Emergent product development process structures

Abstract

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.