In a new product development process, multiple decisions have to be made regarding the selection of concepts to pursue and how a product should be constructed. In many companies, these decisions are informed by the results from multiple prototype tests.

Design research offers several design methods and tools that can assist practitioners with their prototyping activities. However, as we still have a limited understanding of the needs, challenges and limitations that practitioners experience when they prototype in industry, there is a risk that developed design support will not fit into their context and therefore not be adopted by the practitioners. Therefore, further research is needed to fully understand prototyping in organisational contexts.

In this study, we investigate which challenges practitioners experience when they prototype, the opportunities they see for overcoming such challenges, and the current trends and developments that affect prototyping in industry.

Data was collected through a mixed methods research approach consisting of a small survey and focus group discussions. Eight practitioners from the Danish industry shared there experiences from working in companies where prototypes are used in the development of mechanical or mechatronic products. A qualitative content analysis of the transcribed discussions from the focus group and the open-ended survey questions resulted in the identification of 23 prototyping challenges, 15 opportunities for future improvement, and 5 prototyping trends.

According to the practitioners, prototyping is becoming cheaper, more accessible and is being used more in companies. However, practitioners feel challenged when they have to make decisions from a few prototypes with limited properties compared to the final product, and they seek guidance on the proper use of prototyping strategies during the development process. Additionally, challenges arise due to gaps between virtual and physical prototyping, regulations in the medical industry, and unexpected misinterpretations of prototypes. 

These results contribute to our understanding of prototyping in industry and helps us identify areas where the research community can focus their efforts for the benefit of practitioners in the future. Some of the previously identified prototyping challenges have been confirmed and the list of known challenges been expanded through this research.

Practitioners can be supported through the improvement of prototyping technologies or a stronger intergration of prototyping in the devleopment process. The practitioners asked many questions that are already being tackled in research, and therefore one of the most important opportunities to support them in the future is to make the existing knowledge in prototyping research known to and applicable within the industry.


\u201cYou Cannot Test It Before It Is Verified. When It Is Verified You Cannot Change It\u201d: Prototyping Challenges in Industry

Division / Sponsors: 
Design Engineering Division and Computers & Information In Engineering Division


Paper Proceedings: https://asmedigitalcollection.asme.org/IDETC-CIE/IDETC-CIE2020/volume/83907

IDETC2020 - Virtual Conference

Supporting the need among researchers worldwide for additional online and multimedia content, ASME now offers the ASME Conference Video Collection. This platform will collect and provide long-term access to conference presentation videos, encompassing all technology areas within ASME's technical conference and events program. About 30,000-40,000 engineers across all mechanical engineering and related disciplines participate in ASME conferences each year. This includes authors of approximately 6,000 to 8,000 technical papers published by ASME, the majority of whom also submit video presentations for our virtual conferences. The video collection will be available as an add-on to existing product packages or as a separate subscription.