Knowledge Base Repository
In addition to research papers, the Design Society is developing several valuable resources for those interested in the study of design. These include a repository of PhD theses, a library of case studies and transcripts of design activities, and an archive of our newsletters. Please note that these resources are accessible exclusively to Design Society members.
Change Propagation Analysis for Systems with Design Margins
Brahma, Arindam (1); Wynn, David C. (2); Isaksson, Ola (1)
Type:
Year:
2026
Editor:
Langner, Christopher; Kreimeyer, Matthias; Panarotto, Massimo; Cascini, Gaetano; Browning, Tyson R.; Eppinger, Steven D.; Yassine, Ali A.
Author:
Series:
DSM
Institution:
1: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden;
2: Department of Integrated Design and IRC for Smart Mobility and Logistics, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia
Page(s):
161-170
DOI number:
ISBN:
NA
ISSN:
NA
Abstract:
Designers add margin to subsystems to absorb engineering changes, but deciding how much margin to allocate and where remains poorly supported by existing change propagation methods. This paper presents M-CPM, a modelling approach which addresses this gap by modelling margin as a property that gates whether incoming changes to a component propagate to affect other components. The method is based on CPM which is preserved as the zero-margin limiting case, and supports a margin-allocation analysis incorporating change source probabilities, costs of margin and DSM structure. A hairdryer example shows that the most valuable location for additional margin is not necessarily the most central subsystem or the most likely source of change as might be expected, but depends on the interaction between existing margin, change source likelihood, cost, and network position. Results demonstrate how M-CPM can support margin allocation considering cost to contain change propagation.
Keywords:
