Using a Large Language Model to generate a Design Structure Matrix
Edwin C. Y. Koh
The Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is an established method used in dependency
modelling, especially in the design of complex engineering systems. The
generation of DSM is traditionally carried out through manual means and can
involve interviewing experts to elicit critical system elements and the
relationships between them. Such manual approaches can be time-consuming and
costly. This paper presents a workflow that uses a Large Language Model (LLM)
to support the generation of DSM and improve productivity. A prototype of the
workflow was developed in this work and applied on a diesel engine DSM
published previously. It was found that the prototype could reproduce 357 out
of 462 DSM entries published (i.e. 77.3%), suggesting that the work can aid DSM
generation. A no-code version of the prototype is made available online to
support future research.