A simple method and case study of task planning for collaborative design based on FDSM

In multiperson collaborative mechanical product design, unreasonable task allocation can result in excessive coupling between tasks, complex design communication, and rework, particularly in small enterprises and teams that rely primarily on experience. Hence, this study proposes a simple and efficient task-planning method based on a fuzzy design structure matrix (FDSM), which involves single-level task decomposition, three-level number assignment of the coupling relationship, decoupling of the structural tree algorithm, and validation of the optimization results based on the G-value. Design tasks are promptly allocated into a single level based on the functional structure module of the product. The task-correlation degree is quantified based on three levels of numerical values through personal experience to construct an FDSM, the latter of which is decoupled by the correlation degree of the structural tree algorithm to obtain the optimized sequence and allocation of the collaborative design task. Finally, the effectiveness of the planning is verified by calculating the tightness of the corresponding matrix before and after the planning. A task-planning case of a riveting-machine design for capacitor cover plates is established to validate this method.