Abstract
Companies that wish to include novel technology in the product portfolio may need to test and evaluate the technology
with the use of prototypes to learn its benefits. Without clear knowledge of the benefits of the technology to the products
in the portfolio, in the form of increased performance, added functions, or material savings, the prototype development
can be hard to manage. In this article, two contributions are made. The first adds to the vocabulary of prototyping,
defining technology prototype, a prototype used for testing a novel technology in the context of an existing product.
The second is a tool to model and manage technology prototypes: the Technology Prototype Product Architecture Tool
(TePPAT). The TePPAT is a product architecture tool with three main sections: Purpose, Concept, and Architecture. The
TePPATwas tested in four industry cases, all part of a public–private partnership project to support the development of
technology prototypes using electro-active polymer transducer technology. The findings showed that the TePPAT supported
the development teams in the four cases. It is concluded that the TePPAT can support multidisciplinary development
teams in modeling and managing technology prototypes and can be correlated with improvements in the team
collaboration, communication, and development performance.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Concurrent Engineering: Research and Applications |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 3-16 |
ISSN | 1063-293X |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Product architecture
- Architecture modeling
- Technology integration
- Technology prototypes
- Prototype development