Development of the Modularity Measure for Assembly Process Structures

This study is aimed at exploring the problem of quantification of process modularity degree. Modularity as a system design principle is apprehended here as the extent to which processes can be decomposed into modules to be executed in parallel and/or in series. For this purpose, a new method is proposed to measure relative modularity of different assembly process structures. This method is compared with other relative modularity measures, namely singular value modularity index, degree of process module, and process module independence, in order to verify its effectiveness. For this purpose, selected representative types of assembly process structures are used. This testing proved that the proposed relative modularity indicator for manufacturing and/or assembly process structures reflects the expected system property in adequate way.

Development of a Modularity Index for Reliability Assessment of Isolation Valve Systems

Mechanical reliability refers to the assessment of the capacity of the water distribution network (WDN) to provide a correct service to the different type of costumers under abnormal operating conditions due to a failure of a system component. It depends on the effectiveness of the isolation valve system (IVS) and on the failure probability of components. Starting from the calculation of the actual customer demands during abnormal operating conditions of the hydraulic systems due to valve shutdowns and the failure probability of the separated segments, the work develops a metric for WDN reliability assessment. The finding is that the topologic part of WDN reliability assessment, relating to the IVS, is based on the risk of disconnection. Starting from it, the works develops a special modularity index for IVS reliability assessment.

Metrics of product modularity: lessons learned from case companies

Purpose Modular product development is a turning table concept in terms of benefits and impact in manufacturing companies. It offers added benefits to the companies with respect to reduce lead-time, improve assemble ability and agility in supply chain management, promote product family and enhance customer satisfaction. This paper aims to identify the patterns of modular product development strategy by using measurement techniques. Design/methodology/approach Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are considered. In the qualitative section, relevant data on product design are collected from six case companies. On the other hand, in the quantitative section, collected data are analyzed to measure the product modularity level with the case companies. Findings This research identifies potential metrics which can be used successfully to measure product modularity level or index in manufacturing industries. Selection of such metrics also depends on individual company’s objectives to measure modularity index. Originality/value This research contributes to the development of modular product design that supports product family design with lean and agile (leagile) supply chain process. It also provided a parsimonious framework to mapping modules within a product, which is ultimately used to measure modularity index.

Comparative Study Of Complex Network Community Structure Algorithms In network Pharmacology Analysis

Community structure is an extremely important characteristic of complex networks composed of network pharmacology. The mining of network community structure is of great importance in many fields such as biology, computer science and sociology. In recent years, for different types of large-scale complex networks, researchers had proposed many algorithms for finding community structures. This paper reviewed some of the most representative algorithms in the field of network pharmacology, and focused on the analysis of the improved algorithms based on the modularity index and the new algorithms that could reflect the level and overlap of the community. Finally, a benchmark was established to measure the quality of the community classification algorithm.

General metrics for segmenting infrastructure networks

The classic modularity index for community detection in complex networks was recently tailored to water distribution networks (WDNs) and extended in order to be cut-position sensitive. Next, the WDN-oriented modularity index was enhanced in order to overcome the resolution limit of the classic modularity. Nonetheless, the modularity-based metrics developed so far allow the networks to be segmented into modules/segments that are similar to each other according to specific pipe characteristics (e.g., pipe lengths, distributed demand, background leakages, etc.). The present work extends and proves the strategy to overcome the resolution limits focusing on an infrastructure index that drives WDN segmentation toward modules that are internally similar with respect to given attributes (e.g., pipe diameters, average pipe pressures, average pipe elevations, etc.), since this aim is suitable for several practical purposes. The introduction of the attribute-based infrastructure index permits a comprehensive discussion and comparison of the metrics for infrastructure network segmentation through simple examples. Finally, the practical implications of increasing the resolution of internally similar modules are demonstrated on a well-known benchmark WDN considering various pipe attributes.