Understanding, modeling and improving the development of complex products : method and study

Development of new aerostructure designs frequently occurs through a complex process that is difficult to understand and control. Tight requirements for weight, cost, strength, and aerodynamic behavior create many interdependencies in the product design, which translate through to the design process. An increasing fragmentation of the commercial aerospace industry has also added a dimension of complexity to the process - outsourced component designs are often interdependent with in-house component designs, resulting in frequently changing requirements for supplier components during the design process. This thesis offers an analysis of the product development processes of a first-tier aerostructures supplier, Spirit AeroSystems. Although this host company provides the context for analysis, the method is meant to be generally applicable to the development of any complex product. The Design Structure Matrix (DSM) methodology is used to capture the required interaction between tasks of the development of a propulsion structure for commercial aircraft. The task times, time variations, work loads, interdependencies, likelihoods of rework, and learning curves are then quantified and applied to a discrete-event Monte Carlo simulation model which outputs probabilistic completion time and workload of the project. The model is then used to show how changing the customer requirements at different points in the development cycle affect the cost and schedule of development.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Rogers, Bradley W. (Bradley Warren)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Deborah Nightingale and Steven D. Eppinger.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Manufacturing 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/1721.1/49780

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49780