A Constraint-driven Execution Plan for Maximizing Concurrency in Product Development

Abstract

One of the major goals of Concurrent Product Development (CPD) is to shorten the design cycle time by increasing more task overlaps of the ensuing design activities. Increasing task or activity overlap often hinges on two timing questions (a) ‘‘When does the downstream activity require certain information from its upstream activities and (b) when will the required information on an activity be available for scheduling the next dependent task?’’ The paper discusses a constraint-driven execution plan to handle the concurrency during scheduling of various dependent tasks. This constraint-driven execution plan is designed to relieve the alignments of start and end points commonly encountered during scheduling of the concurrent tasks. It is not essential that an activity will start only when a dependent activity is fully finished. In constraint-driven execution plan, a task or an activity can be initiated as soon as the required information is available rather than after the completion of all the upstream activities dependent on it. The paper shows that if we follow this execution plan during a CPD process, concurrencies among the ensuing design activities can be maximized. The paper also discusses how this execution plan can be used in a context of a workflow management system (WfMS). Employing this plan, it is possible to easily transform most of the event-condition-action (ECA) rules-based workflow model–from its activity completion event-driven forms–into an information-constraint-satisfaction-driven forms. This execution plan, thus, enables an event-driven WfMs to support concurrency of tasks during product development and concurrent tasks’ scheduling.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

1. Aversano, L., Canfora, G. and De Lucia, A. et al. (2001). Business Process Reengineering and Workflow Automation: A Technology Transfer Experience , Journal of Systems and Software, Available on line on 24 Oct., 2001.

2. Bitzer, S.M. and Kamel, M.N. (1997). Workflow Reengineering: A Methodology for Business Process Reengineering Using Workflow Management Technology , In: Proceeding of the 30th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 415–426 .

3. Chlebus, E., Cholewa, M. and Dudzik R., et al. (1998). CAx Application for Process Oriented Concurrent Design , Journal of Materials Processing Technology, 76(1–3): 176–181 .

4. Eppinger, S.D. (2001). Innovation at the Speed of Information , Harvard Business Review, 79(1): 149–158 .

5. Geppert, A., Tombros, D. and Dittrich, K.R. (1998). Defining the Semantics of Reactive Components in Eventdriven Workflow Execution with Event Histories , Information Systems, 23(3–4): 235–252 .

6. Gayretli, A. and Abdalla, H.S. (1999). An Objectoriented Constraints-based System for Concurrent Product Development , Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing, 15(2): 133–144 .

7. Goh, A, Koh, Y.K. and Domazet, D.S. (2001). ECA Rulebased Support for Workflows , Artificial Intelligence in Engineering, 15(1): 37–46 .

8. Huang, G.Q., Huang, J. and Mak, K.L. Agent-based Workflow Management in Collaborative Product Development on the Internet , Computer-Aided Design, 32(2000): 133–144 .

9. Kuo, T.C., Huang, S. H. and Zhang, H.C. (2001). Design for Manufacture and Design for ‘ X’: Concepts , Applications, and Perspectives, Computers & Industrial Engineering, 41(3): 241–260 .

10.

10. Kovacs, Z., Le Goff, J.M. and McClatchey, R. (1998). Support for Product Data from Design to Production , Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems, 11(4): 285–290 .

11.

11. Krishnan, V., Eppinger, S.D. and Whitney, D.E. (1997). A Model-Based Framework to Overlap Product Development Activities , Management Science, 43(4): 437–451 .

12.

12. Prasad, B. (1999). Enabling Principles of Concurrency and Simultaneity in Concurrent Engineering, Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design , Analysis and Manufacturing, 13(3): 185–204 .

13.

13. Prasad, B., Wang, F. and Deng, J. (1998). A Concurrent Workflow Management Process for Integrated Product Development , Journal of Engineering Design, 9(2): 121–135 .

14.

14. Shih, H.M. and Tseng, M.M. (1996). Workflow Technology-based Monitoring and Control for Business Process and Project Management , International Journal of Project Management, 14(6): 373–378 .

15.

15. Spinner, M. (1989). Improving Project Management Skills and Techniques, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall .

16.

16. Steward, D. (1981). System Analysis and Management: Structure, Strategy and Design, New York: Petrocelli Books .

17.

17. Steward, D. (1991). Planning and Managing the Design of Systems , In: Proceedings of Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology, Portland, Oregon, USA, 27–31 October.

18.

18. Ulrich, K.T. and Eppinger, S.D. (1994). Product Design and Development, New York: McGraw-Hill Inc.

19.

19. Steward, Donald, V. (1981). The Design Structure System: A Method to Managing the Design of Complex Systems , IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 28(3): 71–74 .

20.

20. Prasad, B. (1996). Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals, Volume I: Integrated Product and Process Organization, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: PTR Prentice Hall .

21.

21. Prasad, B. (1997). Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals, Volume II: Integrated Product Development, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: PTR Prentice Hall .

22.

22. WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition) (1995). WfMC Workflow Reference Model, WFMC-TC00-1003 (issue 1.1), 19 Jan, 1995.

23.

23. WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition) (1999a). Workflow Management Coalition Terminology & Glossary, WFMC-TC-1011(Issue 3.0), Feb., 1999.

24.

24. WfMC (Workflow Management Coalition) (1999b). Interface 1: Process Definition Interchange Process Model, WFMC-TC-1016-P (version 1.1, Official Release), 29 Oct., 1999.