Problem Exploration With Many-Objective Visual Analytics

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Woodruff ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Electric Motor ◽  
Visual Analytics ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Superior Performance ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
The Individual

This paper discusses problem exploration using Many-Objective Visual Analytics (MOVA). It describes an electric motor product family design problem, including previous attempts at optimized product family designs. The study undertaken in this study shows how MOVA can be used to progressively expose the structure of a problem and develop new design strategies in response. This study presents new designs for the electric motor product family that have superior commonality to any reported in the literature, with equivalent or superior performance for the individual motors.

A Market-Based Design Strategy for a Universal Product Family

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Ki Moon ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Mass Customization ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Differentiated Products ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Market Segments ◽  
Light Duty

Companies that generate a variety of products and services are creating, and increasing research on, mass-customized products in order to satisfy customers’ specific needs. Currently, the majority of effort is focused on consumers who are without disabilities. The research presented here is motivated by the need to provide a basis of product design methods for users with some disability—often called universal design (UD). Product family design is a way to achieve cost-effective mass customization by allowing highly differentiated products serving distinct market segments to be developed from a common platform. By extending concepts from product family design and mass customization to universal design, we propose a method for developing and evaluating a universal product family within uncertain market environments. We will model design strategies for a universal product family as a market economy where product family platform configurations are generated through market segments based on a product platform and customers’ preferences. A coalitional game is employed to evaluate which design strategies provide more benefit when included in the platform based on the marginal profit contribution of each strategy. To demonstrate an implementation of the proposed method, we use a case study involving a family of light-duty trucks.

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.

A Design Method for Developing a Universal Product Family in a Dynamic Market Environment

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Ki Moon ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Mass Customization ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Functional Module ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Guidelines ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Market Segments

Innovative companies that generate a variety of products and services for satisfying customers’ specific needs are invoking and increasing research on mass-customized products, but the majority of their efforts are still focused on general consumers who are without disabilities. This research is motivated by the need to provide a basis of universal design guidelines and methods, primarily because of a lack of knowledge on disabilities in product design as well as methods for designing and evaluating products for everyone. Product family design is a way to achieve cost-effective mass customization by allowing highly differentiated products to be developed from a common platform while targeting products to distinct market segments. By extending concepts from product family design and mass customization to universal design, we propose a method for developing a universal product family to generate economical feasible design concepts and evaluating design feasibility with respect to disabilities within dynamic market environments. We will model design strategies for a universal product family as a market economy where functional module configurations are generated through market segments based on a product platform. A coalitional game is employed to model module sharing situations regarding dynamic market environments and decides which functional modules provide more benefit when in the platform based on the marginal contribution of each module. To demonstrate implementation of the proposed method, we use a case study involving a family of mobile phones.

Production Cost Modeling to Support Product Family Design Optimization

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaeil Park ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Production Cost ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Optimization Methods ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Product Platform ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Decision Based Design

Product family design involves carefully balancing the commonality of the product platform with the distinctiveness of the individual products in the family. While a variety of optimization methods have been developed to help designers determine the best design variable settings for the product platform and individual products within the family, production costs are thought to be an important criterion to choose the best platform among candidate platform designs. Thus, it is prerequisite to have an appropriate production cost model to be able to estimate the production costs incurred by having common and variant components within a product family. In this paper, we propose a production cost model based on a production cost framework associated with the manufacturing activities. The production cost model can be easily integrated within optimization frameworks to support a Decision-Based Design approach for product family design. As an example, the production cost model is utilized to estimate the production costs of a family of cordless power screwdrivers.

Optimal Design of Product Family Throughout Commonalization, Customization and Lineup Arrangement

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kikuo Fujita ◽  
Ryota Akai
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Feasible Region ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Active Set ◽  
Active Set Strategy ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Design Paradigm

Product family design is a framework for effectively and efficiently meeting with spread customers’ needs by sharing components or modules across a series of products. This paper systematizes product family design toward its extension to throughout consideration of commonalization, customization and lineup arrangement under the optimal design paradigm. That is, commonalization is viewed as the operation that restricts the feasible region by fixing a set of design variables related to commonalized components or modules against later customization and final lineup offered to customers. Customization is viewed as the operation that arranges lineup by adjusting another set of design variables related to reserved freedom for customers’ needs. Their mutual and bi-directional relationships must be a matter of optimal design. This paper discusses the mathematical fundamentals of optimal product family design throughout commonalization, customization and lineup arrangement under active set strategy, and demonstrates a case study with a design problem of centrifugal compressors for showing the meaning of throughout optimal design.

Universal Product Family Design Valuation in an Uncertain Market Environment

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Ki Moon ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Mass Customization ◽  
Universal Design ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Financial Model ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Perform Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Market Trends

Strategic adaptability is essential in capitalizing on future investment opportunities and responding properly to market trends in an uncertain environment. Customized products or services are an important source of revenue for many companies, particularly those working with in a mass customization environment where customer satisfaction is of paramount important. In this paper, we extend methods from mass customization and product family design to create specific methods for universal product family design. The objective of this research is to propose a valuation financial model to facilitate universal design strategies that will maximize the expected profit under uncertain constrains. Real options analysis is applied to estimate the valuation of options related to introducing new modules as a platform in a universal product family. We use customers’ preferences based on performance utilities for universal design to reflect demand and demographic trends. To demonstrate implementation of the proposed model, we use a case study involving a family of light-duty trucks. We perform sensitivity analysis to investigate the behavior of the estimated option value against chaining system parameters.

A Strategic Module-Based Platform Design Method for Developing Customized Products in Dynamic and Uncertain Market Environments

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seung Ki Moon ◽  
Timothy W. Simpson ◽  
Soundar R. T. Kumara
Keyword(s):  
Mass Customization ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Product Family ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Design Strategy ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Product Family Design ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Platform Design ◽  
Design Information

Product family design facilitates mass customization by allowing highly differentiated products to be developed around a platform while targeting products to distinct market segments. Therefore, effective platforming of products is a cost-effective way to achieve mass customization The objective in this research is to develop a Strategic Module-based Platform Design Method (SMPDM) to determine a platform design strategy to support product family design in a dynamic and uncertain environment. Ontologies are used to represent products and enable sharing and reuse of design information. Data mining techniques are used to identify a platform and modules by utilizing design information stored in a large database or repository. To determine a platform for family design in dynamic and uncertain market environments, the SMPDM uses agent-based decision-making, involving a market-based negotiation mechanism and a game theoretic approach based on module-based platform concepts and a mathematical model. To demonstrate and validate the usefulness of the proposed method, it is applied to a family of power tools and tested in multiple scenario-based experiments. The SMPDM provides an optimal platform design strategy that can be adapted to various dynamic and uncertain market environments. Therefore, the SMPDM can help develop design strategies to manage and create a cost-effective variety of products based on a platform in support of mass customization.

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