STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR MODULAR PRODUCT FAMILIES

DS 68-4: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 11), Impacting Society through Engineering Design, Vol. 4: Product and Systems Design, Lyngby/Copenhagen, Denmark, 15.-19.08.2011

Year: 2011
Editor: Culley, S.J.; Hicks, B.J.; McAloone, T.C.; Howard, T.J. & Lindemann, U.
Author: Jonas, Henry; Krause, Dieter
Series: ICED
Section: Product and Systems Design
Page(s): 112-121

Abstract

Highly customised products mostly lead to an increasing complexity for the producing company. Two commonly known design approaches to reduce the internal complexity of a product family are design for variety and modularisation. However, for many application cases it is desirable to consider an optimisation of the variety already in the product planning phase affecting a wide range of products. The approach presented in this paper uses a representation both of the structure of products and economic key figures. Using this method, different strategic scenarios of the product program can be planned and assessed to each other. The derivation of strategies for the future and their evaluation uses both economic key figures and the technical conceptualisation of platform components.

Keywords: VARIETY-MANAGEMENT; PRODUCT PLANNING; MODULAR PRODUCT FAMILIES

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