Earticle

The weapon systems development has some distinct characteristics in that a big size of government budget (derived from national tax) has been expended frequently and the completion of the development projects seems to take long. Thus, the impact of the potential changes in the required operational capability on the development activities can induce some type of project risks. As such, proper management of project risk has been one of crucial subjects in the weapon systems development. Although a variety of methods can be considered, an approach based on the test and evaluation (T&E) process has been selected in this paper in order to appropriately handle those potential risks. In the study of the underlying T&E process, the safety consideration (for instance, explosiveness) of weapon systems is also included. To achieve the objective of the paper, a step-by-step procedure is first presented in the analysis of the T&E process. Then, to pursue some enhancement on the process, a set of necessary and useful activities are added in terms of risk and safety management. The resultant process is further analyzed and tailored based on a design structure matrix method. The case study of a tank development is also discussed.

Modern systems development becomes more and more complicated due to the need on the ever-increasing capability of the systems. In addition to the complexity issue, safety concern is also increasing since the malfunctions of the systems under development may result in the accidents in both the test and evaluation phase and the operation phase. Those accidents can cause disastrous damages if explosiveness gets involved therein such as in weapon systems development. The subject of this paper is on how to incorporate safety requirements in the design of safety-critical systems. As an approach, a useful system structure using the method of design structure matrix (DSM) is studied while reflecting the need on systems safety. Specifically, the effects of system components failure are analyzed and numerically modeled first. Also, the system components are identified and their interfaces are represented using a component DSM. Combining the results of the failure analysis and the component DSM leads to a modified DSM. By rearranging the resultant DSM, a modular structure is derived with safety requirements incorporated. As a case study, application of the approach is also discussed in the development of a military UAV plane.

Design is an iterative, generative, and multidisciplinary process by its nature. Iteration occurs often in most of the engineering design and development projects including construction. Design iterations cause rework, and extra efforts are required to get the optimal sequence and to manage the projects. Contrary to simple design, isolation of the generative iterations in complex design systems is very difficult, but reduction in overall iterations is possible. Design depends upon the information flow within domain and also among various design disciplines and organizations. Therefore, it is suggested that managers should be aware about the crucial iterations causing rework and optimal sequence as well. In this way, managers can handle design parameters related to such iterations pro-actively. There are a number of techniques to reduce iterations for various kinds of engineering designs. In this paper, parameter based Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is chosen. To create this DSM, a survey was performed and then partitioned using a model. This paper provides an easy approach to those companies involved in or intend to be involved in "design and build projects".

Design is an iterative, generative, and multidisciplinary process by its nature. Iteration is frequent in most of the engineering design and development projects including construction. Design iterations cause rework, and extra efforts are required to get the optimal sequence and to manage the projects. Contrary to simple design, isolation of the generative iterations in complex design systems is very difficult, but reduction in overall iterations is possible. Design depends upon the information flow within domain and also among various design disciplines and organizations. Therefore, it is suggested that managers should be aware about the crucial iterations causing rework and optimal sequence as well. In this way, managers can handle design parameters related to such iterations proactively. Numbers of techniques are available to reduce iterations for various kinds of engineering designs. In this paper, parameter based Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is chosen. To create this DSM, a survey was performed and then partitioned using a model. This paper provides an easy approach to those companies involved in or intend to be involved in "design and build projects."

Design equations for anthropometric product design are developed by considering the geometrical relationships of design dimensions and anthropometric dimensions. The present study applied the design structure matrix (DSM) method to the development of design equations for a computer workstation, and compared design values from the design equations with corresponding design values of ergonomic recommendations and existing products. The relationships between design dimensions (e.g., legroom and worktable) were analyzed by a DSM, and then the application order of design equations (e.g., seatpan, backrest, armrest, legroom, and worktable in descending order) was determined. Next, design equations were developed by analyzing the geometric relationships between computer workstation design dimensions and anthropometric dimensions. Finally, design values for a computer workstation were determined by considering a standard posture defined and representative human models (5th, 50th, 95th %ile). The design values calculated using the design equations were similar with those of ergonomic recommendations found in literature and two commercial products measured in the study; however, some design values (e.g., seatpan height) were different due to discrepancy in standard posture. The DSM method would be utilized to systematically analyze the relationships between design dimensions for anthropometric product design.

This paper explores a structuring method for solid modeling processes of an automobile automatic transmission-lever design. The aim of this work is to establish standard procedures to minimize iterations and trial and errors during the product development process to increase development time and costs. The design of the transmission-lever is periodically required to be changed with the model change of an automobile. The transmission-lever design process has mainly depended on the designer's experience. It causes to make difficulties to handle the dependency of components. The design process can be improved by resolving the dependency problem using the DSM. The process of applying the DSM provides a systematic way for the solid modeling of transmission-lever by the consideration of geometry dependency.

As an inherent characteristic of any product or system, reliability is one of the parameters of design, construction and operation to be considered and controlled as an important criterion during relevant processes. The need to ensure the continuous and proper functioning of a product has led designers to pay special attention to increasing reliability. Therefore by coordinating all design experts and support groups throughout the implementation of product life cycle, the product development life cycle period can be reduced and value-creation of products increased. As a result, the existence of a comprehensive model is of vital importance. In this study, all industrial engineering techniques effective in improving reliability are first identified and then prioritized in all phases of the product life cycle using multi-criteria decision making method. Finally, using design structure matrix, priority and posteriority of all techniques is determined in each phase and a systematic model is provided to improve equipment reliability.

This paper suggests a new process structuring method, which we call process modularization, for decomposing and grouping activities in a process. Above all, we propose the concept of a module that is a group of activities positioned on the same flow before and after control constructs. Since activities in a module are relatively strongly interrelated with one another, it is important to take into consideration of these together. A design structure matrix (DSM) is used to structure the process because it has a lot of advantages in process modeling and analysis. We developed two algorithms: the restricted topological sorting (RTS) algorithm for ordering activities and the module finding (MF) algorithm for detecting modules in a process, which utilize the DSM. The suggested approach enables a firm's manager to design and analyze the process effectively. We also developed a supporting tool to accelerate the progress of process modularization. The supporting tool aids the process manager in finding the module and understanding the process structure easily. An illustrative example is addressed to show operations of the suggested approach.

Naval ship design and related other activities can be characterized by the complexity of the interactions among products, activities, and disciplines. Such complexities often result in inferior designs, cost overrun, and late-delivery. Hence there exist tremendous interests in both improving the design process itself and optimizing the interactions among design activities. This paper looks at the complexity of designing naval ships thereby leading to the innovation of current ship design practices using design structure matrix. It can be used to induce the optimal ordering of design activities as well as identify sources of complexities. The method presented here identifies coupled design activities useful for reducing the complexity of naval ship design as well as optimally reordering design activities. This paper recommends the use of design structure matrix method suitable for numerically optimizing the concept design process of naval ship, and reducing cost and time required in designing naval ships by modeling and analyzing the design activities and engineering tasks, defined in systems engineering planning documents.