Analysis of Engineering Change Requests Using Markov Chains

Paper in proceedings, 2018

Engineering change requests are important and plentiful in the product development process to enhance a product. In this paper we use Markov chains on ECRs in a large product development project and display the results in a Markov chain DSM. The DSM shows statistical probability of a transition pathway for an industrial design process and together with engineering domain knowledge we identify patterns and improvement opportunities. It turns out that 8% of ECRs are closed directly after creation, most common pathway is not followed in early statues and status iterations are seen in the DSM.