Development of a design structure matrix partitioning method towards effective design collaboration

Zhixin Yang, Jie Zhou, Chao Deng and Xin-yu Shao

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2012, vol. 25, issue 4, 177-190

Abstract: The difficulties in design collaboration stem from the managerial complexity in terms of the interactions and interdependencies among the respective development activities. This paper introduces a simple structural partitioning algorithm of design structure matrix, basing on dependency relationships among tasks via tracing the input tasks chain. The algorithm is composed of four modules, which are used to organise and transform design tasks into input model, cycle model, group model and execution ordering model correspondingly. Cycle matrix is created to partition the task set into individual groups that are with different interdependency levels. Coupled and unordered individual task set could be converted into uncoupled, ordered task clusters. The illustrative case studies on automotive industry has verified the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, which could partition the development processes into different execution clusters to improve the concurrence and collaboration of product development tasks.

Keywords: design structure matrix; DSM; partitioning algorithms; process management; design collaboration; collaborative design; dependency relationships; automotive doors; car doors; automobile industry; vehicle design; product development. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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