Why Quantum Computers?

As problem complexity increases the advantage classical computation methods provide plateaus. This increasing complexity becomes a limitation as we reach the upper end of our manufacturing process limits for classical processors. Despite increasing numbers of transistors the clock speed of classical computers is capped. Further, having evaluated a set of options, it may be be useful to store the results for later analysis or selection. However, with modern hard disk drives storage capacity in the 10s of TBs we are quickly diverging from what is capable with classical computers.

These factors limit the vastness and complexity of the problems we can tackle as engineering designers. This begs the question “Are there a fundamentally different approaches to representing and resolving Engineering Design design spaces?”. The approach being examined in this PhD is quantum computing, which has emerged
as a promising method that overcomes some of the barriers faced by classical methods. The field of quantum computation remains an evolving field, within which there are a variety of techniques being developed.

Progress Made in the First Year

Interest in the potential for quantum computation in engineering design began with work conducted by the supervisors of this PhD – James Gopsill and Ben Hicks. This spawned a summer internship completed by Oliver and resulted in a conference publication “Research Questions in Applying Quantum Computing to Systems Design“. This publication provided a starting point from which Oliver’s PhD could begin. 

To answer these research questions, a stronger background in quantum information and computation was required. This was obtained through the completion of several taught courses at the University of Bristol during year 1 of the PhD. Further, self-guided exploration of two quantum SDKs, Qiskit and Ocean, was performed. This aimed to fill the practical knowledge gaps left by the academic courses.

With this fundamental knowledge in hand, an investigation into the existing literature covering quantum computing and its applications to engineering problems was conducted. This led to a categorisation of the field clarifying the avenues for further investigation, as well as highlighting the impact of the chosen quantum hardware can have on performance. It also demonstrated the relative infancy of the field of quantum computation for engineering. The combination of this field’s rapid development and the need to consider the affordances of different hardware architectures highlights the potential for drastic changes within this PhD’s timeframe.

Progress Made in the Second Year

The majority of the work conducted in the second year of this PhD culminated in a Journal paper titled “Comparing Gate and Annealing-based Quantum Computing for Configuration-Based Design Tasks” and published in Design Science. This journal paper covers a large body of work investigating and comparing two different quantum computing algorithms applied to a configuration design problem. Both approaches were run using real quantum hardware from IBM and D-wave. Their quantum devices were accessed through cloud-based job submission architectures.

The comparison of two different quantum computing approaches helped to identify important considerations for engineering designs trying to use this new technology in the near-term. It also provided useful direction for the remainder of this PhD. 

After the submission to Design Science, an investigation into the most relevant/important engineering design problems tackled using classical computational methods was performed. This was done so that an informed decision could be made about what problems (other than configuration design) most warranted a quantum solving approach. 

Progress Made in the Third Year

The third of Oliver’s PhD was particularly diverse and successful. He managed multiple work-streams resulting in several impressive outcomes. The primary work-stream was the continuation of the study completed in his second year. This took the investigation for suitable areas of application for quantum algorithm in Engineering Design a step further. He completed the execution of a study investigating the performance of a promising near-term quantum optimisation algorithm across a range of NP hard problems. This has resulted in interesting results that provide valuable insights into how we should structure these kinds of benchmarking experiments if we are serious about finding quantum utility in Engineering Design. At the time of writing, these results are being written up into a journal that should contribute most of the body to his thesis.

In a similar vein, Oliver partook in the 2025 UK’s National Quantum Hackathon. Here, teams of PhD and postdoctoral researchers are brought together, along with members of industry, to collaboratively investigate the opportunity for different quantum hardware and algorithms for solving industrially interesting problems. The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) organise this event and enable elevated access to some of the most cutting edge quantum processors available today. Teams present the culmination of their 2-day sprint to a panel of expert Judges from across the field of Quantum Computation. Oliver led his team to a 1st place victory, drawing directly on the skills with Qiskit and Ocean developed during his second year study. As well as being an affirming experience, as the only engineer among a sea of physics and computer science students, it is a demonstration that the skills developed during his PhD will be critical piece of puzzle in enabling industry to take advantage of quantum computing’s rapid progress.

Another major work-stream was the research and resulting publication in the Conference on Manufacturing Systems by CIRP. His conference paper was titled “Identifying Quantum Computing Applications in the Study and Operation of Manufacturing Systems“. This paper explored a range of quantum algorithms and identified promising pairings with computationally challenging manufacturing system problems, considering the future trajectory of quantum algorithms, hardware, and the manufacturing industry in both the short and long term. 

It is also during this year that Oliver:

• Supported a project to deliver a workshop on ultra-low cost manufacturing methods for biological testing devices at the Chublahorn Research Institute in Thailand.
• Became a Research Associate and started work on the REUMan project developing economic viability models using multi-method simulation modelling techniques.
• Co-supervised a Quantum CDT student’s project, resulting in her joining the DMF lab to also explore the opportunities for QC in engineering design.

Going Forwards

Moving into the final year of this PhD, Oliver will be looking to draw conclusions on the following questions:

1. Which of the key engineering design problems identified should we attempt to develop a quantum computing approach for?
2. Which of the available NISQ hardware topologies would be most suited for the developed quantum approach?
3. How can we develop a robust method for evaluating the suitability of QC approaches to engineering problems, one that can be repeatedly applied as the field continues to advance and problems continue to evolve?
4. If useable results are not achievable for any quantum processors considering a specific algorithm and hardware pairing, what hardware milestones would we need to reach to realise this goal? 

The second study completed in Oliver’s third year should shine a light on most of these questions. However, he is planning a final investigation into the future of quantum hardware by exploring the potential for Quantum Resource Estimation (QRE) tools to identify the important hardware milestones. If these milestones can be identified, and a robust method for finding suitable algorithm/problem pairings can be developed, we should have the tools we need to answer the question “Where should Engineering Designers use quantum computers?”.

Academic Citizenship and Continued Professional Development

As well as the work examining the potential for quantum computers in engineering design, Oliver has led/been involved with several other projects during his PhD. This can be seen most clearly in the following list of publications:

Journal

• Schiffmann O, Gopsill J, Hicks B. “Comparing gate and annealing-based quantum computing for configuration-based design tasks”. Design Science. 2025;11:e40. doi:10.1017/dsj.2025.10028
• O. Schiffmann, B. Hicks, A. Nassehi, J. Gopsill, and M. Valero. “A Cost–Benefit Analysis Simulation for the Digitalisation of Cold Supply Chains”. In: Sensors 23.8 (2023). ıssn: 1424-8220. doı: 10.3390/s23084147
• H. Felton, O. Schiffmann, M. Goudswaard, J. Gopsill, C. Snider, R. Real, A. McClenaghan, and B. Hicks. “Maker Communities and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Analysis of Thingiverse’s Response to Supply Shortages”. In: Royal Society Open Science (2023).

Conference

• O. Schiffmann, J. Gopsill, M. Ridley, M. Valero, “Identifying Quantum Computing Applications in the Study and Operation of Manufacturing Systems” In Procedia CIRP, Volume 134, 2025, Pages 573-578, ISSN 2212-8271, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2025.02.161.
• M. Valero, O. Schiffmann, A. Nassehi, and B. Hicks. “Digital Twin Design and Evaluation for Dynamically Optimised Distribution Strategy in Food Supply Chains: An Exploratory Case Study”. In: Proceedings of the 32nd annual Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing Conference. Porto – Portugal, June 2023
• J. Gopsill, B. Hicks, O. Schiffmann, and A. McClenaghan. “A Sustainable Computational Design Concept Using Web Service Methods”. In: Proceedings of the Design Society 3 (2023), pp. 425–434
• J. Gopsill, O. Schiffmann, and B. Hicks. “Research Questions in Applying Quantum Computing to Systems Design”. In: Design Computing and Cognition’22. Ed. by J. S. Gero. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2022, pp. 735–745. ısbn: 978-3-031-20418-0. doı: 10.1007/978-3-031-20418-0_43
• R. Ballantyne, A. McClenaghan, O. Schiffmann, and C. Snider, “Critical component detection in assemblies: a graph centrality approach,” In: Proceedings of the Design Society, vol. 4, pp. 1929–1938, 2024. doi:10.1017/pds.2024.195

Last updated: 11/12/2025