Abstract
Traditionally, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing rely heavily on a skilled, technical and professional workforce to increase productivity and remain globally competitive. Crowdsourcing offers an opportunity for SMEs to get access to online communities who may provide requested services such as generating design ideas or problem solutions. However, there are some barriers preventing them from adopting crowdsourcing into their product design and development (PDD) practice. In this paper, we provide a literature review of key crowdsourcing technologies including crowdsourcing platforms and tools, crowdsourcing frameworks, and techniques in terms of open call generation, rewarding, crowd qualification for working, organization structure of crowds, solution evaluation, workflow and quality control and indicate the challenges of integrating crowdsourcing with a PDD process. We also explore the necessary techniques and tools to support the crowdsourcing PDD process. Finally, we propose some key guidelines for coping with the aforementioned challenges in the crowdsourcing PDD process.
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This work was supported by the China Scholarship Council and State Key Laboratory of Traction Power at Southwest Jiaotong University (No. TPL1501). We thank anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments which helped to improve the paper.
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Xiao-Jing Niu received the B. Eng. and M. Eng. degrees in computer science from Northwest A&F University, China in 2013 and 2016, respectively. She is currently a Ph. D. degree candidate in industrial design of Department of Northumbria School of Design, Northumbria University Newcastle, UK.
Her research interests include human-computer interaction, computer aided design and machine learning.
Sheng-Feng Qin received the Ph. D. degree in product design from University of Wales Institute, UK in 2000. Now, he is a professor of digital design at Northumbria University with an extensive career in design academia. He is a member of IEEE and the Design Society. He has published more than 150 papers in journals and conferences and 2 books.
His research interests include computer-aided conceptual design, sketch-based interface and modeling, interface and interaction design, simulation modelling and virtual manufacturing, smart product and sustainable design, digital design methods and tools.
John Vines received the Ph. D. degree in interaction design for older people from University of Plymouth, UK in 2010. He is a professor at Department of Northumbria School of Design, Northumbria University, UK.
His research interests include human-computer interaction, methods and processes for participatory, collaborative and experience-centered design and research, experience-centered security and privacy.
Rose Wong received the BA degree in product design from Northumbria University, UK in 2000. She has worked as a senior lecturer on the Bachelor (Hons) 3D design and Bachelor (Hons) design for industry courses at Northumbria University, UK, and is currently the programme leader on Bachelor (Hons) design for industry course. Prior to this, she worked as a “Designer in Residence” at Northumbria University, UK, which operates as an in-house design consultancy employing successful students graduating from 3D Design. This venture has helped many of Northumbria University′s Design School graduates become successful freelance designers, demonstrating a nurture of entrepreneurial skills in our alumni.
Her research interests include in-house design and 3D design.
Hui Lu received the B. Sc. degree in business administration from Zhejiang University, China in 2009, and the M. Sc. degree in operations and supply chain management from the University of Liverpool, UK in 2010. Currently, she is an associated lecturer, research assistant and Ph. D. degree candidate in business management, Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University, UK. She once worked in the Integrated Supply Chain Department in IBM China for 4 years.
Her research interests include sustainable manufacturing and supply chain management, process optimal and control, and technology innovation.
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Niu, XJ., Qin, SF., Vines, J. et al. Key Crowdsourcing Technologies for Product Design and Development. Int. J. Autom. Comput. 16, 1–15 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-018-1138-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11633-018-1138-7
Keywords
- Crowdsourcing technologies
- product design and development (PDD)
- communication
- information sharing
- design evaluation
- feedback