Complexity reduction in automotive design and development

Automobiles are complex products. High product complexity drives high levels of design and process complexity and complicatedness. This thesis attempts to reduce complicatedness in the automotive vehicle design and development process utilizing systems engineering tools including the design structure matrix (DSM) and axiomatic design concepts. The title of the thesis is a misnomer; complexity in automotive design and development is not "going away", but through the use of system engineering tools it is believed that the complicatedness of automotive design can be reduced and the consequences of decisions can be better understood at earlier stages in product development. A holistic view of the complexity and complicatedness challenge is considered, in order to identify high leverage points and generic insights that can be carried forward to future product development efforts. The goal is to translate generalized learning and systems thinking to the application of systems tools and processes that enable an understanding of complexity, in order to design better operating policies that guide positive change in systems. The analysis starts with considerations across the automotive enterprise, then the focus sharpens to the early stages of the product development process. Then a more detailed level of abstraction is considered when the automotive chassis tuning process and the interactions between the vehicle dynamics and noise and vibration (NVH) attributes are considered. The automotive rear suspension design is used to illustrate the concepts at the detailed level of abstraction. A rear suspension system case study is included, as it met a number of the challenges inherent in large-scale systems; it provides the elements of a technical challenge

Department dc:contributor.department

System Design and Management Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Ziegler, Ronald J., 1965-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Daniel Whitney.

• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34811

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34811