Analysis of Architectural Complexity for Product Family and Platform

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwang Kim ◽  
Yunjung Kwon ◽  
Eun Suk Suh ◽  
Jaemyung Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Development Time ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Complexity Management ◽  
Reduce Development Time

A product family is a set of products that are derived from common sets of parts, interfaces, and processes, known as the product platform. To reduce development time and procurement and operating costs of product platform based variants, the product platform can be designed after consideration of several characteristic, such as modularity, flexibility, sustainability and complexity. In this paper, the product platform is viewed from the perspective of system architecting. The architectural complexities of both the platform and its variants, which together constitute a product family, can be quantitatively assessed using a specifically tailored metric. This will aid system architects in designing product platforms and resulting product variants with an emphasis on reducing complexity. Architectural complexity management is demonstrated through a case study of a train bogie platform.

Analysis of Architectural Complexity for Product Family and Platform

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwang Kim ◽  
Yunjung Kwon ◽  
Eun Suk Suh ◽  
Jaemyung Ahn
Keyword(s):  
Development Time ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Operating Costs ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Complexity Management ◽  
Reduce Development Time

A product family is a set of products that are derived from common sets of parts, interfaces, and processes, known as the product platform. To reduce development time and procurement and operating costs of product platform-based variants, the product platform can be designed after consideration of several characteristics, such as modularity, flexibility, sustainability, and complexity. In this paper, the product platform is viewed from the perspective of system architecting. The architectural complexities of both the platform and its variants, which together constitute a product family, can be quantitatively assessed using a specifically tailored metric. This will aid system architects in designing product platforms and resulting product variants with an emphasis on reducing complexity. Architectural complexity management is demonstrated through a case study of a train bogie platform.

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.

Application of a Product Platform Knowledge Management Methodology Using the Semantic Web Paradigm to a Playground System

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Hart ◽  
Steven B. Shooter ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Semantic Web ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Planning Strategies ◽  
Effective Product ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Design And Manufacture

Information management has been recognized as an essential ingredient for effective product family planning strategies through the utilization of product platforms. Product platforms utilize commonality of parts, modules, and processes during design and manufacture. This commonality must be well documented for its effective use, and ontologies are one way to organize this information to promote knowledge management. The following provides a case study to verify a proposed methodology for product platform knowledge management that uses the semantic web paradigm by applying it to a component from a major modular playground equipment producer. Our objective is to verify the developed methodology using a case study of a modular playground component and to evaluate the methodology’s user adoptability. It will be shown that the methodology is successful and valid to apply to other applications, with some improvements, in the future.

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.

Incorporating the Option Value of Product Family Variants in Material and Process Selection

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Johnson ◽  
Amlan Nanda
Keyword(s):  
Product Family ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Instrument Panel ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Option Value ◽  
Process Selection ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Product Lifetime

In the modern competitive environment, firms have to offer a variety of products to their customers in a cost effective manner. One way of achieving this goal is through the use of product platforms and product families. The choice of product materials and manufacturing processes has a significant effect on the ability to derive variants from these product platforms and families. Unfortunately, most economic analyses of materials selection rarely include the effect on the product family, and if they do they are viewed as static and passive investments. In reality, the decision to produce an additional variant is a “right, but not an obligation” — it can be viewed as a real option. A methodology to value the option of producing a follow-on variant product for an a posteriori (or bottom up) product family is proposed. This method uses inputs that are readily available for most product development teams. An automotive instrument panel beam case study is used to illustrate the method. Results from the case study show that while the follow-on variant option did not affect the relative economic preference of the materials, the value of the options associated follow-on variants accounted for a significant portion of total development project value. Valuations performed using both the binomial and Black-Scholes methods did not show significant differences between the methods. Material and manufacturing process characteristics are shown to have an effect on follow-on variant option value. The product lifetime and annual production volume of the follow-on variant are shown to have significant effects on option value. Initial variant product lifetime and underlying asset risk are shown to have less of an effect on option value.

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.

Comprehensive Product Platform Planning (CP3) Framework

2011 ◽  
Vol 133 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Souma Chowdhury ◽  
Achille Messac ◽  
Ritesh A Khire
Keyword(s):  
Planning Process ◽  
Continuous Optimization ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Mapping Function ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Design Variables

Development of a family of products that satisfies different market niches introduces significant challenges to today’s manufacturing industries—from development time to aftermarket services. A product family with a common platform paradigm offers a powerful solution to these daunting challenges. This paper presents a new approach, the Comprehensive Product Platform Planning (CP3) framework, to design optimal product platforms. The CP3 framework formulates a generalized mathematical model for the complex platform planning process. This model (i) is independent of the solution strategy, (ii) allows the formation of sub-families of products, (iii) allows the simultaneous identification of platform design variables and the determination of the corresponding variable values, and (iv) seeks to avoid traditional distinctions between modular and scalable product families from the optimization standpoint. The CP3 model yields a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem, which is carefully reformulated to allow for the application of continuous optimization using a novel Platform Segregating Mapping Function (PSMF). The PSMF can be employed using any standard global optimization methodology (hence not restrictive); particle swarm optimization has been used in this paper. A preliminary cost function is developed to represent the cost of a product family as a function of the number of products manufactured and the commonality among these products. The proposed CP3 framework is successfully implemented on a family of universal electric motors. Key observations are made regarding the sensitivity of the optimized product platform to the intended production volume.

Estimating Reduction in Development Time for Implementing a Product Platform Approach

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahed Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Development Time ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Disk Drive ◽  
Spindle Motor ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Hard Disks ◽  
Design And Development ◽  
Product Families ◽  
Hard Information ◽  
Design Activities

Abstract Many market forces are driving companies to improve their targeting of increasingly small market niches. To accomplish this efficiently, products are organized into product families that typically share common platforms. In industries with short product lifecycles, the decision to move towards a common platform approach, even for some components, requires estimating the reduction in development time. One of the problems encountered in estimating development time is that initially, before implementing a platform approach, hard information related to product family design and development is not available. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the design and development time using simple activity models, when moving towards a platform approach. The product family models are developed from existing single product design activities, which are modified and extended to reflect activities related to development of product platform and subsequent product members of the family from the platform. Uncertainty associated with time for each activity is also included in the model, which is solved using Monte Carlo simulation. The approach is demonstrated using a hard disk drive spindle motor platform development for a family of hard disks.

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