Enhancing the flow of information in the PLM by using numerical DSMs – an industrial case study

Abstract

This paper proposes a methodology to enhance the information flow in the product life cycle through the example of the product development process. The methodology refines the existing approaches of revealing indirect dependencies with a multiple domain matrix by introducing the numerical derived design structure matrix as indicator of quantifying indirect dependencies between process steps, information and people. These dependencies are quantified by the pieces of information causing the indirect linkage. The subsequent analysis is narrowed down to the content level of information to identify the root causes. This methodology has been successfully tested in an industrial case study. As a result, this paper helps to manage the complexity in the PLM by making the linkages caused by the information flow visible to improve collaborative product development.