Case Study: User Adoption of a Product Configuration Management System at a Modular Playground Equipment Producer

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bethany M. Byron ◽  
Steven B. Shooter
Keyword(s):  
Management System ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Information Management System ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Training Methods ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Product Configuration Management ◽  
Storage And Retrieval ◽  
User Adoption

Product platform and product family strategies place tremendous demands on the efficient capture, storage, and retrieval of information in the form of product data. The user’s adoption of an information management system for product families and mass customization is critical for allowing the system to perform as it ought. The following is a case study at a major modular playground equipment producer undergoing the implementation of a new graphical-based configurator for managing its mass customized products. The case study examines the proliferation of software packages to perform configuration and the flow of information in the configuration process. Next, the new configurator is evaluated on its new features to capture, store, and reuse configurations and its visual appeal. Last, the paper addresses the personal behaviors and training methods used for increasing adoption and their success.

Strategic Decisions in the Early Stages of Product Family Design

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. A. Maier ◽  
Georges M. Fadel
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Product Introduction ◽  
Single Product ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Formal Design

Abstract The realization that designing products in families can and does have significant technological and economic advantages over traditional single product design has motivated increasing interest in recent years in formal design tools and methodologies for product family design. However, currently there is no guidance for designers in the first key strategic decisions of product family design, in particular determining the type of product family to design. Hence in this paper, first a taxonomy of different types of product families is presented which consists of seven types of product families, categorized based on number of products and time of product introduction. Next a methodology is introduced to aid designers in determining which type of product family is appropriate, based upon early knowledge about the nature of the intended product(s) and their intended market(s). From this information it also follows both which manufacturing paradigm and which fundamental design strategies are appropriate for the product family. Finally the proposed methodology is illustrated through a case study examining a family of whitewater kayaks.

Process configuration: Combining the principles of product configuration and process planning

2001 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 411-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
KARSTEN SCHIERHOLT
Keyword(s):  
Process Planning ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Process Configuration ◽  
Rolling Industry ◽  
Configuration System ◽  
Planning Task ◽  
Product Specifications ◽  
Additional Product

Product configuration is the process of generating a product variant from a previously defined product family model and additional product specifications for this variant. The process of finding and sequencing the relevant operations for manufacturing this product is called process planning. This article combines the two principles in a new concept of process configuration that solves the process planning task using product configuration methods. The second section develops characteristics for two process configuration concepts, the interactive process configuration and the automation-based process configuration. Following an overview of the implementation of a process configuration system, the results of a case study in the aluminum rolling industry are presented. The main benefits of the process configuration concept are observed in a reduced knowledge-maintenance effort and in increased problem-solving speed.

A configuration design based method for platform commonization for product families

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN CORBETT ◽  
DAVID W. ROSEN
Keyword(s):  
Design Space ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Combinatorial Design ◽  
Product Configuration ◽  
Configuration Design ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Assembly Design ◽  
Assembly Sequences ◽  
Design Requirements

Product families help companies reach customers in several different markets, lessen the time needed to develop new products, and reduce costs by sharing common components among many products. The product platform can be considered as a set of technologies, components, or functions, and their arrangements, that are utilized for more than one product. Configuration design focuses on the components in a product and their connections and relationships. Discrete, combinatorial design spaces are used to model design requirements regarding physical connections, module partitions, and assembly sequences for the product family. To ensure that products satisfy all design requirements, it is necessary to combine these design spaces into a common configuration space into which all requirements can be mapped. This paper presents computational methods for modeling and combining design spaces so those configurations can be identified that satisfy all constraints. A new representation of assembly sequences facilitates the development of an assembly design space, elements of which can be enumerated readily. Because the size of the combinatorial design spaces can become quite large, computational efficiency is an important consideration. A new designer guided method, called the partitioning method, is presented for decomposing configuration design problems in a hierarchical manner that enables significant reductions in design space sizes. An example of a family of automotive underbodies illustrates the application of the discrete design space approach to develop a common platform.

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