Foundations of an agile design methodology

Modern design projects typically are undertaken concurrently in a virtual enterprise network of expert design and manufacturing agents. The general need for agile response in turbulent environments is well documented and has been analysed at the manufacturing phase. This paper proposes a framework to enable analysis of an agile design methodology. This models the occurrence of an unexpected event in a concurrent design project. The redistribution of the design work can be controlled within the virtual enterprise, and the total redistribution impact can be measured. A four-level classification scheme for the severity of unexpected events is proposed. Each event level is illustrated with a design scenario. A Monte Carlo-based simulation tool is proposed for work redeployment policy analysis. © 2006 ISAM.