Conceptual design is the most critical and creative phase of design. Recently, increasing attention has been directed to supporting conceptual-level computer aided creative design and its theories and methodologies. Specifically, for conceptual design of mechanical products, this paper presents a novel function solving model for mechanical product design and highlights the importance of systematic synthesis to achieve creative design. Then it builds a framework as a function-effect-process-action- mechanisms (FEPAM) mapping process, which enables creative design on the basis of conceiving different action schemes. After that, several key points are elaborated including 1) representing and decomposition methods of functions and motion behaviors; 2) action scheme representing method based on network plan techniques; and 3) variation and creation methods based on action scheme transformations.