Reducing the Costs of Engineering Design Changes Through Adoption of a Decision Support and Knowledge Management System Early in the Design

In complex design projects, engineering and program management disciplines often work in isolation leading to inconsistencies in product information, tracking of design changes, challenges in decision-making, and potential product and project failure. Moreover, the lack of information early in the design can postpone decision-making further into the design cycle when it becomes more expensive and difficult to make changes. Differences across disciplines in their respective practices and lack of a common platform for exchanging information have contributed to this gap. In bridging this gap, an analytical decision support system is presented that enhances engineering design change management and knowledge management early in the design. The human factors involved in embracing such a system and adopting a structured knowledge management framework are investigated through a review of knowledge management theory, conducting a social network analysis, and analyzing the results of a survey of a west coast shipyard design team. To understand enablers and barriers to design change management and knowledge management, a system dynamics causal loop diagram is presented. The decision support system and design change - knowledge management framework presented in the current study is a viable option to bring multiple disciplines together on a common platform and to provide a method to enable informed decisions early in the design cycle. The iterative and dynamic nature of this model is aligned with the principles of agile management as well as other best practices in managing programs and complex systems.