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Using foresight methods such as scenarios, possible futures can be described and anticipated. Needs and requirements as well as product properties can be derived from that, which is necessary to plan successful products for future customers. Changes that occur in the future development can be identified with monitoring and the expected future can be adjusted. A consistent understanding of the use of monitoring for the product engineering process does not exist and is developed in this paper. Thereby, monitoring is considered in the context of validation and located in iPeM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential to develop products that are successful in future markets. However, product engineering often takes several years or even longer, and anticipating the needs and requirements for products is necessary. Strategic foresight provides a solution for identifying future product needs and requirements as well as product properties. Given the constantly changing environment, it is necessary to continually adapt the results of strategic foresight. Changes can be identified through shifting forecasts and trends. To ensure the success of the product in development, changes in the environment must be continuously integrated into the product engineering process (PEP). Thus, the relationship between monitoring changes in the future through foresight approaches and in the product during the PEP is important. This paper aims to analyze the integration of monitoring into the product engineering process based on elements of strategic foresight. The main objective was to identify whether existing approaches support this integration, by conducting a systematic literature review analyzing 1,664 research results. Here, no suitable approaches were identified in the literature. Therefore, to enable the integration of such approaches into the PEP, existing foresight approaches were examined to determine the extent to which monitoring approaches can be linked to them. During the examination of existing foresight approaches, especially scenario methods, commonalities were identified. Although these run individually, they generate the same results, such as influencing and key factors. These commonalities can be used as starting points for monitoring. To define these starting points, general monitoring approaches were examined to compare their structure and process. Here, different processes and structures of the approaches were identified, making it challenging to derive uniform elements for linking to foresight approaches in PEP. The central finding of this research work is that a design support must be defined to enable linkage and integration into the PEP. Initial preliminary work is suitable, in which product properties are derived from the scenarios themselves, as well as key factors. A link between product properties, scenarios, and key factors exists, which can be used for the operationalization of monitoring but has not yet been defined. In summary, different approaches to monitoring exist, but they have different procedures and structures, making integration into the PEP challenging. However, the uniformity of the scenario processes provides a good starting point for developing support for the monitoring of environments, which can help derive the impact on product properties in the event of changes. This enables the PEP to react to changes in the future and develop products that are robust for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Products are defined by diverse characteristics that must cater to customer needs for successful marketability and a potential innovation. Foresight methods are used for products with a long-term horizon to anticipate future requirements and product characteristics at the onset of the engineering process. However, the expected future situation and needs can differ from the initial expected environment, necessitating the adaptation of product characteristics to meet the changes. Continuous validation of requirements and product characteristics is imperative, with changes considered accordingly. This paper aims to identify fields of action for engineering methods and design processes in identifying and validating future-oriented customer-relevant product characteristics in the product engineering process (PEP), and to derive actionable insights and needs for action from this. A systematic literature review was conducted to identify and collate factors influencing the area of investigation consisting of three fundamental domains: product development, customer involvement and foresight. The interrelationships and coherences were evaluated, and the factors synthesized into an Initial Reference Model (IRM). The resultant model revealed five fields of action. Existing potentials and actionable steps were identified and described, especially monitoring and change detection of future development and addressing and validating of customer needs by integrating customers into the PEP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early consideration of the future market environment of a new product favors its success. Therefore, the future environment and requirements derived from this must be considered in the development of a product. Foresight provides several instruments for identifying different potential future developments, according to the time horizon referenced in the development of the product. Especially for a medium to long-term time horizon, trends and scenarios are suitable. With scenarios, alternative environments of the future can be described and distinguished. In strategic product planning, future requirements are derived with the help of scenarios to enable a more efficient and often less expensive definition for a product. Due to a volatile market environment, the product must be adapted in many cases or fails to meet the future needs of customers, users or suppliers. There are several approaches to manage this uncertainty. However, there is a lack of an overview of common understandings. In this paper, 29 relevant publications were identified with a systematic literature review considering 382 publications. Six existing understandings were identified but they are not used consistently. Based on the commonalities, two key orientations were found: future-robustness and future-orientation. With future-robustness, developments can be understood which results in products positioned robustly against several alternative futures. The products can be adapted to different future developments with minor adjustments. In contrast, with future-orientation the development is focused on a specific alternative future and thus the product design is made for one chosen solution concept. Therefore, product changes are effortful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]