Target Exploration for Disconnected Feasible Regions in Enterprise-Driven Multilevel Product Design

Enterprise-level business decisions are linked with engineering product decisions by integrating enterprise utility optimization and engineering design optimization under a hierarchical, multilevel, decision-based design framework. The enterprise problem sets attribute targets, that is, specifications, for engineering product development, which then optimizes product performance within the feasible design space to match the targets with minimum deviations. When the feasible domain imposed by engineering product development is disconnected in the space of attribute targets, an engineering design with the minimum deviation from the targets may not correspond to the design with the maximum utility value, even though the design is a converged solution from the multilevel optimization. To address this issue, a new algorithm is developed, which systematically explores the target space to lead the engineering product development to a feasible and optimal design in the enterprise context. Analytical examples and an automotive suspension design case study are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.