Analysis of engineering change requests using Markov Chains

Í. Ö. Arnarsson, E. Gustavsson, J. Malmqvist, M. Jirstrand. DS 92: Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference, p. 523-532. Dubrovnik, Croatia, 21-24 May, 2018.

Abstract

Engineering change requests are important and plentiful in the product development process to enhance a product. In this paper we use Markov chains on ECRs in a large product development project and display the results in a Markov chain DSM. The DSM shows statistical probability of a transition pathway for an industrial design process and together with engineering domain knowledge we identify patterns and improvement opportunities. It turns out that 8% of ECRs are closed directly after creation, most common pathway is not followed in early statues and status iterations are seen in the DSM.




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