Engineers, technology and sustainability [Farrokh Mistree, ISSS 1998 Plenary Session, July 23/98]

These notes are a rough transcription, prepared as each individual presenter and/or commentator spoke at the ISSS 1998 conference. Gaps and errors have likely occurred. For more accurate citations, please consult the original presenters. These notes have been contributed to the ISSS by David Ing, of the IBM Advanced Business Institute (sabi@systemicbusiness.org).

Hosted by Farrokh Mistree filling in for Ward Winer, chair of school of mechanical engineer (who is bonding with his grandchild)

• Didn't get his talk, so will talk to points in the title.

• CEO interested in being one of the high-techn manufacturing enterprises, want to hire a consultant.

• A manufacturing enterprise in the year 2020.
• Hypothesis: the way in which we design and manage engineering (like a forest) so that it is sustainable.
• Metaphor: like a forest.

• Economy will consist of global alliances.
• Loose contracts, limited partnerships.
• Also need changes between universities and industry.
• Restaurant metaphor: mix and match
• Telecomm metaphor: working from home, manufacturing will 24-hour global operation
• How do we get holism and globalism?

• Herbert Simon
• Decision-based design: principal role of human is design.
• Design is a science of the artificial (rooted in Miller
• James Miller
• Living system theory
• Jack Dixon
• Design is an intellectual, cognitive activity undertaken for a purpose.
• Peter Senge
• Learning organization

• Human-centered design, but then workgroup.
• Need to be able to work in a world which is sustainable: happiness

• Sidewalks are enterprises global, designed in one place, and built in another.
• Briefings: recently GM.
• How will this effect the bottom line? Not just right reason, the smart reason.

• ROI
• Time-to-market
• increase in quality

• reduces expenditure in a family of products
• reduces time to market after a change in the market occur
• continuously increase quality wholistically

• Decisions (Simon)
• Learning by doing (Dixon)

• Learn to adapt to change.
• Think holistically.
• Learn to dream.
• Learn to think critically.
• Learn how to learn.
• Learn how to design for the global marketplace.

Intellectual capital

Market	needs (marketing)
Technical function
solution principles
Working principles
...
...

Need to work on ...

• top-level specs
• enterprise integration
• timeline: integration hurdles
• Product platform design: strategic design
• framework for decision-based design

Want to use analysis techniques earlier in design stages.

• Use computer experiments for approximate surfaces: e.g. 6 families of good design, rather than a single unique design

• Cooperative formulation
• Leader/follower formulation
• Noncooperative formation

• Use for win-win situations.
• e.g. Crossing multidisciplinary design teams in two different companies

• One method is systems dynamics

• Students as agents for change.
• Products, systems and services for global marketplace.
• Thought leaders in globalization, yet green.

• Doesn't conform to society, but works within society.
• Dares to think differently.
• G. B. Shaw: I dream of things that never were, and say "Why not".
• Wayne Gretsky on secret of success: I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.