Continuous improvement of technical systems using Design for X

Continuous, incremental improvements of existing products is an important aspect of maintaining competitiveness. One of the main challenges related to improving existing products is to take into account and weigh the various impacts that a change entails. Through a case-study with a company producing flood protection systems, this paper describes and discusses a systematic approach for identifying, evaluating and ranking the impact of identified improvement areas for an existing product system. The approach consists of four steps: identify areas for improvement; devise a ranking system; score the different alternatives and compare and prioritize. The approach proved valuable as an early-stage indication of the most important areas for product improvements for the case company.