Improving an Existing Product Family Based on Commonality/Diversity, Modularity, and Cost

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Alizon ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Diversity Index ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Value Analysis ◽  
New Family ◽  
Design Structure ◽  
Cad Models ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Definition Of

As product life cycles become shorter and shorter, stakes are higher in terms of sales and profits, making it an imperative for companies to enhance existing product families as much as possible. Redesigning a family of products can become a difficult task when considering the number of variables (products, modules, components, etc.), competing objectives (diversity-commonality, cost-variety, etc.), and actual technical solutions (cost value, architectural constraints), etc. In this paper, a methodology using the Design Structure Matrix flow (DSMflow), Value Analysis (VA), and the Commonality versus Diversity Index (CDI) is proposed to improve an existing family of products. These three tools enable the assessment and the improvement of (1) commonality and diversity within the family, (2) feature satisfaction through design, and (3) definition of new modules/components and their interfaces. A case study based on a family of refrigerators (including CAD models) is detailed in this paper to demonstrate the methodology. The proposed methodology supports both the reengineering of an existing family and can also be extended to benefit the early development stages when designing a new family of products.

Feature-Based Modeling of Product Families

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Laakko ◽  
Martti Mäntylä
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Design History ◽  
Product Modeling ◽  
Product Families ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Family ◽  
Feature Based ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Language Description

Abstract A feature-based product modeling system is introduced where the user can incrementally create and modify product families. Product family and feature descriptions are coded in a special definition language and can be easily added and modified by the user. The descriptions include dynamically maintained constraints. The definition language description of a new family can be automatically created on the basis of a recognized prototypical instance. A stored design history can be used for generating the geometry definition of the family.

Algorithm-Based Support for the Redesign of Product Variants

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Redeker ◽  
Philipp Gebhardt ◽  
Thomas Vietor
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Graph Matching ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Automated Analysis ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Product Families ◽  
First Case ◽  
Subtractive Manufacturing ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Incremental Manufacturing is a novel manufacturing approach where product variants are manufactured based on a finalization of pre-produced parts through additive and subtractive manufacturing processes. This approach allows a multi-scale production with the possibility to scale product variants as well as the production volume. In order to ensure high economic efficiency of the manufacturing concept, there is a need for pre-produced parts that come as close as possible to the final variant geometries to ensure that only variant-specific features need to be added by additive or subtractive manufacturing steps. Furthermore, to ensure high economies of scale, a high degree of commonality should be ensured for the pre-produced parts manufactured in mass production. In this context, a graph-based method is developed that enables an automated analysis of product families, based on physical and functional attributes, for standardization potentials. The method thus provides support for the strategic definition of pre-produced parts and is embedded in an overall approach for the redesign of products for Incremental Manufacturing. For the demonstration of the approach, which is based on 3D Shape and Graph Matching methods, a first case study is carried out using a guiding bush product family as an example.

Two Methodologies for Identifying Product Platform Elements Within an Existing Set of Products

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Steva ◽  
Elizabeth N. Rice ◽  
Tucker J. Marion ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson ◽  
Robert B. Stone
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Design Structure ◽  
Development Costs ◽  
Family Analysis ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Single Use

As companies are pressured to decrease product development costs concurrently with increasing product variety, the need to develop products based upon common components and platforms is growing. Determining why a platform worked, or alternatively why it did not, is an important step in the successful implementation of product families and product platforms in any industry. Unfortunately, published literature on platform identification and product family analysis using product dissection and reverse engineering methods is surprisingly sparse. This paper introduces two platform identification methodologies that use different combinations of tools that can be readily applied based on information obtained directly from product dissection. The first methodology uses only the Bills-of-Materials and Design Structure Matrices while the second utilizes function diagrams, Function-Component Matrices, Product-Vector Matrices, and Design Structure Matrices to perform a more in-depth analysis of the set of products. Both methodologies are used to identify the platform elements in a set of five single-use cameras available in the market. The proposed methodologies identify the film advance and shutter actuation platform elements of the cameras, which include seven distinct components. The results are discussed in detail along with limitations of these two methodologies.

Graph Grammar Based Product Family Modeling

2002 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuehong Du ◽  
Jianxin Jiao ◽  
Mitchell M. Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Graph Grammar ◽  
Formal Representation ◽  
Production Rules ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Economy Of Scale ◽  
Graph Language ◽  
Attributed Graph ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Complex Relationships

Many industries are shifting from mass production to mass customization, which demands quick response to the needs of individual customers with high quality and low costs. The development of product families has received an increasing interest in recent years because, by sharing components across products, a family of products can be derived to cater variety while maintaining the economy of scale. Aiming at the computerization, and eventual automation, of product family design, this paper tackles the formal representation issue surrounding this economically important class of engineering design problem. Breaking free from conventional understanding of product families, which is limited as shared components, the paper defines a product family as a structured system to create variety of products with shared core product technologies. It not only involves the shared base product, but also encompasses customization modules, standard designs, and primary patterns of variety to generate custom designs. The paper introduces graph grammar formalisms to the modeling of such a product family. Based on Programmed Attributed Graph Grammars (PAGG), the graph language is developed to specify the design space of the product family. The process of customizing the base product through manipulating particular modules is modeled by rewriting the starting graph using a series of productions according to the control diagram. Configuration constraints are dealt with by defining application conditions for production rules. Control diagrams are constructed to capture complex relationships among modules and used to control the application sequence of production rules. A case study of power supplies is presented to demonstrate the potential of the graph grammar based modeling approach.

Complex products and systems: Potential from using layout platforms

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADRIAN P. HOFER ◽  
JOHANNES I.M. HALMAN
Keyword(s):  
Market Segmentation ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Product Architecture ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Complex Products ◽  
Dominant Design ◽  
Family Based ◽  
System Layout

In their quest to manage the complexity of offering greater product variety, firms in many industries are considering platform-based development of product families. Key in this approach is the sharing of components, modules, and other assets across a family of products. Current research indicates that companies are often choosing physical elements of the product architecture (i.e., components, modules, building blocks) for building platform-based product families. Other sources for platform potential are widely neglected. We argue that for complex products and systems with hierarchic product architectures and considerable freedom in design, a new platform type, the system layout, offers important commonality potential. This layout platform standardizes the arrangement of subsystems within the product family. This paper is based on three industry case studies, where a product family based on a common layout could be defined. In combination with segment-specific variety restrictions, this results in an effective, efficient, and flexible positioning of a company's products. The employment of layout platforms leads to substantial complexity reduction, and is the basis for competitive advantage, as it imposes a dominant design on a product family, improves its configurability, and supports effective market segmentation.

Focused Product Family Improvement

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Ye ◽  
John K. Gershenson
Keyword(s):  
Diversity Index ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Evaluation Tool ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Customer Needs ◽  
Cost Structures ◽  
Improvement Method ◽  
Single Use ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Family Evaluation

Manufacturers in various industries are seeking to redesign their existing product families to better satisfy their diverse customer needs while maintaining competitive cost structures. Failure to carefully balance the commonality/variety tradeoff during product family redesign will catastrophically hamper the widely sought benefits of both appropriate commonality and variety. Existing product family redesign approaches often focus on increasing the degree of commonality or variety unilaterally and to their utmost, without considering the appropriate commonality/variety tradeoff based on both marketing and engineering resource concerns. The result is redesigned product families that are unachievable or much delayed. In this paper, the Focused Product Family Improvement Method (FPFIM) is proposed to help manufacturers utilize their limited engineering efforts to efficiently respond to market needs using their own competitive focus and commonality/variety tradeoff analysis. This method uses a graphical evaluation tool, the Product Family Evaluation Graph, to determine the necessary direction of improvement for product family redesign — either increasing appropriate commonality or increasing appropriate variety. A set of indices, the Commonality Diversity Index for commonality and variety, support the FPFIM in identifying components with undesirable commonality or undesirable variety, prime targets of redesign to satisfy the redesign intent. To illustrate the proposed method, an example application with four single-use camera families is presented.

scholarly journals Design of Personalized Devices—The Tradeoff between Individual Value and Personalization Workload

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Juliane Kuhl ◽  
Andreas Ding ◽  
Ngoc Tuan Ngo ◽  
Andres Braschkat ◽  
Jens Fiehler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Treatment Success ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Flow Diverter ◽  
New Method ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Individual Value

Personalized medical devices adapted to the anatomy of the individual promise greater treatment success for patients, thus increasing the individual value of the product. In order to cater to individual adaptations, however, medical device companies need to be able to handle a wide range of internal processes and components. These are here referred to collectively as the personalization workload. Consequently, support is required in order to evaluate how best to target product personalization. Since the approaches presented in the literature are not able to sufficiently meet this demand, this paper introduces a new method that can be used to define an appropriate variety level for a product family taking into account standardized, variant, and personalized attributes. The new method enables the identification and evaluation of personalizable attributes within an existing product family. The method is based on established steps and tools from the field of variant-oriented product design, and is applied using a flow diverter—an implant for the treatment of aneurysm diseases—as an example product. The personalization relevance and adaptation workload for the product characteristics that constitute the differentiating product properties were analyzed and compared in order to determine a tradeoff between customer value and personalization workload. This will consequently help companies to employ targeted, deliberate personalization when designing their product families by enabling them to factor variety-induced complexity and customer value into their thinking at an early stage, thus allowing them to critically evaluate a personalization project.

scholarly journals FEM Simulations for the Optimization of the Inlet Gate System in Rapid Investment Casting Process for the Realization of Heat Exchangers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Almonti ◽  
G. Baiocco ◽  
E. Mingione ◽  
N. Ucciardello
Keyword(s):  
Investment Casting ◽  
Heat Exchangers ◽  
Complex Geometry ◽  
Heat Pipes ◽  
Casting Process ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Cad Models ◽  
Gate System ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Metallic Parts

AbstractOver the last decades, additive manufacturing (AM) has become the principal production technology for prototypes and components with high added value. In the production of metallic parts, AM allows producing complex geometry with a single process. Also, AM admits a joining of elements that could not be realized with traditional methods. In addition, AM allows the manufacturing of components that could not be realized using other types of processes like reticular structures in heat exchangers. A solid mold investment casting that uses printed patterns overcomes typical limitations of additive processes such as expensive machinery and challenging process parameter settings. Indeed, rapid investment casting provides for a foundry epoxy pattern reproducing the component to exploit in the lost wax casting process. In this paper, aluminium radiators with flat heat pipes seamlessly connected with a cellular structure were conceived and produced. This paper aims at defining and investigating the principal foundry parameters to achieve a defect-free heat exchanger. For this purpose, different device CAD models were designed, considering four pipes’ thickness and length. Finite element method numerical simulations were performed to optimize the design of the casting process. Three different gate configurations were investigated for each length. The numerical investigations led to the definition of a castability range depending on flat heat pipes geometry and casting parameters. The optimal gate configuration was applied in the realization of AM patterns and casting processes

Exploring Effective Change Propagation in a Product Family Design

2017 ◽  
Vol 139 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Inayat Ullah ◽  
Dunbing Tang ◽  
Qi Wang ◽  
Leilei Yin
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Design Structure Matrix ◽  
Change Propagation ◽  
Effective Change ◽  
Design Structure ◽  
Design Changes ◽  
Requirements Change ◽  
Change Impact ◽  
Design Requirements

Product family (PF) design is a widely used strategy in the industry, as it allows meeting diverse design requirements. Change propagation in any PF is difficult to predict. Consequently, while numerous design change management methodologies presently exist, their application is restricted to a single artifact. This issue is overcome in the present study. The proposed framework explores effective change propagation paths (CPPs) by considering the risks associated with design changes in the PF with the aim of minimizing the overall redesign cost. The propagated risk, which would result in rework, is quantified in terms of change impact and propagation likelihood. Moreover, a design structure matrix (DSM) based mathematical model and an algorithm for its implementation are proposed to investigate the change propagation across the PF. Finally, to demonstrate their effectiveness, a PF of electric kettles is examined in a case study. The study findings confirm that the proposed technique is appropriate for evaluating different CPPs in PF.

Life Cycles in Social Science History

1999 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-489
Author(s):  
Andrew Abbott
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Science History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Social Science History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definition Of

When one is asked to speak on the past, present, and future of social science history, one is less overwhelmed by the size of the task than confused by its indexicality. Whose definition of social science history? Which past? Or, put another way, whose past? Indeed, which and whose present? Moreover, should the task be taken as one of description, prescription, or analysis? Many of us might agree on, say, a descriptive analysis of the past of the Social Science History Association. But about the past of social science history as a general rather than purely associational phenomenon, we might differ considerably. The problem of description versus prescription only increases this obscurity.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document