Exploring decision-making in manufacturing process selection: an interview study

The manufacturing process selection (MPS) greatly influences possible design decisions regarding the product’s embodiment. However, a gap remains in understanding how design engineers make these selections and what data and resources inform them. Through semi-structured interviews with engineers across various mechanical engineering industries insights into current decision-making processes are gained. The findings reveal that MPS is mostly guided by personal and collective experience, with influencing factors such as functionality and product quantities. The use of support tools remains limited. A systematic integration of data-driven tools and structured knowledge management is mostly absent. It’s concluded that reliance on experiential knowledge risks overlooking alternative processes and integrating systematic tools with existing experience-based practices could enhance MPS.