Design of smart products requires optimization of both the physical device, or artifact, and its controller. While some components of coupling can be computed a priori, the existence and strength of coupling between these problems over the entire Pareto frontier currently cannot be computed until they are solved. If coupling is expected to be present, then the problem is often solved as a simultaneous, or all-in-one, optimization. This solution process is more difficult, computationally intensive, and operationally inconvenient than a sequential solution method. Consequently, knowing in advance whether coupling is weak or nonexistent is useful.