Introducing Design Rigidity to Model Unexpected Disturbances in a DSM-Based Design Process

Agile design engineering systems require flexible processes that can adapt rapidly for fast response to dynamic changes in the design requirements due to the market demands and/or internal or external constrains and limitations, without compromising the cost and quality of the design process and design process’ upstream activities, particularly the manufacturing and production processes. These changes in the design requirements can occur as unpredictable events at any time, delaying the convergence of the design process to a feasible solution. In this paper, the flexibility of design process versus an unpredicted event is studied and modeled using the notion of a dynamic index of rigidity for the design process. Using the Design Structure Matrix (DSM)-based definition of the sequence and technical relationship of design tasks, a dynamic response to an unexpected change in the design requirements and the additional necessary iterations in the design process are studied and modeled using the dynamic rigidity of the design process.