摘要
Identifying critical activities or subsystems is usually the first step in reducing the complexity of systems. The design structure matrix (DSM) is a highly effective tool for managing a complex system by identifying and prioritizing critical activities. However, a standard DSM has limited application to systems with prior known conditions or practical application constraints. In this paper, we develop a conditional DSM method in order to identify critical features under some prior known conditions or existing constraints. This method of analysis is applied to a wafer fabrication case to verify its utility. In addition, this paper aims to make the DSM far more effective and broad in its application. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.