Eric Bonjour

Propagating product architecture decisions onto the project organisation: a comparison between two methods

Concepts like product architecture and modularity have been introduced in order to limit the effects of technological change on complex product design. Researchers have highlighted that product architectures and design organisations (projects, teams?) are strongly interrelated. However, little research has analysed this relationship. System architects and design managers need a method that helps them to simulate the mapping of the product architecture onto the project organisation by propagating choices and then assessing alternatives. In this paper, two propagation methods are presented and compared. The first one is based on a fuzzy process, which is proposed by the authors. The second one is based on a matrix approach. Both are applied to define new robotised gearbox architectures. A sensitivity analysis is conducted. It is concluded that in new product development situations or in reengineering projects, system architects could use these methods in the early design stages to forecast the more appropriate design project organisation.

Are Skill Design Structure Matrices New Tools for Automotive Design Managers

The 2000s have been marked by significant change both in the nature of the vehicle and in its design process. The car satisfies an ever-present need. It longitudinally, autonomously and safely carries a reduced number of passengers and goods. In the future, acceptable vehicles must achieve requirements like reliability, safety, drivability, low gas consumption, minimal environmental footprint, low cost... The satisfactory solutions the designers are expected to offer can not be considered as pure mechanical systems. They integrate coupled functional modules that are embodied in multi-physical components (mechanical components, electronic or electrical devices, embebbed software...). Their design requires skills that are new from the automotive design managers’ viewpoint. The issue concerning the identification, evaluation, building and modelling of skill networks opens promising ways for researchers and practitioners. Thus the purpose of this chapter will be to define the concept of skill network and to explain how it can be mapped by using “Design Structure Matrices” (DSMs) (Browning, 2001). This chapter will be illustrated with an example concerning a French automaker’s design office (Bonjour & Micaelli, 2010). It aims at developing vehicle organs. These ones concern the powertrain system and the chassis. Their life cycle exceeds two decades. Thus designing them consists in developing a product family compliant with different platforms, models or generations of vehicles. These organs are mass produced. Since 1997, the mentioned design office of over 5,500 designers has been structured according to the systems engineering principles and processes (ISO 15288). Depending on the project, its technical activity partially or totally covers the Vee cycle. In this chapter, we shall not address the issue of skill network identification, mapping and building from a global viewpoint, but from a local one focused on the intermediate layer of the Vee cycle, namely the design of functional architectures. We therefore describe how the skill networks related to this task are restructured. The remainder of this chapter is structured as follows. Section 2 defines the concept of skill network. It also proposes a conceptual framework including close concepts (job position, profession, core competence...). Section 3 outlines examples of skill networks and the

Démarche de modélisation d'une situation de conception collaborative

Le caractere collectif des activites de conception necessite le developpement de methodes et d’outils pour la maitrise des processus de conception et des activites collaboratives. Le groupe de travail est assimile a un systeme constitue d’entites en interactions de differentes natures et regi par des mecanismes de regulation et de coordination. Nous nous interessons ici a la modelisation d’une situation de conception collaborative. Apres une definition de la situation et la description de differentes perceptions de ce concept, nous proposons un modele de situation dans lequel nous caracterisons les entites de differentes natures qui sont en interactions. Une classification des relations entre ces entites est proposee. Les perspectives de ce travail sont de contribuer a l’amelioration d’outils permettant de supporter une situation de conception collaborative et de capitaliser ces connaissances en vue d’une reutilisation efficace.