montagna and P. John Clarkson
J. Mech. Des 141(8), 081101; doi: 10.1115/1.4042614

A key challenge in lengthy and labor-intensive design projects is leveraging knowledge and expertise. Tools are needed that reflect the social and technical characteristics of design processes. Such integrated modelling is particularly critical in the early stages of design where information is imprecise and decisions have significant consequence. This paper contributes to the development of Actor-Based Signposting (ABS) – a dynamic method that combines the Activity-based and Agent-based concepts of process modelling. This approach enables individuals to be adaptive in satisfying the local objectives of their own jobs while complying with the global objectives of the rest of the team/entire system. Outcomes from this work are significant because they can be used for predicting the trajectory of a design process by allowing decision-makers to understand what task to do next, whom to assign a task given the availability of resources, and the levels of knowledge and expertise required. Two case studies are presented and results demonstrate a range of insights that could enhance managers’ decision-making capabilities and opportunities for future research are discussed. ​

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