A system engineering approach to improving vehicle NVH attribute management

Abstract

This research is comprised of a detailed study of attribute management processes at a North American Automotive OEM (NA OEM) that has just introduced a new product development system intended to drastically reduce product cycle time and expedite product time to market. In specifics, the product development processes and organization that manage the delivery of a vehicle system design that meets or exceeds customer expectations for noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) are studied. Systems engineering principles, methods and tools are applied to the current processes to assess if process lead time, resources and product quality improvement can be realized. The systems engineering Design Structure Matrix (DSM) method for product development process modeling is applied to the current process used to manage the highly cross functional vehicle attribute known as second order NVH. Second Order NVH represents a vehicle system attribute that is owned by a single subsystem, yet controlled by design parameters owned by many other subsystems. The DSM method enables the NA OEM PD organization to understand the current process of managing this highly cross functional attribute and serves as a powerful tool for process restructuring. Process data is collected such that the DSM process model can be input into a simulation program which predicts stochastic process lead time for the current process and tests the impact of process restructuring ideas. This research also studies the methods and tools used at NA OEM to facilitate vehicle attribute trade-off, decomposition and cascade to the subsystem and component level. Then, a systems engineering approach is suggested to improve the attribute engineering knowledge base which could enable improved attribute trade-off, decomposition and cascade.