Improving mechatronical engineering: An artifact-assessment-based approach

Industrial engineering as a specialization of systems engineering inherently has mechatronic character. The seamless integration of engineering activities across engineering disciplines and throughout the overall engineering life cycle is a key element for achieving optimal technical as well as economic results and has to be supported by adequate engineering concepts and models. In this paper we present a criteria catalog for the qualitative evaluation of engineering artifacts created in or for engineering projects or contained in mechatronic product catalogs. The criteria catalog forms the basis for an assessment-based approach for evaluating mechatronic objects with the main purposes of providing the basis for characterizing, comparing, and improving them and furthermore for identifying directions for engineering improvements.