Design structure matrix-based Engineering Change management for product development

Product development involves massive Engineering Changes (ECs). The aim of EC management is to actively predict the impact of changes on the product, process and organisation, so that time, cost, and resources can be allocated rationally. Design Structure Matrix (DSM), a structured method that has advantages on representing dependency relations, is proposed to analyse the ECs. DSM is used to capture the comprehensive issues of ECs, including the dependency relations between items, dependency strengths, types of ECs, as well as levels of ECs. A DSM-based EC management system has been developed, which could enable more effective product development.