Standardization and Modularization Driven by Minimizing Overall Process Effort

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuval Sered ◽  
Yoram Reich
Keyword(s):  
Future Market ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Major Goal ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Development Costs ◽  
Current Product ◽  
Engineering Effort ◽  
The Military ◽  
Design Cost ◽  
Total Design

Faster Product development is a major goal for companies in competitive markets. Product platform architectures support planning for addressing diverse markets and fulfilling future market desires. Applying standardization or modularization on product platform components leverages current product design effort across future products, reducing overall development costs. This work introduces a method for focusing engineering effort when applying standardization or modularization on product platform components. The method calculates the total design effort from current to future generations of the platform, as obtained by standardization or modularization of components. By comparing the total design cost of different simulations, we can direct the design team to standardization or modularization opportunities. This process has been successfully applied to two different product platforms. One is External-Drum Plate-setter for the digital prepress printing market (introduced here) and the other is TOW anti-tank missile launching system for the military market.

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.

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.

Supply-Chain Product Development Collaboration Using Configurable Product Platform Models

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Wahl ◽  
S. Gedell ◽  
H. Johannesson
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Product Lifecycle Management ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Model Concept ◽  
Joint Research ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Modeling Procedure ◽  
Joint Research Project

Collaborative product platform development in the supply chain faces problems not only with inefficient knowledge management and information exchange between collaborating partners, but also with configuration and carryover strategies — both of which result in large amounts of system variants to maintain, and restrained reuse. To address these problems, this article proposes a new, more system-oriented and abstract, knowledge-based approach to define and describe configurable product platforms. A new platform model concept with a new modeling procedure, consisting of linked, fully configurable generic and autonomous sub-systems, has been devised. The model has been implemented as a separate platform configuration (PFC) system within an envisioned product lifecycle management (PLM) system architecture. The PFC system is the common base for system configuration as well as for information and knowledge exchange between collaborating partners. The proposed platform model and collaborative modeling procedure have been partly verified and validated, in cooperation with the industrial partners participating in a joint research project.

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.

A Measure of Impact for Platform Changes

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro J. Rojas ◽  
Marcos Esterman
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Development Organization ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
The Impact

In today’s product development environment, most companies develop product platforms rather than individual products due to the time and cost savings that are reaped from subsequent development efforts. Most of the product platform development literature focuses on the development decisions for a product platform while it is under development, which is logically where the biggest benefits would be gained. However when a new market or a new technology arises, firms often struggle to assess these opportunities within the context of their existing product platforms. There is relatively little work that examines the product platform decisions after the platform has been developed and new, unanticipated opportunities are presented to the development organization. The focus of this work is to leverage the existing literature to development an impact assessment process that explicitly accounts for the constraints of a preexisting product platform when considering new technology and/or market opportunities. In this paper, an overview of the overall assessment process is presented. This is followed by the development of the impact metrics and a case study to illustrate the assessment process. The paper concludes with the next step in this work.

A Quantitative Approach to Determining Product Platform Extent

2000 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Conner Seepersad ◽  
Gabriel Hernandez ◽  
Janet K. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Method ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Multiple Factors ◽  
Absorption Chillers ◽  
Linear Physical Programming ◽  
Individual Product ◽  
Per Se ◽  
The Individual

Abstract In many cases, capabilities for providing product variety may be enhanced efficiently and effectively by creating families of products based on product platforms. However, the actual extent of a product platform — the range of products based upon the platform — is usually determined qualitatively. We present a quantitative method for determining the number of scaleable platforms for a specific market as well as the distribution of products among multiple platforms, recognizing that multiple factors determine optimal platform extent and that these factors often conflict. We model these factors quantitatively, at either the systems level or the individual product level, using the compromise Decision Support Problem including concepts derived from linear physical programming. We apply this approach to an example study of a family of absorption chillers. Our emphasis is on the approach rather than the results, per se.

Customer Need Driven Function-Behavior Platform Formation

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rupesh Kumar ◽  
Venkat Allada
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Planning Horizon ◽  
Physical Structure ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Computer Mouse ◽  
Mapping Process ◽  
Customer Need

Product platform formation has long been considered as an effective method to meet challenges set forth by mass customization. To cater to the changes in customer need driven functional requirements and technological advancements, product platforms have to be robust for a given planning horizon from the manufacturer’s point of view. To date, most of the product platform research is directed towards developing approaches that maximize the usage of common physical structures (such as sub-assemblies and components), amongst product variants. We argue that there is a need to start thinking about platforms at a higher level of abstraction than just at the physical structure level because after all, the physical structures are the end result of the mapping process that starts with the customer needs, cascades to the functional requirements and the behaviors (aka working principle/behavior) that will be used to realize the functions. The Function-Behavior-Structure approach discussed by Gero and Kannengiesser (2003) deals with such an approach. In this paper, we present a methodology called the Function-Behavior Ant Colony Optimization (FB-ACO), to determine a higher abstract level platform at the FB level. The proposed approach can be used to provide critical decisions related to the planning of the advent and egress of a product or the use of a behavior, configuration of the function-behavior platform and the number of such platforms to be considered at a particular time. The FB platform can then be used to develop the detailed design for the family of products under consideration. We demonstrate our proposed approach using the example of a computer mouse product family.

Decisions in Product Platform Development Projects

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 1550001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter E. Harland ◽  
Haluk Yörür
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Platform Development ◽  
Product Platform Development

Introducing "product platforms" in companies to achieve competitive advantages, like decreased costs and increased product variety, is a widely recognized strategy in research and industry. Nevertheless, there are certain challenges involved in developing product platforms. In order to address this complexity, we focus on the decision-making perspective of platform development in this paper. Based on a systematic literature review, we identify the decisions in product platform development projects (PPDP) and categorize them. We identified 21 decisions that are made within PPDP, which represent a greater scope of decisions than presented in the literature sources reviewed. The plausibility of these platform project decisions is illustrated with a case study of a perennial platform development project within the automotive supply industry. While most of the literature sources only mention very few decisions, the case study shows the complexity and high number of decisions required for an actual PPDP. In addition, it also recognizes all of the prior reviews of the decisions identified. Unlike in the literature, the decisions in the case study were made over a certain period of time. Therefore, we propose that the dynamics of the decision-making process in PPDP have to be taken into account. The set of PPDP decisions identified will help project managers to structure future PPDPs better and support researchers in building related product platform models.

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.

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