Maryvonne Dulmet

The extension of principles of cybernetics towards engineering and manufacturing

Summary Fifty years after the publication of the first work by N. Wiener. the fundamental concepts of Cybernetics have been assimilated and enriched. The classic concept of the closed loop is re-examined here in order to highlight the implicit yet fundamental role of man in relation to cybernetic systems. In real time, these systems are at the cross-roads of physical causation and human intentionality. These intentionalities are primarily derived from the preliminary intentions of the designers. Between the design and the action. there is thus an essential duality, which also exists between project and production, and which can lead to a cognitive model of the design activity.

A Fuzzy Method for Propagating Functional Architecture Constraints to Physical Architecture

Modular product design has received great attention for about 10 years, but few works have proposed tools to either jointly design the functional and physical architectures or propagate the impact of evolutions from one domain to another. In this paper, we present a new method supporting the product architecture design. In new product development situations or in re-engineering projects, system architects could use this method in the early design stages to predetermine cohesive modules and integrative elements and to simulate a domain architecture by propagating architecture choices from another domain. To illustrate our approach, we present an industrial case study concerning the design of a new automobile powertrain.

A team building approach for competency development

An approach for multidisciplinary team building is proposed through three steps. We suppose that tasks and team members are characterized by a set of attributes (technical competencies). First, the calculation of distance measure between task and team member (profile matching) are proposed. Second, an array-based clustering algorithm is used as an effective means for providing an alternative solution in task and team-member clustering. The proposed approach generates a systematic formation of task and team member families by sequencing the rows and the columns of a task/ team member incidence matrix. Finally, an integer programming model is formulated to solve the task assignment problem. The proposed method is demonstrated by applying it to an example in a team building problem.

An internal modeling of competency, based on a systemic approach, with socio-technical systems management in view

Human-centered industrial engineering is probably the major challenge that both the industrial and academic communities have to take up. This interdisciplinary problem relies on organizational, technological, economic and human issues. Sociotechnical systems management has to define an appropriate organization to create synergy between competencies, processes, products and technologies, at different levels within the company (individual, group, company) or between companies. Competency and knowledge are becoming key notions that need to be integrated in systems management engineering. The point is that there exists no competency model, relevant to specify coherent socio-technical systems management. This paper contributes to clarify the notion of competency and presents a global cognitive model of competency working based on both a systemic approach and an action theory. This model represents the major cognitive resources and processes along with their interactions, according to an internal point of view of competency. The aims of this modeling are to understand how a complex system, i.e. competency, works and to focus on the articulation between knowledge and competency. An extension of this model concerns competency dynamics and will be published later. The validation of this model is achieved in the framework of a research contract with a French car enterprise, in a specific field of car engineering processes. The final aims of our research works are about the design of a management device of the engineering competency system.

A multidisciplinary team building method based on competency modelling in design project management

Abstract This research aims to develop a new team building method based on competency modelling in the field of project management. This method is divided into three main stages. First, a competency matrix based on a task-actor compatibility indicator helps to characterise the competency levels. Second, we apply a clustering algorithm in order to reduce the problem complexity and favour the employees’ expertise. The clustering algorithm will decompose large sets of tasks and actors into smaller task groups related to different actor groups. It facilitates the project leaders to organise the actors into teams. Finally, the proposed task assignment model incorporates a learning curve in order to take the competency dynamics into account. Our computational experiments suggest that incorporating a clustering algorithm as a step of the method results in preserving expertise and thus helps project managers to find better tradeoffs between project cost (short term goal) and competency dynamics (long term goal).

Managing the Competencies of Team Members in Design Projects through Multi-period Task Assignment

Product design projects involve multiple team members with various knowledge and competencies that have to evolve with time, due to rapid organizational, technological and marketing changes. Project managers require management methods to optimize the assignment of tasks to human resources according to their competency levels and the need for competency evolution. In this paper, we tackle this optimization problem in the context of multiple design projects and multiple periods. The model we propose seeks to minimize two function objectives: (i) minimize the supplementary salary cost due to the extended task duration when using under-competent employees and (ii) minimize the financial penalties when the competency goals have not been reached. This problem has been solved by means of a simulated annealing -based optimization algorithm.

Proposition of a Situation Model in View to Improve Collaborative Design

The collective character of design activities requires the development of methods and tools in order to control the design process and the collaborative activities. The workgroup is assimilated to a system composed of entities, which are in various interactions managed by a set of coordination and control mechanisms. We present here a model of the design situation in collaborative works using the notion of inter-related entities. We propose also a classification of the different interactions between these entities. The perspectives of this work are to contribute to the improvement of support tools for the collaborative design situation and knowledge capitalization.

A fuzzy array-based clustering method in team building

Abstract An array-based clustering approach is proposed as an effective mean for providing an alternative solution in team building problem. The proposed approach generates a systematic formation of task and team member families by sequencing the rows and the columns of a task-personnel incidence matrix. To obtain the task-personnel incidence matrix, a fuzzy sets approach will be proposed to combine two fundamental incidence matrices: the task-discipline and personnel-discipline incidence matrices. The proposed method is demonstrated by applying to an example in team building problem.

A Fuzzy Approach for Competency Characterisation Based on a Work Situation Analysis

The purpose of this work is to give a decision support to meet requirements in competencies management. We assume that the building, the development, and the use of each competency need the concurrence of different kinds of interactions in the real work situation. The competency characteristics can be evaluated by an expert within an analysis of work situation, to get an interpretation of these interactions. In this sense, we propose a qualitative method of competency characterisation based on a formal representation of the situation. The aim of this paper is not to give all mathematical details of a fuzzy approach but rather to present how qualitative knowledge about the situation can be used to characterise associated competency.

A model of the work - situation in order to improve traceability process in collaborative design

The collective character of design activities requires the development of methods and tools in order to control the design process and the collaborative activities. The workgroup is assimilated to a system composed of entities, which are in various interactions managed by a set of coordination and control mechanisms. We present here a model of the design situation in collaborative works using the notion of inter-related entities. We also propose a classification of the different interactions between these entities. The perspectives of this work are to contribute to the improvement of support tools for the collaborative design situation and knowledge capitalization.