Global Views on Modular Design Research: Linking Alternative Methods to Support Modular Product Family Concept Development

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Otto ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson ◽  
Dieter Krause ◽  
Sebastian Ripperda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Concept Development ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Modular Product ◽  
Generic Set

Modular product platforms have been shown to provide substantial cost and time savings while still allowing companies to offer a variety of products. As a result, a multitude of product platform methods have been developed over the last decade within the design research community. However, comparison and integration of suitable methods is difficult since the methods have, for the most part, been developed in isolation from one another. In reviewing the literature in modularity and product platforms, we create a generic set of 13 platform design steps for developing a platform concept. We then examine a set of product platform concept development processes used at several different companies, and from this form a generic sequence of the steps. We then associate the various developed methods to the sequence, thereby enabling the chaining together of the various modular and platform design methods developed by the community.

Linking 10 Years of Modular Design Research: Alternative Methods and Tool Chain Sequences to Support Product Platform Design

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Otto ◽  
Katja Hölttä-Otto ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Generic Set ◽  
Product Platform Development

Modular product platforms have been shown to provide substantial cost and time savings while still allowing companies to offer a variety of products. As a result, a multitude of product platform methods have been developed over the last decade within the design research community. However, comparison and integration of suitable methods is difficult since the methods have, for the most part, been developed in isolation from one another. In reviewing the literature in modularity and product platforms, we create a generic set of twelve platform design activities. We then examine a set of product platform development processes used at several different companies, and from this form a generic sequence of the activities. We then associate the various developed methods to the sequence, thereby enabling the chaining together of the various modular and platform design methods developed by the community.

Product Platform Design and Optimization: Status and Promise

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Design Research ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Optimization Techniques ◽  
Lead Times ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Research Activity ◽  
Global Marketplace ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Design And Optimization

In an effort to improve customization for today’s highly competitive global marketplace, many companies are utilizing product families to increase variety, shorten lead-times, and reduce costs. The key to a successful product family is the product platform from which it is derived either by adding, removing, or substituting one or more modules to the platform or by scaling the platform in one or more dimensions to target specific market niches. This nascent field of engineering design research has matured rapidly in the past decade, and this paper provides an extensive review of the research activity that has occurred during that time to facilitate product platform design and optimization. Techniques for identifying platform leveraging strategies within a product family are reviewed along with optimization-based approaches to help automate the design of a product platform and its corresponding family of products. Examples from both industry and academia are presented throughout the paper to highlight the benefits of platform-based product development, and the paper concludes with a discussion of promising research directions to help bridge the gap between planning and managing families of products and designing and manufacturing them.

Comprehensive Product Platform Planning (CP3) for a Modular Family of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Souma Chowdhury ◽  
Victor Maldonado ◽  
Weiyang Tong ◽  
Achille Messac
Keyword(s):  
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Fuel Consumption ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Fuel Tank ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Modular Product ◽  
Aerial Vehicles ◽  
Unit Fuel Consumption

The development of products with a modular structure, where the constituent modules could be derived from a set of common platforms to suit different market niches, provides unique engineering and economic advantages. However, the quantitative design of such modular product platforms could become significantly challenging for complex products. The Comprehensive Product Platform Planning (CP3) method facilitates effective design of such product platforms. The original CP3 method is however typically suitable for scale-based product family design. In this paper, we perform important modifications to the commonality matrix and the commonality constraint formulation in CP3 to advance its applicability to modular product family design. A commonality index (CI), defined in terms of the number of unique modules in a family, is used to quantify the commonality objective. The new CP3 method is applied to design a family of reconfigurable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for civilian applications. CP3 enables the design of an optimum set of distinct modules, different groups of which could be assembled to configure twin-boom UAVs that provide three different combinations of payload capacity and endurance. The six key modules that participate in the platform planning are: (i) the fuselage/pod, (ii) the wing, (iii) the booms, (iv) the vertical tails, (v) the horizontal tail, and (vi) the fuel tank. The performance of each UAV is defined in terms of its range per unit fuel consumption. Among the best tradeoff UAV families obtained by mixed-discrete Particle Swarm Optimization, the family with the maximum commonality (CI = 0.5) required a 66% compromise of the UAVs’ range/fuel-consumption performance. The platform configuration corresponding to the maximum-commonality UAV family involved sharing of the horizontal tail and fuel tank among all three UAVs and sharing of the fuselage and booms among two UAVs.

A Product Variety Tradeoff Evaluation Method for a Family of Cordless Drill Transmissions

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn G. Conner ◽  
Joseph P. De Kroon ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Method ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Product Performance ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Individual Product ◽  
Alternative Product ◽  
Per Se

Abstract In this paper we present the Product Variety Tradeoff Evaluation Method for assessment of alternative product platforms in product family design. The Product Variety Tradeoff Evaluation Method is an attention-directing tool for evaluating tradeoffs between commonality and individual product performance for product platform alternatives with differing levels of commonality. We apply the Product Variety Tradeoff Evaluation Method to a case study in transmission redesign for a family of cordless drills. The emphasis in this paper is placed on the method rather than on the results, per se.

A Tool to Integrate Design for Assembly During Product Platform Design

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amar Pandit ◽  
Zahed Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Design For Assembly ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Single Product ◽  
Entire Family ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Integrate Design

To survive in the current market, many companies are moving toward design and development of product families using a platform approach. To effectively develop a family of products, companies have to consider both component and assembly perspectives. The assembly perspective has many issues associated with it for developing common platforms, which includes assemblability evaluation for the entire family. Application of Design for Assembly techniques to evaluate product family will require modifications to the current single product DFA method. In this paper a product family DFA tool and guidelines are presented. The application of this product family DFA tool is illustrated using Walkman® and Coffeemaker product family.

Introduction of a Product Family Penalty Function Using Physical Programming

2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achille Messac ◽  
Michael P. Martinez ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Penalty Function ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Physical Programming ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Scaling Parameters ◽  
The Common ◽  
Selection Of

In an effort to increase customization for today’s highly competitive global markets, many companies are looking to product families to increase product variety and shorten product lead-times while reducing costs. The key to a successful product family is the common product platform around which the product family is derived. Building on our previous work in product family design, we introduce a product family penalty function (PFPF) in this paper to aid in the selection of common and scaling parameters for families of products derived from scalable product platforms. The implementation of the PFPF utilizes the powerful physical programming paradigm to formulate the problem in terms of physically meaningful parameters. To demonstrate the proposed approach, a family of electric motors is developed and compared against previous results. We find that the PFPF enables us to properly balance commonality and performance within the product family through the judicious selection of the common parameters that constitute the product platform and the scaling parameters used to instantiate the product family.

Design of Hierarchic Platforms for Customizable Products

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Hernandez ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Performance ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Electric Motors ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Individual Product ◽  
Geometric Space ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Levels

The objective in product platform design is to synthesize a set of components that will be shared by a number of product variants considering potential sacrifices in individual product performance that result from parts sharing. A good platform strategy should allow us to specify different levels of commonality for the various features and components of the product family in order to reduce the impact of commonality on performance. In this paper, we formulate the design of platforms for customizable products as a problem of optimization of access in a geometric space. This approach allows us to develop systematically hierarchic product platforms with multiple levels of commonality. We illustrate the proposed approach with a case example: the design of a product platform for a line of customizable electric motors.

A Cost Model for Optimal Design of Hierarchic Product Platform under Coupled Architecture

2012 ◽  
Vol 452-453 ◽  
pp. 516-520
Author(s):  
Yan Ling Cai ◽  
Zhen Hua Cui
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Design ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Flexible Design ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Cost Drivers ◽  
Difficult Decision

Product platform design is essentially a difficult decision to make, thus a hierarchic platform has been proposed to solve the inherent tradeoff for optimization. However, architecture coupling adds on complexity of the platform design. This paper proposes an improved cost model for the optimal design of platform design in the hierarchic manner with the consideration of the architecture coupling. This cost model uniquely treats the architecture couplings and their decoupling interfaces as latent cost drivers to enable the flexible design of product platform and its family. As a support, the underlying tradeoff mechanism of platform-based product family design is also analyzed in this paper.

Product Platform Design Through Sensitivity Analysis and Cluster Analysis

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihuang Dai ◽  
Michael J. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Efficiency Cost ◽  
And Cluster Analysis

Product platform design plays a vital role in determining two important aspects of a products family: efficiency (cost savings due to commonality) and effectiveness (capability to satisfy performance requirements). In this work, sensitivity analysis and cluster analysis are used to improve both efficiency and effectiveness of a product family design. A strategy of commonization is employed to form a platform. An illustrative example is used to demonstrate the merits of the proposed method, and the results are compared with existing results from the literature.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document