Design Structure Matrix Methods and Applications

Design structure matrix (DSM) is a straightforward and flexible modeling techniquethat can be used for designing, developing, and managing complex systems. DSM offers networkmodeling tools that represent the elements of a system and their interactions, thereby highlightingthe system's architecture (or designed structure). Its advantages include compact format, visualnature, intuitive representation, powerful analytical capacity, and flexibility. Used primarily sofar in the area of engineering management, DSM is increasingly being applied to complex issues inhealth care management, financial systems, public policy, natural sciences, and social systems. Thisbook offers a clear and concise explanation of DSM methods for practitioners and researchers. Thebook's four sections correspond to the four primary types of DSM models, offering tools forrepresenting product architectures, organization architectures, process architectures, andmultidomain architectures (which combine different types of DSM models to represent multiple domainssimultaneously). In each section, a chapter introducing the technique is followed by a chapter ofexamples showing a variety of applications of that DSM type. The forty-four applications represent awide range of industries (including automotive, aerospace, electronics, building, andpharmaceutical), countries (among them Australia, Germany, Japan, Turkey, and the United States),and problems addressed (modularity, outsourcing, system integration, knowledge management, andothers).

Steven D. Eppinger is Professor of Management Science and Innovation at MIT Sloan School. He holds the General Motors Leader for Global Operations Chair and has a joint appointment in MIT's Engineering Systems Division. He is Codirector of MIT's System Design and Management Program. Tyson R. Browning is Associate Professor of Operations Management at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University. His background in systems engineering and project management includes a Ph.D. from MIT.