Managing multiple engineering projects in a manufacturing supportenvironment

Business trends require front-line managers to integrate multiproject concepts with those of traditional single-project management since very rarely can one find major organizations managing just one project. A typical situation entails a limited pool of resources which is applied to the management of several projects, with people moving back and forth among different assignments in different projects. Yet, few studies on project management have started to explore the issue of how to manage an organization with multiple inter- or intradepartmental projects. Using a case study method, our exploratory research investigates the specific problems associated with the management of multiple engineering projects in a manufacturing support environment, with the intent to identify common factors of success. Knowing the factors of success is but the first step toward improving multi-project management. Our findings provide insight into how the most important multiple-project success factors in this environment differ from factors of success in traditional single-project management, and are consistent with other emerging research in product development environments. The differences center on resource allocation and flexibility. Some factors, such as ownership, staff experience, and communication, take on additional dimensions when considered in a multiple-versus a single-project environment. Division and assignment of resources, prioritization, and customized management style, which have little relevance in relation to single projects, are shown to play a major role in the success of multiproject management     

Component sharing in complex products and systems: challenges, solutions, and practical implications

In this paper, we explore whether a multiproject management approach is helpful in complex products and systems (CoPS) environments. CoPS are high cost, engineering-intensive products and systems, tailor-made according to client's specifications. The focus of this paper is on the possibilities for sharing components between projects in CoPS multiproject environments. Component sharing is the process through which technological components and platforms are transferred and shared between projects. The vast majority of evidence about component sharing is based on empirical research in mass-producing companies. Little has been reported in the CoPS literature about similar processes. To contribute to this gap, this paper discusses challenges faced and solutions applied by a supplier of CoPS, an aerospace company, when attempting to share components between projects in its multiproject environment. Three main areas are examined that facilitate sharing between projects given the unique strategic context of CoPS: coordination and communication mechanisms that facilitate linkages across projects; knowledge transfer mechanisms; and an organizational form that centralizes some of the development activities. This paper concludes by offering managers and engineers a set of tools to consider component sharing in a CoPS environment.     

Technology transfer between VLSI design and software engineering: CAD tools and design methodologies

Recent research on the explicit transfer of technology used in computer-aided design (CAD) tools and design methodologies is reported. First, several examples are given of applications of these technologies to software engineering. Then, three research projects are described which focused on applying software engineering principles to the VLSI design process. They are: a methodology, language, and assessment tool for multilevel mixed-mode VLSI designs; a research project that explored the potential for transfer of software design methodologies for managing VLSI design complexity; and a specification technique for "modules" in a VLSI design that localizes the impact of changes to the design. Next, a CAD tool and design methodology are described which consider the design of software and hardware together, and apply common techniques to both. Finally, some observations are made on the appropriateness of technology transfer between VLSI design and software engineering.     

Multiproject staff scheduling with variable resource constraints

An analytical approach and a PC software based solution are presented to a project management problem, in which multiple resources must be allocated to perform both routine tasks and a set of projects with varying levels of priority. The performance of a priority-based decision rule was tested on this project management problem. The model was able to provide division-level management with an effective tool for staff workload planning and program management. A sequential, iterative approach is developed and used to test and evaluate alternative PC commercial software on a set of projects and evolving criteria. A PC commercial software package, with associated heuristics, is demonstrated to provide useful results to multiproject staff scheduling problems in an actual organization     

Recommendations from the commercialization of government-sponsoredtelecommunications R&D with multiple development cycles inKorea

A number of government-sponsored large-scale R&D projects in the telecommunications sector have been carried out in Korea. Among them is the time division exchange (TDX) project that lasted for more than 15 years. The project has two characteristics: the commercialization of government-sponsored R&D and the commercialization of R&D with multiple development cycles. This paper describes these characteristics of the project from various viewpoints: product development strategy, the role of each organization, success factors of each product, the classification of commercial products by commercialization model, and technology transfer strategies encouraging participation of manufacturing firms. We conclude with several recommendations     

Project Acceleration via Activity Crashing, Overlapping, and Substitution

It is an established fact that projects are almost always behind schedule. Consequently, there is a great need for the allocation of additional resources with a view to accelerating projects, so as to ensure delivery on the planned date. These resources are obtained from project budget contingency, whose purpose is to foresee and budget for delays arising from disruptions, inaccurate activity time and cost estimates, and resource nonavailability when required for the execution of project activities. This type of problem arises both in the planning phase of a project, particularly in the context of bidding, as well as in ongoing projects, including new product development projects. The research reported in this paper provides a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model for the acceleration of projects, employing the simultaneous crashing, overlapping, and substitution of project activities. In order to ensure convergence, this model is transformed exactly into a mixed-integer linear programming model. The assumptions of the model are presented and discussed with engineering project management practice in mind. Application of the model to four examples of different sizes and nature, three of which are practical cases, demonstrates the efficiency of the model, implemented in commercial optimization software, in solving practical project acceleration problems.      

Practical Profiles for Managing Systems Engineering R&D

A new and practical way of profiling R & D projects is presented. The operational context is the investment of discretionary R & D funds by systems engineering firms. In this work program positioning profile, R & D projects are identified as one of four types: targeting, reinforcing, enabling, or remodeling, according to the relationship between the R &D project and the systems engineering work program. A portfolio map is introduced to provide a visual representation of a set of R & D projects and to show likely transitions between project types over time. The new profile and portfolio map can support management efforts to characterize and assess an R & D portfolio for its contribution to ongoing systems engineering work. In addition to this new project profile, other profiling strategies are discussed in the framework of an R & D balanced scorecard. The multiple profiles are a natural consequence of the inherent performance multidimensionality of the R &D activity in the wide-ranging discipline and practice of systems engineering.     

基于OBE的数字电路综合实验教学设计

本文按照OBE理念设计了一个综合设计类实验项目,选取篮球比赛场24秒倒计时器为设计任务,综合了计数器、定时器、分频器、显示器、译码器、控制器、报警器等多个内容并设计出多种方案。采用启发式、项目式、模块化的教学方法引导同学们完成实验项目。通过本实验项目的教学,学生具备解决复杂工程问题的能力,达到了教学目标。     

电气专业“计算机控制系统”课程设计

为了突出电气工程及其自动化专业特色,对于该专业“计算机控制系统”课程,给出了一种针对镀锡带钢电阻软熔控制系统的综合性课程设计方案。该方案在运用计算机控制技术进行系统设计的基础上,重点对AC-DC-AC变流器特性以及电压稳定控制策略进行了分析设计,以便培养学生综合运用电气工程和计算机控制技术解决实际系统问题的能力。     

Evaluating Different Strategies for Testing Software Product Lines

The Software Product Line (SPL) approach is associated with many benefits, and with some challenges too. In the SPL testing, a great challenge is the integration of test methods and techniques with the SPL engineering. To do this, some strategies have been proposed, however, they have not been properly evaluated and compared. In this paper a case study is described comparing three different test strategies: the product by product strategy that tests each product individually; an incremental strategy that tests the products reusing test cases from products previously tested; and a strategy that instantiates test data derived in the domain engineering, considering SPL commonalities and variabilities. In the study an SPL from the games domain was used, and the test data were generated from use cases. The results show that SPL oriented strategies are associated to greater percentages of reuse, and consequently, with lower effort to write test cases.     

Integrating physical level design and high level synthesis for simultaneous multi-cycle transient and multiple transient fault resiliency of application specific datapath processors

Radiation induced faults in digital systems have started gathering major attention in recent years due to increasing reliability concern for future technologies. For future technologies, multiple transient faults (MTF) originating from a single radiation hit are expected to occur more frequently. Further, due to continuous massive scaling in device geometry, a particle with moderate linear energy transfer (LET) values is expected to affect more than one module/device during striking. Additionally, incessant escalation in operating speed with evolution of technology has increased likelihood of multi-cycle transient (MCT) faults in digital circuits. This calls for novel solutions for concurrently tackling multi-cycle transient and multi-transient fault resiliency at a higher design abstraction level such as behavioral level. This paper proposes a novel approach for generating simultaneous multi-cycle transient and multiple transient fault resilient designs during high level synthesis (HLS) of application specific datapath processors using the framework of dual modular redundancy. Results of the proposed approach on benchmarks indicated generation of low cost MCT–MFT resilient designs during HLS within acceptable runtime.     

以基于组件的协同设计推进新型产品系统工程体系建设方法的研究

文中主要阐述了基于组件的协同设计思想,采用显性化和结构化手段,将新型产品设计的技术要素以一种计算机可识别、可计算、可关联、可认知的形式,结构化地表达成人们可直接使用的各种模板,实现产品技术知识的快速转化、高效率传递及设计工具的重用,形成基于组件的协同设计框架,推进新型产品系统工程研发体系建设的相关研究思想。     

Utilizing cluster analysis to structure concurrent engineeringteams

The problem of structuring a concurrent engineering team was studied. This research considered various mathematical clustering approaches to group product development design tasks together, and then constructed cross-functional teams based on the task clusters formed from each approach, Resultant team structures were evaluated against each other, and against a traditional discipline-centered hierarchical structure. The goal of this effort was to develop a structuring methodology for concurrent engineering teams that would allow projects to be completed faster, and with a lower risk of project failure. Team structures were developed using alternative clustering techniques and different combinations of data as inputs into the clustering techniques. Clustering approaches included single linkage, complete linkage, average linkage, the centroid method, and Ward's method. Data sources were from the initial stages of product development, and included task risk levels, task precedence relationships, disciplines required, personnel available, task technical importance, task difficulty, task priority, component requirement interactions, and projected communication levels between design tasks. Additional analysis was done on the effects of multiteam assignments for critical personnel. Team structures developed using the average linkage clustering approach and a data set composed of projected communication levels between tasks and discipline requirements for each design task were found to support the development of shorter duration projects with lower risk levels     

A proposed approach to mechatronics design education: Integrating design methodology,simulation with projects

Mechatronics engineering graduates are expected to design mechatronics products with higher performance and lower costs. The success of a mechatronics engineering program is directly related to the structural design methodology, modeling and simulation, and the practical implementation of fully integrated physical systems. In this paper a mechatronics design education-oriented V-model was proposed to fulfill these requirements. The main idea behind our proposed approach aims to integrate various stages such as design, simulation and physical implementations in development of mechatronics product or system. Students are asked to first follow the structural design methodology to do the conceptual and further detail design for an open-ended problem, then to do appropriate simulation to verify the feasibility of the design, and at last to integrate all components and subsystems into a complete physical product or system. The V-model-related courses and structures were explained in detail, and project implementation experiences were described and discussed with the help of example student projects.     

Factors for success in R&D projects and new product innovation:a contextual framework

There have been many attempts to discover the critical factors that can indicate the success or failure of R&D projects and new product introductions. Because of the large number of studies that exist, the authors undertook an extensive review of the germane literature to find whether a general agreement exists about the factors leading to success or failure in new product development and R&D projects. The review shows first that even with a conservative approach to listing significant factors, the list is very long. Second, comparing the factors across studies demonstrates that different authors have found that the magnitude of significance and the direction of influence vary. Third, given the differences in context, the meaning of similar factors may also vary. The contradictory findings lead us to propose a contingency framework for the new product and R&D project models. This framework consists of a contingency cube with three contextual dimensions. Based on this framework, we propose a set of propositions. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the implications of a contingent approach for both researchers and managers in the area of management of new products and R&D projects     

Curriculum,equipment and student project outcomes for mechatronics education in the core mechanical engineering program at Kettering University

Following an NSF grant in 1997 to develop undergraduate mechatronics laboratories and courses, two senior-level elective courses were introduced in the mechanical engineering curriculum at Kettering University. The student popularity of the subject, and relevance to graduating mechanical engineers soon made it clear that mechatronics education belonged to the core curriculum at Kettering. To integrate mechatronics into the mechanical engineering core, two existing sophomore-level courses were redesigned to include significant educational experiences in mechatronics design and prototype fabrication. Introduction to Design (ME-203) previously featured a 6-week student project in which teams of students would design and build an electromechanical device to accomplish functionality defined in design constraints provided by the professor. However, these devices were not mechatronic in nature. In the revised course, the objective is to evolve these designs to utilize embedded microcontrollers, sensors and actuators and achieve much more sophisticated functionality. To accommodate the anticipated increase in time required to complete such projects, the existing sophomore course Instrumentation (ME-204) was revised to incorporate learning objectives from the senior-level mechatronics elective courses. Further, 6 weeks of laboratory time from Instrumentation could then be dedicated to the aforementioned mechatronic projects. As such, both ME-203 and ME-204 have been integrated to form an eight-credit “Introduction to Mechatronics Design” course. This paper details the scope of this course, the specialized equipment developed for it and student project outcomes.     

Combining aspects and object-orientation in model-driven engineering for distributed industrial mechatronics systems

Recent advances in technology enable the creation of complex industrial systems comprising mechanical, electrical, and logical – software – components. It is clear that new project techniques are demanded to support the design of such systems. At design phase, it is extremely important to raise abstraction level in earlier stages of product development in order to deal with such a complexity in an efficient way. This paper discusses Model Driven Engineering (MDE) applied to design industrial mechatronics systems. An aspect-oriented MDE approach is presented by means of a real-world case study, comprising requirements engineering up to code generation. An assessment of two well-known high-level paradigms, namely Aspect- and Object-Oriented paradigms, is deeply presented. Their concepts are applied at every design step of an embedded and real-time mechatronics system, specifically for controlling a product assembler industrial cell. The handling of functional and non-functional requirements (at modeling level) using aspects and objects is further emphasized. Both designs are compared using a set of software engineering metrics, which were adapted to be applied at modeling level. Particularly, the achieved results show the suitability of each paradigm for the system specification in terms of reusability quality of model elements. Focused on the generated code for each case study, statistics depicted an improvement in number of lines using aspects.     

Concurrent design of machined products: a multivariate decisionapproach

In the traditional process of product design, a sequential approach treats each of the design steps individually without considering requirements of manufacturing, assembly and other downstream activities in the product life cycle. The lack of systematic and simultaneous consideration on the impact of design decisions on manufacturing and assembly leads to repeated and excessive changes in design and processes. To resolve this problem, the concurrent engineering approach to product design foresees and avoids potential design flaws by incorporating design requirements from downstream activities of the product development life cycle early in the design stage. This research develops a methodological framework for product life cycle design in concurrent engineering. Through a cohesive organization of semantics of high-level design features and relationships, this representation provides a means to evaluate the impact of design on subsequent activities in the product life cycle, including design for manufacture (DFM), design for assembly (DFA), and design for productivity (DFP). In the first stage of a two-level design, selection of design candidates is made based on multiple design criteria using utility theory taking into account imprecision of design information and user preference. The second stage of design further fine-tunes attribute values of the selected design by a genetic algorithm based parametric optimization procedure. An illustrative example of two alternative designs of a milling fixture demonstrates the effectiveness of the framework and its implementation methodology     

The Influence of New Product Development Competitive Capabilities on Project Performance

This paper investigates the relationships between new product development (NPD) competitive capabilities and project performance. Using data from a large sample of NPD projects, both direct and synergistic influences of new product development competitive capabilities on project performance are explored. The results support the claim of the synergy school that simultaneous pursuit of multiple competitive capabilities enhances NPD project success. For example, time-to-market and conformance quality were directly and significantly related to all measures of NPD project success. Also, the interactions of conformance quality and cost, conformance quality and time-to-market, and product cost and time-to-market were found to influence different measures of NPD project success. Implications of the results for theory and managerial practice are offered