Design and Systems 日本機械学会 設計工学・システム部門 The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. Design and Systems Division.

The field of mechanical engineering is now at a turning point. Various issues have arisen in relation to 'design.' They can be classified into two types: those related to ensuring design quality and those concerned with design productivity. Issues of design quality are due to the trend toward severer design requirements. This is because products are becoming more complex and mass-produced. Thus, reliability issues arise with respect to product liability systems, the demands for embedding advanced technologies into products, human-centered issues with respect to the emotional aspects of products, environmental problems, and demands for energy conservation. All of these recent concerns can be posed as design requirements. The second area of design productivity issues is related to the resolution of the first group of issues. There is also a strong need to shorten design lead-time in the manufacturing climate of today. What can designers do to resolve these issues? They can utilize information technologies, such as Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) based systems. There are also new techniques such as neural computing and fuzzy computing. Thus, designers face the challenge of understanding and utilizing such advanced design technologies to fulfill their responsibilities. It is under these circumstances that this new division was created to face the challenges of various design-related issues and to develop advanced design methods that are needed by society.

Shinsuke Akagi