A Method to Produce & Visualize Interactive Work Instructions for Modular Products within Onsite Construction

The architecture of a product is determined by both the elements that compose the product and the way in which they interact with each other. In this paper, we use the design structure matrix (DSM) as a tool to capture this architecture. Designing modular products can result in many benefits to both consumers and manufacturers. The development of modular products requires the identification of highly interactive groups of elements and arranging (i.e. clustering) them into modules. However, no rigorous DSM clustering technique can be found in product development literature. This paper presets a review of the basic DSM building blocks used in the identification of product modules. The DSM representation and building blocks are used to develop a new DSM clustering tool based on a genetic algorithm (GA) and the minimum description length (MDL) principle. The new tool is capable of partitioning the product architecture into an “optimal” set of modules or sub-systems. We demonstrate this new clustering method using an example of a complex product architecture for an industrial gas turbine.

Download Full-text

Defining Product Architecture During Conceptual Design

Volume 3: 10th International Conference on Design Theory and Methodology ◽

10.1115/detc98/dtm-5650 ◽

1998 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kevin R. Allen ◽

Susan Carlson-Skalak

Keyword(s):

Life Cycle ◽

Product Development ◽

Conceptual Design ◽

Development Time ◽

Product Variety ◽

Product Architecture ◽

Small Company ◽

Product Lines ◽

Modular Product ◽

Modular Products

Abstract Product architecture can have a significant impact on a product’s life-cycle and its development time. Modular product architecture allows for easy disassembly upon product retirement and allows for wide product variety. In a small company, the team structure of the company can correspond to the modules, and modules can be used across product lines. By using similar modules from one generation to the next, product development time can be reduced. The methodology described in this paper gives a small company the framework from which to develop modular products.

Download Full-text

A Method of the Green Product Configuration Design Based on Multi-Layer Generalized Operator and Genetic Algorithm

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.483.542 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 483 ◽

pp. 542-549 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Dian Ting Liu ◽

Fei Fei Jia

Keyword(s):

Genetic Algorithm ◽

Design Method ◽

Product Configuration ◽

Configuration Design ◽

Fuzzy Operator ◽

Modular Products ◽

Product Function ◽

Generalized Operator ◽

Optimal Design Method ◽

Crossover And Mutation

Taking the configuration design of the lifting device in a bridge crane as an example, this paper discusses the green optimal design method of enterprise's modular products with uncertain factors. The multi-layer generalized operators and comprehensive mathematical model under uncertainty are established based on the mapping relationship between product function and its structure. The model is transformed to an ascertaining combinatorial optimization model by de-fuzzy operator, and then it is solved by GA (Genetic Algorithm, GA). The method of chromosome encoding in binary that the chromosome is segmented by components and the genes in each segment are ranged as corresponding structures of each component, and the methods of selection and crossover and mutation operator are presented in this paper. The result of the green configuration design on the lifting device verifies the effectiveness and practical value of the method proposed in this paper.

Download Full-text

The Limits to Specialization: Problem Solving and Coordination in ‘Modular Networks’

Organization Studies ◽

10.1177/0170840605059161 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 26 (12) ◽

pp. 1885-1907 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

Stefano Brusoni

Keyword(s):

Problem Solving ◽

Distributed Learning ◽

Division Of Labour ◽

Learning Processes ◽

Invisible Hand ◽

Modular Products ◽

Modular Networks ◽

Visible Hand ◽

Design Activities

This paper builds upon current research into the organizational implications of ‘modularity’. Advocates of modularity argue that the ‘invisible hand’ of markets is reaching activities previously controlled through the visible hand of hierarchies. This paper argues that there are cognitive limits to the extent of division of labour: what kinds of problems firms solve, and how they solve them, set limits to the extent of division of labour, irrespective of the extent of the market. This paper analyses the cognitive limits to the division of labour, relying on an in-depth case study of engineering design activities. On this basis, it explains why coordinating increasingly specialized bodies of knowledge, and increasingly distributed learning processes, requires the presence of knowledge-integrating firms even in the presence of modular products. Such firms, relying on their wide in-house scientific and technological capabilities, have the ‘authority’ to identify, propose and implement solutions to complex problems. In so doing, they coordinate networks of suppliers of both components and specialized competencies.

Download Full-text