Applying the DSM to design project scheduling: A case study

Abstract

Recently, Design Structure Matrix (DSM) has gained increasing attention in scheduling product design projects that consist of many interrelated activities. One common objective of scheduling is to find an activity sequence that minimizes the total feedback length. In this study, we apply the DSM method to the development of pressure reducers in a Chinese company. We first identify 72 activities involved in the projects. Then, we establish the information dependencies among the activities and build a DSM. Finally, the interrelated activities are reorganized with the objective of minimizing total feedback lengths. Application results show that the complex information relations among activities in pressure reducer design can be clearly represented by the DSM. Moreover, the DSM provides a useful tool for investigating iteration, as well as a useful tool for scheduling interrelated activities. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014.