Merge-Based Design: A New Method for Managing Variety and Improving Customization

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Alizon ◽  
Callida Williams ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Original Method ◽  
New Method ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
Internal Structures ◽  
The Family ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Single Use

With markets becoming more and more fragmented, the management of product variety becomes even more critical. Variety management needs to be continuously improved, especially for highly customized products. Although new techniques are constantly being developed, variety is still an issue, and there is room for complementary assistance to manage variety in the final design. In this context, we propose an original method — merge-based design — to manage variety in a product family better. The proposed method targets the already-tailored (unique) components to reduce the number of variant components in the family. Merge-based design also facilitates customization by enabling designers to reduce non-beneficial variety within a family. The proposed method is described and then illustrated via a case study involving two existing internal structures from single-use cameras. Finally, to highlight for improving customization, a proposed new camera is created using the resulting common structure with a different exterior casing. This new method can be applied during detailed studies as well as in the early stages of the design process.

Assessing and Increasing Product and Family Differentiation in the Market

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Alizon ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Product Differentiation ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Product Function ◽  
The Family ◽  
Single Use ◽  
And Function ◽  
Differentiation Index ◽  
Family Differentiation

To help guarantee profit and stability in today’s global market, companies must focus on the differentiation of their products. Successfully differentiated products will attract customers, generate revenue and benefit the brand image, whereas a banal product can lose money and leave a bad impression in the market. Many large companies have recently lost significant market share in part due to poor product differentiation. This paper introduces four indices to assess this differentiation at two levels—family and market—based on product function and function attributes. At the family level, the Product Differentiation Index (PDI) assesses the differentiation between a product and other products in the rest of the family and also the differentiation within the family. At the market level, the Family Differentiation Index (FDI), Family Coverage Index (FCI), and Family Un-coverage Index (FUI) assess the differentiation, the coverage, and the un-coverage of a family with another, and/or with the rest of the market, respectively. These indices help designers and marketers evaluate the positioning of their products and support product family planning. A case study involving two competitive single-use camera families is presented.

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.

Incorporating Security Considerations Into Optimal Product Architecture and Component Sharing Decision in Product Family Design

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro J. Rojas Arciniegas ◽  
Harrison M. Kim
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Product Architecture ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Common Structure ◽  
The Family

Multiple factors affect the decisions of selecting the appropriate components to share in product family design. Some of the challenges that the designers face are maintaining uniqueness and the desired performance in each variant while taking advantage of a common structure. In this paper, the sharing decision making process is analyzed for the case when a firm knows a priori that some of the components contain sensitive information that could be exposed to the user, third-party manufacturers, or undesired agents; thence, it is important to enclose it and protect it. Two important aspects to consider are defining the architecture of the product while protecting the sensitive information. This paper proposes tools to help the designers to identify components that are candidates for sharing among the family and finds the most desirable component arrangement that facilitates sharing while protecting the sensitive information that has been previously identified. The proposed framework is applied to three printers in which the architecture used for the ink cartridges and printheads are significantly different. Third-party manufacturers and remanufacturers offer their own alternatives for these subsystems (ink cartridges and printheads) since the customer for printer supplies is always looking for a cheaper alternative; meanwhile, the OEMs attempt to secure their products and retain their customers with original supplies. Having identified the sensitive components for each printer, the optimal clustering strategy is found, as well as the set of components that are candidates for sharing, according to their connectivity and the security considerations.

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.

scholarly journals Digitizing Family Albums in The Family Camera Network (FamCam), Archive at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM): A Case Study of the Evans Family Collection

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idit Kohan -Harpaz
Keyword(s):  
Original Method ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
The Public ◽  
Royal Ontario Museum ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Family ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Indivisible Object

My thesis explores the family album as an indivisible object within a museum’s collection. Family albums hold both private and public importance for their ability to share collective memories and are valuable resources for scholars and the general public. To realize the inherent value of albums, I argue that we need to treat them as singular objects. Most institutions – such as museums, libraries or archives – treat family albums merely as a group of individual images. In this thesis, I propose an alternative approach: viewing and digitizing the albums as whole objects that are inseparable, lest we distort the narrative shaped in the album. The digitization process advances three services: first, digitization increases access to the album; second, digitization often enables the public to see and understand the album as a whole, maintaining the vision that the album’s maker sought to construct; third, digitization helps preserve the albums. My thesis investigates best practices for family album digitization so that the public can see albums as whole objects. A case study will focus on the Evans family collection from the FamCam at the ROM (accession numbers: 2018.24.1-21), a family collection which comes from a Canadian family that lived in China from 1888, for nearly a 100 years. Twenty-one family albums comprise the collection. The collection portrays the lives of a Western family in China, and provides insight into a century of photography and history. My thesis discusses the methodology, tools, and specific techniques for digitization, while highlighting the complexity of family albums. Though this digitization process may differ from the typical protocols for artifacts, the uniqueness of family albums necessitates genre-specific procedures. My thesis contributes to the emerging literature on family photography in public institutions, and develops an original method for preserving and archiving them digitally.

Graph Grammar Based Product Variety Modeling

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuehong Du ◽  
Mitchell M. Tseng ◽  
Jianxin Jiao
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Graph Grammar ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Order Processing ◽  
Product Features ◽  
The Family ◽  
Feature Values ◽  
Data Transferring ◽  
A Company

Abstract This paper discusses the issue of product variety modeling, i.e. the means to organize the data of a family of products according to the underpinning logic among them. The targeted product families are characterized by providing user-selectable product features and feature values and achieving variety by combining parameterized functional or physical modules. A graph grammar based (GGB) model is proposed for the purpose of enhancing the comprehensiveness and manipulability of the data of product families for different functional departments in a company in order to facilitate effective order processing as well as direct customer-manufacturer interaction. To deal with variety effectively, both structural and non-structural family data are represented as family graphs whereas order-specific products are represented as variant graphs derived by applying predefined graph rewrite rules to the family graphs. The most important characteristics of the GGB model are three folds. While emphasizing the distinctiveness of the information that different users are concerned about, it provides cross view data transferring mechanisms. It also supports data manipulation for variety generation. Finally, taking advantage of the graph grammar based language of PROGRES, GGB is a model to be easily implemented as a visualized computer system. The specification of an office chair product family illustrates the principles and construction process of GGB models.

Assessing and Improving Commonality and Diversity Within a Product Family

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Alizon ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Product Differentiation ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Differentiated Products ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Family ◽  
Single Use

At a time when product differentiation is a major indicator of success in the global market, each company is looking to offer competitive and highly differentiated products. This differentiation issue is restricted by the design of platform-based products that share modules and/or components. It is not easy to differentiate products in a market that is often overwhelmed by numerous options. A platform-based approach can be risky because competition in the global market can become an internal competition among similar products within the family if there is not enough differentiation in the family. Thus, the goal for the product platform is to share elements for common functions and to differentiate each product in the family by satisfying different targeted needs. To assess commonality in the family, numerous indices have been proposed in the literature. Nevertheless, existing indices focus on commonality and reflect an increase in value when commonality increases but do not positively reflect an increase in the value as a result of diversity; hence, the Commonality versus Diversity Index (CDI) is introduced in this paper to assess the commonality and diversity within a family of products or across families. The CDI has variable levels of depth analysis to help designers design or improve the product family. Two case studies using single-use cameras and power tool families highlight the usefulness of this new index.

Recommending a Platform Leveraging Strategy Based on the Homogeneous or Heterogeneous Nature of a Product Line

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Alizon ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Product Development ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Line ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Product Families ◽  
The Family ◽  
Heterogeneous Nature ◽  
Single Use ◽  
And Function ◽  
Blue Jeans

Platform-based product development depends on many factors, including technology, cost, competition, and life cycle considerations, and many companies would benefit from knowing more about the nature of their product families and how they impact platform-based product development. We assert that the development of a product platform and its derivative family of products is also impacted by the homogenous/heterogeneous nature of the products being developed, which has received little attention in the engineering literature. The current study introduces an original metric for assessing the homogeneity/heterogeneity in a given family: the Homogeneity versus Heterogeneity Ratio (HHR), which works at two levels of abstraction, namely, family and function. This study focuses on the platform leveraging strategy and takes an interest in two other aspects of platform development: the specification of the family and the necessary differentiation. To support platform design, the HHRfamily and HHRfunction metrics quantify the ratio of homogeneity/heterogeneity in the family to recommend a platform leveraging strategy by highlighting homogeneous functions that support platform leveraging. Reverse engineering helps us to retroactively study three types of families (power tools, single-use cameras, and blue jeans) using HHRfamily and HHRfunction. In particular, we demonstrate: (1) quantification of the homogeneity/heterogeneity of a family of products based on their functions; (2) recommendation of a leveraging strategy based on HHR; (3) a new leveraging strategy, the combined leveraging strategy via cross leveraging; (4) how HHR can help designers to validate the product family specification; and (5) how HHR can highlight needs to differentiate a family of products other than through functions.

A Systems Framework for Platform Architecture Analysis

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Araque ◽  
Trevor Bailey ◽  
Murilo W. Bonilha ◽  
Jay Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Architectural Analysis ◽  
Systems Perspective ◽  
Platform Architecture ◽  
Individual Product ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Systems Framework ◽  
Architecture Analysis

This paper discusses a systems framework for platform architecture analysis. The framework considers architectural analysis at three levels; the individual product offerings within a product family, the platform(s) being leveraged across the family, and the evolution potential for the platform/product family. The framework is decomposed into elements that consider a systems perspective: function, form, concepts, interfaces, needs/goals, upstream and downstream influences, and timing/operation. An application of the framework to a transport refrigeration product family is presented as a case study. The results of this case study indicate that the framework is promising, and it continues to be developed and applied within UTC.

A Genetic Algorithm Based Method for Product Family Design Optimization

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brayan S. D’Souza ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Algorithm ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
General Aviation ◽  
Product Performance ◽  
Individual Product ◽  
The Family ◽  
Gradient Based ◽  
The Individual

Increased commonality in a family of products can simplify manufacturing and reduce the associated costs and lead-times. There is a tradeoff, however, between commonality and individual product performance within a product family, and in this paper we introduce a genetic algorithm based method to help find an acceptable balance between commonality in the product family and desired performance of the individual products in the family. The method uses Design of Experiments to help screen unimportant factors and identify factors of interest to the product family and a multiobjective genetic algorithm, the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, to optimize the performance of the products in the resulting family. To demonstrate implementation of the proposed method, the design of a family of three General Aviation Aircraft is presented along with a product variety tradeoff study to determine the extent of the tradeoff between commonality and individual product performance within the aircraft family. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by comparing the family of aircraft against individually optimized designs and designs obtained from an alternate gradient-based multiobjective optimization method.

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