Diffusion of Platform Thinking as an Innovation in the Construction Supply Chain

The construction industry has received long standing criticism over its fragmented approach to supply chain management, adversarial relationships, and ongoing defects. Platform thinking has been observed in other industries as a phenomenon that offers reinvention from the traditional perspectives on the supply chain. In this study, a scoping review of platform thinking is presented. A database search of 656 papers across 15 journals, along with 3 sources from a Google search and 12 sources from a manual review of the reference lists were reviewed in relation to platform thinking in construction. While many variants of platforms exist, the scoping review demonstrates a focus on product platforms that has historical precedents. This paper highlights the benefits of platform thinking whilst linking to the lessons of the past. This provides a valuable insight for future implications of platform thinking. This paper contributes to the limited literature on platform thinking in the construction industry by linking historical examples with present and potential future investigation.

Proposals for Modernization of Legal Regulation of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Technologies in Russia with Platform Legal Models

Modern technologies and new management concepts — industrial and product platforms — create breakthrough innovative products and services based on the complex integration of artificial intelligence and other latest digital technolog3ies. Platforms are the physical embodiment of connectivity, digitalizing traditional manufacturing, lowering production costs, and converting goods into services that generate more value. Platform law could become a networking mechanism for artificial intelligence, big data, and the internet of things. It has features and instruments of legal regulation similar to those of integration law, but it is permeated, in accordance with its renewed nature, with scientific, technological and information-digital algorithms of legal relations and interactions. To meet the requirements of the time, legal institutions must change; the dominance of platform business models creates new legal relations and the need to search for new content and new legal forms of institutional regulation of changing social relations. Both traditional and adapted for its specifics methods are used in the article: historical, from the EU law — teleological (interpretation based on goals), comparative jurisprudence (synchronous and diachronous), comparative integration law, comparative law of science and technology, comparative legal regulation of AI and digital law, comparative platform law, comparative experimental law. The legal field of platform entities is in constant search of an effective balance between technological and economic innovations and their legal regulation. At the same time, it can become an effective mechanism for regulating artificial intelligence in the interests of humans.

Multidisciplinary design optimization of vehicle chassis product family

In order to improve the performance of automotive product platforms and product families while keeping high development efficiency, a product family optimization design method that combines shared variable decision-making and multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) is proposed. First, the basic concepts related to product family design optimization were clarified. Then, the mathematical description and MDO model of the product family optimization problem were established, and the improved product family design process was given. Finally, for the chassis product family optimization problem of an automotive product platform, the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method, and design process were exemplified. The results show that the collaboratively optimized product family can effectively handle the coordination between multiple products and multiple targets, compared to Non-platform development, it can maximize the generalization rate of vehicle parts and components under the premise of ensuring key performance, and give full play to the advantages of product platforms.

PLM support for design platforms in industrialized house-building

Purpose The purpose of this research is to support the customization ability for industrial house building companies striving to offer individualized products but with a strategy which includes a production facility. This is accomplished by analyzing the as-is state in terms of existing engineering assets and by proposing a to-be state using the design platform and product lifecycle management (PLM) support. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on design research methodology and collected data are in-depth interviews, document reviews and workshops and method development. The theoretical baseline is product platforms and the design platform. Findings The analysis showed that despite use of a platform, inherent assets are disorganized. Still, the identified object-based engineering assets were possible to include in a conceptual proposal for better management, both in the process and product view, using an asset relationship matrix and a PLM system. Practical implications The results should be applicable for industrial house building and off-site construction companies and offers an approach to identify and manage their assets and platforms which are crucial to stay competitive. Originality/value Previous research on design platforms has focused on engineer-to-order companies within the mechanical industry. The contribution of this paper lies in the application and support of the design platform for industrial house building and the introduction of PLM system support.

Product Platforms in Industrialized House Building – Information Modeling Method

There is a demand on the current markets of industrialized house building for higher product design flexibility and customization. One of the success factors in addressing this challenge efficiently is the formalization and use of product platforms through information technology applications. However, there is a lack of knowledge on how product platforms and their use should be modeled to support the development of information technology applications. The aim of this paper is therefore, to increase the knowledge on information modeling of product platforms and their use in the industrialized house building design process. The available information modeling methods were identified and analyzed using literature review while considering the contextual criteria of industrialized house building. An information modelling method for product platforms and their use in the industrialized house building design process is proposed. The information modeling rationale is synthesized using the design platform modeling and the information delivery manual modeling. The former is a PLM-oriented while the latter is a BIM-oriented information modeling method. The proposed information modeling method is composed of three parts: product platform information model, process maps and exchange requirement specification. Future work should aim for the validation of the proposed information modeling method by application on empirical data in a case study.

Method for Identifying Representative Failures in Modular Products Through Field Application Data Analysis

Increasingly, manufacturing companies are focusing their efforts on exploring new markets. This new reality makes them strive for more efficient ways to offer their products at a lower cost and without losing their customization. As a result, the compromise between volume and customization (i.e. mass customization) is necessary and to support these product platforms have become a standard practice in the industry, especially the automotive one. However, another challenge arises with the use of platforms: the lack of an efficient way to develop product platforms that will bring a high level of customer satisfaction. The present work aims to develop a method capable of assisting global project groups for identifying representative failures in modules of product platforms and to set up product variations. It is intended to solve the problem of inefficient platform configuration for different markets, taking into account the specific application characteristics of each one. The methodological procedure is based on the Design Science Research (DSR) framework, according to which the work is carried out in six steps. The demonstration and evaluation steps of the solution were performed in the context of an automotive partner industry. The results show that is possible to use the method as a way to improve product platform configuration. The main contribution comes from the fact that the method performs a data analysis based on actual usage information under different product application conditions.