Information Flow Scheduling in Concurrent Multi-Product Development Based on DSM

Multi-product collaborative development is adopted widely in manufacturing enterprise, while the present multi-project planning models don＇t take techni- cal/data interactions of multiple products into account. To decrease the influence of technical/data interactions on project progresses, the information flow scheduling models based on the extended DSM is presented. Firstly, infor- mation dependencies are divided into four types： series, parallel, coupling and similar. Secondly, different types of dependencies are expressed as DSM units, and the exten- ded DSM model is brought forward, described as a block matrix. Furthermore, the information flow scheduling methods is proposed, which involves four types of opera- tions, where partitioning and clustering algorithm are modified from DSM for ensuring progress of high-priority project, merging and converting is the specific computation of the extended DSM. Finally, the information flow scheduling of two machine tools development is analyzed with example, and different project priorities correspond to different task sequences and total coordination cost. The proposed methodology provides a detailed instruction for information flow scheduling in multi-product development, with specially concerning technical/data interactions.