Article
Towards a Tailored Engineering Design Process for
Individualized Micro-Mechatronic Systems with a Novel
Case-Based Methodology
Faruk Civelek
1,2,
*, Karl-Peter Fritz
1
and André Zimmermann
1,2
Citation: Civelek, F.; Fritz, K.-P.;
Zimmermann, A. Towards a Tailored
Engineering Design Process for
Individualized Micro-Mechatronic
Systems with a Novel Case-Based
Methodology. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11,
7909. https://doi.org/10.3390/
app11177909
Academic Editor: Emanuele
Carpanzano
Received: 6 July 2021
Accepted: 24 August 2021
Published: 27 August 2021
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4.0/).
1
Hahn-Schickard, Allmandring 9b, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany; Karl-Peter.Fritz@Hahn-Schickard.de (K.-P.F.);
Andre.Zimmermann@Hahn-Schickard.de (A.Z.)
2
Institute for Micro Integration (IFM), University of Stuttgart, Allmandring 9b, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
* Correspondence: Faruk.Civelek@ifm.uni-stuttgart.de; Tel.: +49-711-685-60782
Abstract:
The development and manufacturing of high-precision micro-mechatronic systems (MMS)
is a challenging task, and the high demand for individualized products complicates the engineering
design process (EDP) in particular. The established EDP for MMS is not designed for individualized
products. This article gives an overview of the challenges (critical factors) in product development
and manufacturing of individualized MMS (iMMS), a novel definition of iMMS, and describes
a new qualitative methodology in order to tailor an EDP based on use cases, so-called “Tailored
EDP-Methodology” (TEDP-Methodology). This TEDP-Methodology allows creating use-case-based
product groups through the abstraction of the use cases and evaluating the requirements, which
is essential to tailor or develop a new EDP. For the development of this new approach, a literature
review and qualitative content analysis are prefaced. The TEDP-Methodology is critically examined
and validated with a real case study for the development and manufacturing of an iMMS. This study
shows critical points within the EDP. It shows fields of action for innovative tools to support the
development process of iMMS and requirements for different product groups within iMMS. This
article has both theoretical and practical implications.
Keywords:
engineering design process; micro-mechatronic systems; customization; individualization;
digital manufacturing technologies; use cases
1. Introduction
This section shall highlight the relevance of MMS and/or iMMS and explain its
suitable technologies and the necessity for new methodological approaches for iMMS
(Section 1.1). Following that, the aim of the study is defined. Section 1.2 defines the term
iMMS. Section 1.3 explains the structure of the paper.
1.1. Relevance and Aim
Smart and individualized products have become very popular and are in high de-
mand for various industries [
1
–
3
]. Micro-mechatronic systems (MMS) are key enabling
technologies for the development of smart products, such as intelligent telephones, in-
telligent sensors for machines and plants or micro robots. Yet, these only represent a
very small selection of such applications [
4
]. The European Commission expressed the
importance in a strategy excerpt that MMS are not only essential to digital products and
services, but they also underpin innovation and competitiveness for all major economic
sectors [
5
,
6
]. However, the increasing demand for individualization poses great challenges
to the engineering of MMS, as the entire MMS manufacturing process is based on the
concept of large-scale production [
7
]. The reason for a large-scale production strategy
is that MMS are often components of standardized mass products such as smartphones,
automobiles or computers [
4
,
8
]. Now, with the increasing demand for individualization, a
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 7909. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11177909 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/applsci
