Emergent product development process structures

Advances in communications technology have introduced the potential to transform the product development process from a static system to one that evolves dynamically on a product-by-product basis. New design environments are providing a simulation and service marketplace that allows participants to flexibly define and change relationships, thus causing the development process to emerge with the definition and detailing of the product. The emergent nature of this new environment increases the need to dynamically monitor and potentially manage the resulting product development process structures. A software tool is designed to analyze the structure of product development systems. The tool extracts information related to process, organization, and design structure in the form of a Design Structure Matrix. As a part of the DOME (Distributed Object-based Modeling Environment) prototype system, the tool automatically analyzes the information flow structure in an integrated product design model. A case study concerning the design of an automotive door window system is used to demonstrate the tool and to explore the transformation from a static, centralized product development process to an emergent, distributed process.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Wang, Priscilla H. (Priscilla Hwa-Mei), 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• David Wallace.

• Mechanical Engineering.

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/1721.1/9055

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/9055