Henry Ford said “there has to be a better way ---- find it”. With advancements in workstation technologies and the integration of CAD, Meshing, CAE, and CFD software – there has to a more efficient way to create, test, modify and visualize ideas. An interesting process that can be applied to the design process is Boyd’s loop. It is also known as the OODA (Observe, Orient, Decide and Act) loop. In its simplest definition Boyd’s loop is a decision making process similar to the plan-do-check-act cycle. The speed of the loop is often an early indicator of an organizations ability to deliver an optimal design instead of an adequate design which may cost more to manufacture, maintain and require more material – all significantly impact product profitability.
OODA in a product design process helps engineers and designers Observe product behaviors before they are manufactured. With the advancements in hardware and software technologies the notion of simulation based engineering can be used to digitally create and test an idea before it is ever real. Rather than exploring one design in a time period, engineers can explore significantly more designs. They can ask “what if I did this or that”; they can Orient themselves to new ideas faster and make a Decision and Act by asking what if or saying WOW I did it. By accelerating an engineer’s OODA loop you have effectively accelerated the art of innovation at your organization. We are living in interesting times; in fact, the technologies presented by software and hardware providers are so fascinating that they are challenging our status quo. They are presenting us opportunities to work smarter and more efficiently. We now have options to iterate through more ideas in less time. We can move from an adequate design to an optimal design. However, are we deploying our new ‘stuff’ to support the way we have been doing business all along … in some cases decades? Should we be reviewing our processes and THEN consider options … hardware and software … that will readily enable us to work the way WE believe is best? After all, WE are the experts in our product development.