Exploring Multidimensional Modularity: Strategies to Reduce Complexity in Design Activities
Publication: Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 40, Issue 3
Abstract
Modularity is an approach to simplify systems and reduce complexity. However, existing research suggests that a mono-dimensional modularity strategy, focusing solely on one dimension, such as product, process, or organization, might not fully achieve these goals in design activities. This research investigates how combining strategies from various dimensions of modularity can reduce the complexity of large-scale engineering design. The Huoshenshan Hospital, a 1,000-bed hospital designed and built in 10 days, provided an extreme case study of the first emergency hospital to address COVID-19. The research identified 10 different aspects, termed ‘proximities’, which relate to how people perceive the four dimensions of modularity, specifically across organization–process–product–supply-chain dimensions. Additionally, it identified three types of reinforcement relationships aimed at diminishing complexity in design activities: modular alignment (i.e., synchronized alignment and asynchronous alignment), modular complementarity (i.e., subtraction complement and addition complement), and modular incentive relationships. This research highlights that these three types of reinforcement relationships between different dimensions of modularity can reduce complexity, allowing subsystems to support the system in working as a whole.
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Data Availability Statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
This article is an adaptation of the first author’s Ph.D. thesis titled “Integrated Approaches to Digital-Enabled Design for Manufacture and Assembly: A Modularity Perspective and Case Study of Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China.” Special thanks to Prof. Andrew Edkins and Prof. Wei Pan for their valuable feedback during the Ph.D. defence and revision period.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Management in Engineering
Volume 40 • Issue 3 • May 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 29, 2023
Accepted: Oct 18, 2023
Published online: Jan 23, 2024
Published in print: May 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 23, 2024
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Alignment
- Buildings
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Design (by type)
- Disaster preparedness
- Disaster risk management
- Emergency management
- Engineering fundamentals
- Epidemic and pandemic
- Facilities (by type)
- Geometrics
- Health care facilities
- Highway and road design
- Methodology (by type)
- Modular structures
- Organizations
- Practice and Profession
- Public administration
- Public health and safety
- Research methods (by type)
- Structural engineering
- Structures (by type)
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