ENGG955 Report: Design-Led Thinking in Advanced Manufacturing

This report investigates the impact of design-led thinking within the advanced manufacturing sector, highlighting its potential to integrate innovative strategies and drive operational competitiveness. The study employs descriptive and correlational research designs to analyze the adoption of design-led thinking, focusing on its influence on product design, customer satisfaction, and profit generation. The findings reveal that organizations and countries that have embraced design-led thinking have achieved significant market competitiveness. The report emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach, from problem definition to product design, to effectively implement design-led thinking. The literature review explores the evolution of manufacturing processes, the role of technology, and the challenges and opportunities associated with design-led thinking. It also examines the impact of design-led thinking on customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. The report underscores the critical role of innovation and design in the manufacturing industry, emphasizing the need for continuous adaptation and the integration of various design strategies. It offers a comprehensive overview of design-led thinking's influences and factors in the advanced manufacturing sector.

The impact of design-led thinking in the advanced manufacturing sector
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1. Abstract

Manufacturing industries adoption of design-led thinking in advance manufacturing sector makes it
possible to integrate several innovative strategies in the manufacturing process. Advanced
manufacturing process and innovation should integrate technology as a means of coming up with
new products. To come up with the new products, manufacturing industries need to change
operational techniques from conducting a research study to designing or redesigning of the latest
products. The main goal of using design-led thinking in the manufacturing industries would be to
achieve operational competitiveness and meet customer satisfaction as well as maximize profit
generation. The study methodologies used in the study are descriptive and correlational research
design, which were selected due to their ability to offer the best outcome of the subjected study.
The study findings from the survey include; manufacturing industries and countries which adopted
design-led thinking have remained competitive in the market, and such countries are giants in the
production sector. The next research finding was that for any organization to adopt design-led
thinking, organizations should be able to implement it from problem definition to product design or
redesign. It has been observed that the adoption of design-led thinking in advanced manufacturing
results to increased competitiveness and customer satisfaction.
Table of Contents
1. Abstract........................................................................................................................................2

2. Introduction.....................................................................................................................................4
3. Literature review.............................................................................................................................5
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................5
Design-based-thinking and innovation...........................................................................................9
Study methods..................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion......................................................................................................................................10
4. Research Design.............................................................................................................................11
Research question..........................................................................................................................11
Related work..................................................................................................................................11
Design.............................................................................................................................................13
5. Design questions.............................................................................................................................14
The research design process..........................................................................................................14
The ten types of plagiarism...........................................................................................................15
Structuring sentences in academic writing..................................................................................16
6. Literature Planner.........................................................................................................................17
7. Bibliography...................................................................................................................................44
2. Introduction
Design-led thinking in manufacturing industry makes it possible to have different innovative
strategies. It has been identified as a model that the manufacturing industry can use to demonstrate

both local and international success factors (Bonvillian 2017, pp. 25). Since its inception into the
industry, design-led thinking has been used in the manufacturing sector to scale organizational
competitiveness, performance and manufacturing process. Being one of the advocated
methodologies in the manufacturing industry, its adoption has been spearheaded by different
manufacturing corporate executives from Australia. The round table discussions brought
organizations which had already adopted design-led innovation in the manufacturing industry, as
well as those, have the required knowledge and skills to facilitate design-led thinking. The idea
behind design-led thinking should be focused on exploring possibilities of building and scaling the
industrial success. There are several samples of organizations which have piloted the
implementation of design-led thinking in the manufacturing sector. The discussion should seek to
amplifier technical capability to increase adoption of design-led thinking to gain operational
competitive advantage (Savastano et al. 2019, pp. 891). There are no doubts that innovations and
new design influence has been categorised as a one of the creative processes with its outcome
being; increased design innovativeness, design strategies which involve design process
management and organizational level designing thinking capabilities. These aspects are quite
important as they demonstrate design capabilities and contributions it can have in both corporate
and country's economic development.
This paper focuses on the significant roles of design-led thinking and influences that
innovation have on the manufacturing industry. The main factor that has facilitated the need to
change the manufacturing strategy has been attributed to industrial decline despite being one of the
critical economic pillars in many countries (Bonvillian 2017, pp. 69). From the analysis of the 2008
global financial crisis, it was notable that the service industry cannot guarantee the country's stable
economic growth. Therefore, the manufacturing industry was rated to be the most stable business
sector that can steer economic growth substantially. In this regard, Australian countries should
understand the importance of manufacturing industry and come up with new strategies which can

guarantee an increase in financial stability. This article combines different manufacturing industries
from the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Australia and some of the world
developing countries. The analysis would have an emphasis on the use of design-led thinking in the
manufacturing industry to increase operational competitiveness and spearhead states economic
growth (Durach, Kurpjuweit & Wagner 2017, pp. 956). The researches have demonstrated the need
for design and innovation as well as integrating all essential aspects such as design, related design
strategy, technology, product and services. The study would be articulated on parameters of design
and innovation, the relationship between design and innovation and possibilities of implementing
all design areas in the manufacturing industry. It would be presumed that the design strategy would
be used as a tool in the manufacturing sector to demystify design innovation. It would also
encourage manufacturing companies to make use of design innovation to increase innovativeness
and competitiveness (Lee & Leem, 2016, pp. 151). Therefore, the main objective of the paper is to
create an innovative design spectrum by having a holistic representation of design impacts and the
factors that influence design-led thinking in the advanced manufacturing sector.
3. Literature review
Introduction
In today’s manufacturing world, different types of technologies have been brought together to
facilitate advanced manufacturing aspects. Advanced manufacturing aspects brings together both
physical and technological means where human being interact with digital devices to enable the
manufacturing of goods (Elsbach & Stigliani 2018, pp. 2274). With innovations dominating the
manufacturing sector, the design of the products should facilitate the transformation of new
products which can result in the accelerated development process. It is evident that manufacturing
processes are evolving to the extent of incorporating technological advancements. The impact of
design-led thinking can be attributed to aspects such as progressive automation of technologies
which are facilitated by the adoption of smart systems (Bocken, Rana & Short 2015, pp. 69). On the

same note, the uptake of cloud-based enabled systems offers operational transparency in both the
manufacturing sector and supply chain management. Design-led thinking in the manufacturing
industry provides the ability to the manufacturing systems to react immediately to specific
conditions and respond accordingly. Change in design-led thinking have proved to be very
important in reducing manufacturing costs and improving the quality and quantity of the expenses.
The complex operating environment in the manufacturing sector is influenced by factors such as;
changes in technology which dictate the nature of producing goods. The government policies in a
given state also affect the design and quality of the products that manufacturing-based
organizations can deliver (Bocken, Rana & Short 2015, pp. 72). The final factor that manufacturing
industries should consider during the design of the products is production expansion and change of
customers preferences. The review focuses on the impacts of design thinking in manufacturing
industries and challenges that innovators are adopting the strategy face. This would be analysed in
terms of the factors that influence and hinder design-led thinking in the advanced manufacturing
sector. It makes use of scholarly articles and journals that less than ten years old after publication.
The working of the design thinking in the manufacturing sector
The innovative way of doing and organizing manufacturing processes results in different
improvements. In the 1980s, total quality management combined several aspects in the
manufacturing industry such as quality circles and Kanban circles. As a result, employees were able
to do much better work than usual. The combination of tools and application of improved work
processes were thought to be the success of social technology (Sharma & Sharma 2014, pp. 5-6). In
a study that involved more than fifty projects from different economic sectors, it was observed that
social technology and design thinking had the potential to steer the manufacturing industry.
Successful implementation of design-led thinking in the manufacturing industry should result in
superior products, decrease in production risks, employment buy-in and change in the cost of
operations. Manufacturing industries have been trying to achieve operational efficacies but have

been facing different challenges to make any innovative processes. Through the application of
design-led thinking strategies in the manufacturing sector, some challenges should be addressed. If
organizations need to produce superior products, there is need to have a new methodology of
defining the organizational problem. In cases where an organization wishes to discover potential
operational strategies through the use of design-led thinking, it would be necessary for a researcher
to frame and ask questions interestingly (Elsbach & Stigliani 2018, pp. 2276). The solution in the
production sector could be more reliable if design-led thinking factors user-driven criterions.
Similarly, design-led thinking in manufacturing sector can lower both operational and
manufacturing costs substantially. Though it is not possible to avoid uncertainties in manufacturing
industries, innovators should have possible alternatives but venture on the most suitable one. Once
the most suitable option have been chosen, innovators should make appropriate use of design
thinking to come up with the best product. According to Sharma & Sharma (2014, pp. 3), customer
discovery through design-led thinking has not been used in the manufacturing sector as many of the
known methods have been focused on the jobs that can be done. With the new strategy,
organizations in the manufacturing sector need to highlight what makes substantial meaning to the
customers through the use of design-led thinking. To understand customer needs, organizations
have been venturing on different study researchers through data collection. The best decision could
only be arrived at by having the correct data collected to reflect the exact needs of the people
(Esmaeilian, Behdad & Wang 2016, pp. 81). In this case, it would be essential to assume the data
collectors may have useful data, but analytics and decision makers view the data in their lens with
some biases aspects. Having noted such issues affect the final product, design thinking should take
a different approach to identify customers hidden needs. To understand and meet customer needs,
manufacturers and innovators should consider customers' experience as the output of the final
product. A good example can be highlighted from UK based charity organization which works for
autism syndrome. A design member visited an autism patient and observed the patient engage in

damaging activities such as rubbing a leather made the sofa and rubbing it against the wall. The
first aspect was to document the patients' behaviour and come to a problem definition focused on
preventing destructiveness (Hallgren & Olhager 2009, pp. 978). During the second visit, the
designer had a different viewpoint of the patient's actions. The focus shifted from patient’s
destructive impulse motive of rubbing sofas on the walls. The designer had to mirror the patient's
behaviour to discover the satisfaction which comes with such harmful activities.
Instead of perceiving the sofa being damaged, the aspect changed to any other thing wrapped
in a fabric material which can be fun for the patient to rub against the walls. The goal of the
designer was not to focus on material items being damaged but the satisfaction that the patient got
from any action performed. The wall was turned into an object that can offer more comfort instead
of taking it as a damaged material. Through immersion as a method of data collection and
application of design-led thinking in manufacturing, it was possible for the designer to come up
with an understanding of the patient’s problems (Bhattacharya, Mukhopadhyay & Giri 2014, pp.
49). In this case, concluded that instead of designing products that offer safety to autism patients,
designers should focus on strengths and pleasures. With such understanding, the researcher came
up with the creation of living spaces in specialized gardens to enable autism patients’’ have a
complete life which was more comfortable. Through the application of the immersion as a data
collection method, it was possible to understand the problem. Once the data had been collected,
design-led thinking was applied to come up with a suitable way of providing autism patients with
comfortable lives. The design-led thinking should be framed to steer up the discussions that seek to
inquire about the true nature of the world and feasibilities of coming up with suitable solutions
(Bonnardel & Zenasni 2010, pp. 182). Finally, user experience testing in the manufacturing sector
cannot be guided by prototypes when coming up with the final products in the market. If design-led
thinking in manufacturing should be considered to be a game changer, prototypes are to be
considered as a way of measuring customer experiences on the products under development. In

such cases, the final products can be perceived to be far from being delivered because redesign can
take place before the final product can be released into the market.
Design-based-thinking and innovation
The success of any developed country like the USA can be attributed significantly to
advancement in both research and development. The application of design-led thinking and ability
to take risks have contributed considerably to the creation of much intellectual property than any
other country. Since design-led thinking requires the use of knowledge, it is only through research
that the manufacturing sector can implement value-creating innovation (Behun et al. 2018, pp. 23).
The standard design process offers an ability to understand the required practical product
components but does not provide an alternative to these components. On the same note, it is
essential to comprehend design-led thinking offers an insight on more feasible options to meet
customer needs. The concept of design-led thinking should be perceived as an enabler in innovation
when manufacturing industries try to come up with new products in the market. In the
manufacturing sector, design-led thinking can be viewed as a set of principles such as diversity,
problem redefinition, products prototyping, experimentation and human centred. Through the
application of design-led thinking in the manufacturing sector, it has been possible to incorporate
value and incorporate value in the design processes (Esmaeilian, Behdad & Wang 2016, pp. 83). It
is evident that the proper application of design-led thinking has proved to impact organizational
performance positively. To solve human problems and increase operational completion,
organizations should focus on investing in research and development to understand issues
consciously.
Study methods
The literature review from several studies used different methodologies in data collection,
which were flexible depending on researcher suitability. Some of the methods used are emersion,

which focused on taking part in the use of design-led thinking to change the manufacturing sector.
In such cases, researchers have to become normal product users as well as interact with final
consumers to have the actual product experience (Baines & Lightfoot 2013, pp. 26). On the same
note, observation proved to be an essential data collection method if design-led thinking would be a
success in the manufacturing industry. Through observation, it was possible for USA based charity
designer to identify the issues that surround patients with autism. Observation remains to be a
primary data collection method in design-led thinking because it involves the use of actual problem,
redefining the problem and coming up with an alternative. The final data collection method
includes interviews with final product consumers to ascertain if it meets customers’ expectations.
Important to note is that design-led thinking should not only focus on the products but information
elicitation and interpretation. With design-led thinking strategy, normal processes should be
advanced to achieve a more convenient way of meeting customer need as well as making
operational competitiveness (Bhattacharya, Mukhopadhyay & Giri 2014, pp. 49).
Conclusion
The literature review is used to create a reflection of the entire design-led thinking strategy in
the manufacturing sector. It is evident that through design-led thinking, the manufacturing industry
can define the problem more precisely to achieve competitiveness and meeting customer
satisfaction. Design-led thinking cannot be achieved without incorporating technology in the
production sector. For the manufacturing industry to be able to redefine the problem consciously, it
is essential to invest in research and development. It is only through research and development that
manufacturing industries would be able to evaluate and understand if there are unmet market gaps.
The design-led thinking in the manufacturing sector should be guided by principles such as human
interaction, idea diversity, and product prototyping and problem redefinition to feature in new
features. Countries like the USA, which embraced design-led thinking in manufacturing industries
from earlier days have had substantial achievements. The achievements have been associated with

design-led thinking because it contributes to increased production, customer satisfaction and
increased operational competitiveness. Despite the use of data collection methodologies such as
observation, immersion and interviews, innovators and designers should embrace the use of design-
led thinking in achieving market competitiveness and customer satisfaction. The overall outcome of
design-led thinking in manufacturing industry could be aspects such as increased profits margin.
4. Research Design
The design involves an evaluation of the methodologies which are included in the study of the
subjected problem. In this case, the issue would be addressed by defining the exact need for
adopting design-led thinking in the manufacturing industry. The design would be outlined by
defining the research question, reviewing related work study and evaluating the applicable design in
the study.
Research question
What are the factors that influence and hider design-led thinking in the advanced
manufacturing sector? The question aims at analysing factors that influence adoption and
incorporation of design-led thinking in the manufacturing industry as a way of developing more
sophisticated products, satisfying customer needs, increasing production and improving the
country's economy. Some of the factors that influence design-led thinking are; technology, skilled
man power, availability of tools and resources and specific client requests. The study of the design-
led thinking is essential because it outlines aspects that the manufacturing sector should focus on
during implementation of design-led thinking (Ford 2014, pp. 40). In today's business world where
technology has become the norm of the business, adoption design-led thought can be very
convenient because it helps manufacturing industries integrate technology in product design.

Related work
Descriptive research design helps the researcher to explain the study cases that have been
used in the subjected study. The model has been attributed purely to theoretical concepts which are
created by gathering data and analysing and presenting the results for decision making. The
descriptive research design helps researchers in the manufacturing sector explain and evaluate the
importance of design-led thinking and its application in steering both organizational and country's
development (Ford 2014, pp. 40). Some of the benefits that researcher can get through the use of
descriptive research design are; it is possible to observe the participants in natural phenomenon
such as the study of consumer reaction on product design through immersion. It also helps in the
identification of future research because it can be used to identify testable study variables. Besides,
there are some disadvantages which are associated with descriptive study design. First, it is not
possible to manipulate variables, making it impossible to carry out statistical analysis. Next,
descriptive study design cannot be used to determine variable correlation. Finally, in some
instances, the object under observation may not exhibit desirable characteristics because it is aware
of some studies being conducted (Urbancova 2013, pp. 86). During the investigation, descriptive
research would be applicable in the identification of future technological variables which can be
studied later to support design-led thinking in the advanced manufacturing sector.
Additionally, correlational research designs are used in the study to try and discover whether
any of the study variables are related in any manner. The correlation of the study can be done
through statistical analysis, while study variables are observed (Gerlitz 2015, pp. 184). The
researcher has the responsibility of identifying which variables are closely related and try to
establish the effects of the correlation. Some of the benefits that are associated with the use of
correlational study design are; it exposes the researcher to more data, and its results are applicable
in many situations of life. In this case, different organizational scenarios can be analysed to offer
the insight effects of adopting design thinking in the manufacturing sector. This can be done by