As part of Master of Science with Major in Industrial Engineering (from Penn State University), I had developed a software tool to guide metal casting pattern designer to design better pattern in their first iteration.
It should be note that design pattern is more of art than science. Penn State was involved with larger project where huge amounts of data was gathered. Data analysis on these date produced certain analytical value that can be used for designing patterns.
I had used those analytical values and developed a designer-friendly software guide tool to design metal casting patterns. Trail run of this tool was conducted at McConway & Torley Group, Pittsburgh PA. Trail run of this software has improved casting feature dimensional conformance from 59% to 82% for large green sand castings.
Link for report regarding this (see page 22 in the report).
Link for more information on Software Guide Tool.