Design Project Planning, Monitoring and Re-planning through Process Simulation
Year: 2009
Editor: Norell Bergendahl, M.; Grimheden, M.; Leifer, L.; Skogstad, P.; Lindemann, U.
Author: Wynn, David C.; Clarkson, P. John
Series: ICED
Section: Design Processes
Page(s): 25-36
Abstract
Effective management of design schedules is a major concern in industry, since timely project delivery can have a significant influence on a company's profitability. Based on insights gained through a case study of planning practice in aero-engine component design, this paper examines how task network simulation models can be deployed in a new way to support design process planning. Our method shows how simulation can be used to reconcile a description of design activities and information flows with project targets such as milestone delivery dates. It also shows how monitoring and re-planning can be supported using the non-ideal metrics which the case study revealed are used to monitor processes in practice. The approach is presented as a theoretical contribution which requires further work to implement and evaluate in practice.
Keywords: design process simulation, design project planning, project metrics