The Impact of Complexity during Product Design

Authors

  • Xiaoqi Zhang McGill University Depto. Mechanical Engineering Canada
  • Vince Thomson McGill University Department of Mechanical Engineering Canada

Keywords:

product design, complexity, coordination, agent-based model, simulation

Abstract

Ever increasing product complexity is an obstacle to effective product development. This paper introduces an agent-based model to study the impact of complexity during product design. Product was modeled as a set of functions that require knowledge, design effort and integration, and designers were modeled as agents who applied knowledge to function development tasks and communicated with each other. Simulation experiments were conducted to study the impact of variables, such as: designers’ knowledge level, designers’ experience, coordination efficiency and organizational structure under different levels of product complexity. The results suggest that an increase in complexity increases effort and span time exponentially. Thus, for the development of complex products, more effective coordination mechanisms should be applied when a project has very high levels of complexity and innovation. Having more knowledgeable and experienced designers also helps to lessen design effort and shorten span time. No assertion could be made as to whether a team or matrix organizational structure was superior.

Author Biographies

  • Xiaoqi Zhang, McGill University Depto. Mechanical Engineering Canada

    Xiaoqi Zhang is pursuing her Ph.D. in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at McGillUniversity. Her thesis topic is the measurement and mitigation of complexity during product design. During her Masters degree at McGill University, she worked on a research project on thevalue optimization of engineering jobs at Pratt & Whitney Canada in order to effi ciently schedule engineering tasks. She has also worked with Bombardier Aerospace to find effective solutions for shortening product development span time. In 2014,Xiaoqi Zhang was part of a prize-winning team for the redesign of a manufacturing process for Schluter Systems.

  • Vince Thomson, McGill University Department of Mechanical Engineering Canada

    Vince Thomson is a Post-Retirement Professorin the Department of Mechanical Engineering,McGill University. He has been involved in manufacturingand knowledge process-related researchfor the past 35 years at McGill University and theNational Research Council (Canada). His researchinterests include manufacturing, realtime controland process management. In process management, Dr. Thomsonhas developed fundamental principles of process, methods forprocess improvement, metrics for monitoring processes, andinformation technology tools to support process performance.Partners include a wide variety of industries including aerospace,telecommunication, steelmaking and healthcare

References

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Tomiyama, T., D’Amelio, V., Urbanic, J., & Elmaraghy, W. (2007). Complexity of multi-disciplinary design. CIRP Annals - Manufacturing Technology, 56, 185-188.

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Published

2022-05-20

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2015): The Journal of Modern Project Management

Section

Articles-JMPM

License

Copyright (c) 2022 Xiaoqi Zhang, Vince Thomson

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

The Impact of Complexity during Product Design. (2022). The Journal of Modern Project Management, 3(1), 114. https://journalmodernpm.com/manuscript/index.php/jmpm/article/view/188

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