A Matrix-Based Planning Method for New Product Development and Management

DOI: 10.5176/2251-1911_CMCGS16

Authors: Yao-Tsung Ko and Chih-Chieh Yang

Abstract: This paper presents a quantifying and reordering method for new product development (NPD) based on the algebraic matrix technique. The authors propose a quantified design structure matrix (QDSM) by quantifying the information flow of activity factors of new product development and by employing the linguistics variables method. Utilizing the proposed partition and tearing algorithm to reorder matrices, the authors can realize deeply the inner hierarchy workings of concurrent engineering (CE) in the new product development process. This study develops a dynamic planning method that is innovative, efficient, and flexible for new product development using the concurrent design concept and QDSM analysis. The proposed QDSM is a kind of Boolean matrix and mathematical tool for reordering the process of NPD. It can help designers and managers understand the interactive information flow between activity factors for planning an optimum design process in NPD. A case study is used to illustrate the proposed method. The results show that it can reduce the number of iterations in the design process and shorten the product development time.

Keywords: new product development; algebraic matrix; quantified design structure matrix; concurrent engineering; Boolean matrix