Improving Coordination between Engineering Departments through Process Mapping and Analysis

The objective of the proposed project is to map all engineering processes involved in aeroelasticity calculations at Bombardier Aerospace and develop methods for holistic analysis and improvement of the aeroelasticity process, for the sake of performing better overall improvements and more realistic quantitative validations of those improvements. Existing methods and techniques for process mapping will be considered to develop a process framework which will be adapted to perform analysis and provide improvements to the process. Analysis techniques will be applied to detect redundant, duplicated or misaligned process activities. Results will provide means to assess and evaluate the discrepancies between the actual and desired processes. Solutions will be developed to reduce these discrepancies to obtain a smoother, leaner and faster process. The process map to be built consolidates different viewpoints of the process and the engineering knowledge to reflect the interdependencies and the information flow throughout the process. This will contribute to improvement of the structural awareness across different functions that contribute to the process, thus foster more effective coordination of the work. Application of the process suggestions that will given as the deliverable of the project will allow a faster and leaner development process through (1) better scheduling of tasks and resource allocation, and (2) a more streamlined product development process.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Vince Thomson

Student:

Xiaoqi Zhang

Partner:

Bombardier Aerospace

Discipline:

Engineering - mechanical

Sector:

Aerospace and defense

University:

McGill University