Design Optimization: Tools and Methods for ETO Products

The design of Engineer-To-Order products needs tools and methods for reducing time and cost during the phase of the quotation preparation. Modularization is one of the more applied design methods for ETO systems; however, it is necessary to integrate traditional tools with practices of design optimization in order to im-prove the development of a proposal. Even if commercial design tools for model-ling specific types of engineering systems are available, the application of design optimization is still based on the use of tools not integrated with each level of the design phases. Moreover, these tools often require a software customization. In fact, the integration of geometrical modelling, simulations, analysis, and optimiza-tion concerns the interaction between different tools. This paper describes an ap-proach to support the Multi-Object Optimization related to the design of complex ETO systems with focus on the oil & gas context. In this context, Genetic Algo-rithms and Constraint Satisfaction Problems are introduced as tools to support the design optimization of steel structures. The approach includes the employment of different and integrated tools throughout the design phases. This paper also shows a collection of tools to support the different levels for the design of differ-ent ETO products during the preparation of an offer related to a proposal submis-sion