Scheduling of Aircraft Design Project: A Comparison of Critical Path Method, Design Structure Matrix and Genetic Algorithm Approaches

The purpose of this study to minimize the overall duration of aircraft design project in Indonesia. This study proposes a combination method of Design Structure Matrix (DSM) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) for scheduling aircraft design project activities. DSM is used to identify the information flow between project activities. GA use reworks data, which was the result output of DSM, and activity duration to optimize the task sequence by considering the human resource constraints. A comparative analysis was conducted between the schedule based on DSM and GA and schedule based on Critical Path Method. Combination of DSM and GA obtained 63 days shorter project durations compared to CPM. This research is convenient for design projects scheduling with limited resources that can be obtained by using alternative methods other than traditional methods.