Decision of Conflicting Design Parameters Using a Multiattribute Utility Function Applied to Mold Design

Engineering design can be viewed as a decision making process, which involves trade-offs among multiple conflicting design attributes. In order to obtain the best engineering design, a methodology for accurate assessment of design engineers’ preferences on the conflicting attributes is required. In this paper, an integration of a multi-attribute utility function and a formal decision making process through pairwise comparisons among design alternatives is presented. The integrated system is expected to help semi-automate the design decisions reflecting the designers’ preferences in a systematic way. The proposed procedure is applied to a plastic injection mold design problem and the results are discussed. Taguchi robust design process is used in obtaining the injection molding process parameters with the aid of CAE simulations.