Axiomatic Design Short Courses
On the WPI campus or at your site
Professor Christopher A. Brown (brown@wpi.edu)
Course Intro | Syllabus
and Schedule | Program | Registration Form
Center
for Axiomatic Design | Christopher
A. Brown PhD, PE
New Courses for 2008
WPI: Monday and Tuesday, June 16 and 17
MIT: Monday - Wednesday June 23-25 (link)
Contact Prof. Christopher Brown for information on prices and schedules
A Short Course in Axiomatic Design for Engineers and Managers
Prof. Christopher A. Brown, Mechanical Engineering, WPI
For Directions: http://www.wpi.edu/About/Visitors/
Download a sample Course Brochure
The objective of this two day course at WPI is to provide participants with a solid understanding of axiomatic design. Participants will use axiomatic design on design problems of their choosing in a series of exercises. Individual and group coaching in the axiomatic design process will be given by Professor Brown and others.
What is axiomatic design?
- Axiomatic Design is a system that applies to any kind of design activity, including planning, although it is more aptly applied to engineering design problems than to industrial design. It is not about drafting.
- Axiomatic design starts with the premise that good design is governed by axioms, or laws, like physics is governed by physical laws.
- Axiomatic design uses a structure and a process intended for the application of these laws.
- Axiomatic design has been shown to result in shorter design times, documented design decisions, and better designs.
- The axiomatic design process assists with collaborative design and accelerates innovations.
"Chris Brown is one of the leading experts in the world on axiomatic design. He is a pioneer in developing effective teaching methods for applying axiomatic design and has developed a keen insight to the design theory and practice. Professor Brown's former students have had great success in industry in improving the productivity and quality of their products."
Prof. Nam P. Suh, MIT, Currently President of the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology
Learn to use the axioms to design anything better and faster. This course uses a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on experience to get participants using axiomatic design. During breakout sessions participants will use axiomatic design on problems of their choosing, with coaching, while working individually or in small groups.
...after the first week when he began applying the axiomatic design method he learned in class. "We were doing a redesign of our production facility," he says. "The axiomatic approach to engineering design I learned from Professor Brown shaped all aspects of the redesign. Before the end of the term, my company had already realized $2.4 million in savings."
The Wire, V12/1 June 1998
http://www.wpi.edu/News/Wire/June98/attention.html"Axiomatic design takes you from argument to analysis when evaluating designs"
"...improved dimensional stability...fundamentally changed the performance...we have the data to prove it"
VP of Engineering"This changes the way I think about everything."
Owner, president, manager of a fabrication shop"The axioms have had a profound affect on my ability to design effective code and in problem solving."
Sr. Software Engineer
Axiomatic design, originally developed by Nam Suh at MIT about thirty years ago, has been shown to markedly improve designs while shortening the design cycle. The axioms are clear, simple rules that guide the design process to best possible solution for the desired functions. Axiomatic design can be applied to the design of products, processes, projects, and systems. It has been called one of the most important engineering developments of the last century.
"The new design has resulted in my first patent." Biomedical Engineer
"decoupling ...allowed us to speed up our overall time from 8 weeks to 4.5 weeks" Design Engineer
"... saved 1 full week of our schedule in itself....the cost of the part stayed low, the maintenance is easy and inexpensive, and it performed flawlessly." Design Engineer
"use axiomatic design... to ensure the incorporation of all necessary elements of a design...help narrow down [choices] from many possibilities... and to show robustness of a particular solution." Project Engineer
The instructor Professor Christopher Brown, PhD, PE, has been teaching axiomatic design at WPI and in industry since 1990. Students in his evening graduate course typically report that they start using axiomatic design at work within the first few hours of the course. Chris has spoken at conferences and published papers on his special approach to teaching axiomatic design. Chris started using axiomatic design as a graduate student in the early 1980s at the University of Vermont after meeting Nam Suh. He used axiomatic design as a senior research engineer designing products for Atlas Copco at their research center in Switzerland before coming to WPI. In the past few years Chris has been pleased to have had the opportunity to consult with Nam Suh on design problems. Chris is the founder and director of WPI's Surface Metrology Laboratory and WPI's Haas Technical Center for Computer-controlled machining.
Professor Brown's approach decomposes the application of axiomatic design into three elements: the axioms, the structure, and the process. Chris cites the axioms as being the key to teaching engineering design like a science. Suh’s axioms are a few simple rules that can be used to understand complex design problems, just as Newton's laws are simple rules can be used to understand complex problems in engineering mechanics. The structure formulates the design so that the axioms can be applied. The structure also provides traceability for the design decisions. The processes of decomposition and integration used to create the design have been divided into clear steps to keep the design process on track and productive.
Software the price includes a 30 day license for Acclaro DFSS software for Axiomatic Design www.axiomaticdesign.com. This software is used in industry and at WPI in courses and projects.
|
www.me.wpi.edu/People/Brown/ Chris Brown's Curriculum Vitae - Chris Brown's full publication list |
Work in Progress:
- article: Axiomatic Design and the Evolution of Conventional Alpine Ski Bindings
- book: Elements of Axiomatic Design - a simple and practical approach to engineering design
- paper: C.A.Brown, "Knowledge Management and Axiomatic Design," Submitted to SAE World Congress, Detroit 2007"
Papers on application and teaching of axiomatic design:
- C.A. Brown, "Axiomatic Design of Chaotic Components of Surface Textures," ICAD2000, Institute for Axiomatic Design, Cambridge, Derrick Tate, ed., (2000) 106-111.
http://www.axiomaticdesign.com/technology/icad/icad2000/icad2000_008.pdf - E. Odom, S. Beyerlein, C. A. Brown, D.Drew, L.Gallup, S.Zimmerman, J.Olberding, "Role of Axiomatic Design in Teaching Capstone Courses," Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual conference & Exposition 2005 ASEE, http://www.asee.org/acPapers/2005-1866_Final.pdf.
- C.A. Brown, "Lessons in Teaching Axiomatic Design to Engineers" SAE 2005 World Congress Detroit April 13 2005, SAE paper SP 1956, Reliability and Robust Design in Automotive Engineering 2005-01-1523. http://www.sae.org/servlets/productDetail?PROD_CD=2005-01-1523&PROD_TYP=PAPER
- C.A.Brown, Teaching Axiomatic Design to Engineers: Theory, Applications, and Software, Looking Forward: Innovations in Manufacturing Engineering Education, CIMEC (CIRP International Manufacturing Education Conference) 2005 and 3rd SME International Conference on Manufacturing Education, 2005, pp. 41-51. http://axiomaticdesign.org/teachingaxiomaticdesign.pdf