Measuring Static Complexity in Mechatronic Products

Abstract

The complexity present in products does not only affect development time, it also has impacts on production, for example: production costs, manufacturing lead times, quality and customer satisfaction. The complexity of the product will have a profound impact on the manufacturing organization and the product management style. A complex product generally consists of a large number of components, elements or agents, which interact with one another and with the environment. A system or product would be more complex, if there are more parts or components, and more connections between them. The main objective of this article is to propose a methodology to measure the complexity in a mechatronic product. In the course of proposing this methodology, several methodologies used by different authors to measure this variable are studied. The proposed methodology is applied to measure the complexity of four products manufactured and marketed by a Brazilian company. The proposed methodology uses tools such as the DSM (Design Structure Matrix) to support the calculation of the complexity between the interconnections of the subsystems of the products.