Scheduling approach for concurrent product development processes

A heuristic scheduling approach is proposed for the concurrent product deve lopment processes, in which some crucial parameters are determined using th e genetic algorithm (GA). Scheduling concurrent activities is of great sign ificance to shorten development lead-time and minimize costs, since it can eliminate unnecessary redesign periods and guarantee that serial activities can be executed as concurrently as possible. To ensure the optimal concurr ent scheduling and the effective utilization of resources along with effici ent delivery of information, some key factors such as time order, informati on, resources, lead-time and overlapping time of activities, which enable c oncurrent activities to be executed successfully, are taken into account. T heir weighting factors are fixed by the GA. In addition, the scheduling mod ule includes role allocation and feedback revision. A simulation example, w hich is part of an aircraft product development process, shows the feasibil ity of the algorithm. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.