Identifying Controlling Features of Engineering Design Iteration

Robert P. Smith and Steven D. Eppinger
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Robert P. Smith: University of Washington, Industrial Engineering, Seattle, Washington 98195
Steven D. Eppinger: MIT Sloan School of Management, E53-347, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139

Management Science, 1997, vol. 43, issue 3, 276-293

Abstract: Engineering design often involves a very complex set of relationships among a large number of coupled problems. It is this complex coupling that leads to iteration among the various engineering tasks in a large project. The design structure matrix (DSM) is useful in identifying where iteration is necessary. The work transformation matrix model developed in this paper is a powerful extension of the DSM method which can predict slow and rapid convergence of iteration within a project, and predict those coupled features of the design problem which will require many iterations to reach a technical solution. This model is applied to an automotive brake-system development process in order to illustrate the model's utility in describing the main features of an actual design process.

Keywords: product development; engineering design; design iteration; design process modeling; product development lead time (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1997
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (41)

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