Applied DSM to cooperative design

This paper presents a method of matrix application to the multidisciplinary cooperative design for complex products. Based on classifying the types of cooperative design (tight-coupled, moderate-coupled and loose-coupled) and describing the definition & advantages of DSM (design structure matrix), the cooperative design flow diagram is illustrated by the matrix of DSM. Then a new DSM is gained with analyzing and partitioning the original DSM, at the same time a new information flow and design flow diagram of reducing the coupled activities is proposed during the multidisciplinary cooperative design process. At last, the discussions and conclusions are given at the end of the paper.