Product Platform Planning is an emerging philosophy that calls for the planned development of families of related products. It is markedly different from the traditional product development process and relatively new in engineering design. Product families and platforms can offer a multitude of benefits when applied successfully such as economies of scale from producing larger volumes of the same modules, lower design costs from not having to redesign similar subsystems, and many other advantages arising from the sharing of modules. While advances in this are promising, there still remain significant challenges in designing product families and platforms. This is particularly true for defining the platform components, platform architecture, and significantly different platform and product variants in a systematic manner. Lack of precise definition for platform design assets in terms of relevant customer requirements, distinct differentiations, engineering functions, components, component interfaces, and relations among all, causes a major obstacle for companies to take full advantage of the potential benefits of product platform strategy. The main purpose of this research is to address the above mentioned challenges during the design and development of modular platform-based product families. It focuses on providing answers to a fundamental question, namely, how can a decision support approach from product module definition to the determination of platform alternatives and product variants be integrated into product family design? The method presented in this work emphasizes the incorporation of critical design requirements and specifications for the design of distinctive product modules to create platform concepts and product variants using a data clustering approach. A case application developed in collaboration with a tire manufacturer is used to verify that this research approach is suitable for reducing the complexity of design results by determining design commonalities across multiple design characteristics. The method was found helpful for determining and integrating critical design information (i.e., component dimensions, material properties, modularization driving factors, and functional relations) systematically into the design of product families and platforms. It supported decision-makers in defining distinctive product modules within the families and in determining multiple platform concepts and derivative product variants. / Ph. D.

Submitted by Silvana Teresinha Dornelles Studzinski (sstudzinski) on 2017-02-08T15:13:58Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Ismael Sgarabotto_.pdf: 10957841 bytes, checksum: 233e088a6da314cf51c4e2a195349a7b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-08T15:13:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ismael Sgarabotto_.pdf: 10957841 bytes, checksum: 233e088a6da314cf51c4e2a195349a7b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-12-09 / Nenhuma / O cenário econômico aponta para o acirramento da competição através do aumento da variedade de produtos e da redução do tamanho dos lotes de fabricação. O desenvolvimento de produtos modulares é, de forma geral, um conceito e uma solução aderente a este tipo ambiente. Por exemplo, produtos modulares geram a possibilidade da melhoria da percepção de valor agregado por parte dos clientes através da evolução conceitual e/ou tecnológica de um ou mais módulos especificados do produto. Alterando um módulo a engenharia de produto e a manufatura tendem a sofrer um impacto menor (em relação a produtos com concepção integral) e entregam a variedade que o cliente espera. Esta pesquisa tem por objetivo demonstrar como a modularização pode ser aplicada em empresas caracterizadas por atender a mercados de alta variedade e pequenos lotes. Para isto foi realizada uma análise da literatura de forma exploratória para fundamentação da teoria, e a proposta desta dissertação é a construção de um método geral para a implantação da modularização de produto. Por fim a aplicação do método proposto em uma empresa de médio porte testará os impactos deste conceito no ambiente prático, fornecendo dados reais para validação e ajuste do método de modularização de produto. / The economic scenario points to the intensification of competition by increasing the variety of products and reducing the size of manufacturing lots. The development of modular products is, in general, a concept and a solution adherent to this type of environment. For example, modular products generate the possibility of improving the perception of value added by customers through the conceptual and / or technological evolution of one or more specified modules of the product. By changing a module, product engineering and manufacturing tend to have a smaller impact (in relation to fully-conceptualized products) and deliver the variety that the customer expects. This research aims to demonstrate how modularization can be applied in companies characterized by serving high variety markets and small lots. For this, an exploratory literature analysis was carried out to support the theory, and the proposal of this dissertation is the construction of a general method for the implementation of product modularization. Finally, the application of the proposed method in a medium-sized company will test the impacts of this concept in the practical environment, providing real data for validation and adjustment of the product modularization method.

In recent years, numerous methods to aid designers in conceptualizing new products have been developed. These methods intend to give structure to a process that was, at one time, considered to be a purely creative exercise. Resulting from the study, implementation, and refinement of design methodologies is the notion that both the structure of the development process and the structure of the developed product are key factors in creating value in a firm’s product line. With respect to the latter key factor, product architecture, but more specifically, modular product architecture has been the subject of much study. However, prior research in the area of modular product architecture has, with limited exception, focused on the construction of modules that are to be incorporated into a product before it becomes available to its end-users; that is, the modules are incorporated ‘pre-market.’ The research contained in this thesis is focused on two tasks: advancing the notion of a modular product architecture in which modules can be incorporated into a product ‘post-market,’ and creating a method that aids designers in synthesizing these post-market modules. Researchers have examined the idea of post-market modules; however, they do not fully formalize language used to describe these modules, and they also do not give the product space created by post-market modularization well-defined boundaries. Additionally, the prior work gives no method that can be used to create post-market modules. The research presented here addresses these shortcomings in the prior work by first, defining the terms ‘derivative product’ and ‘host product’ to describe the post-market module and the product that the module augments, respectively. Second, by establishing three guidelines that are used to assess the validity of potential derivative products, giving the newly termed host and derivative product space defined boundaries. And lastly, by developing a 7-step, biomimetic-based methodology that can be used to create derivative product concepts (post-market modules). This developed methodology is applied to four case studies in which it is used to create five derivative product concepts for a given host product. Thus, 20 derivative product concepts are developed in this study, demonstrating the qualitative effectiveness of the 7-step methodology.

This study investigates product development of complex products in a modular environment at the paver manufacturer Dynapac. It is determined how the complexity of a modular product constrains product development.Product development in a modular enviornment is a popular research topic in previous literature. However there is limited literature regarding in what ways the complexity of a modular product constrains product development in form of new product variants demanded by the market. A more comprehensive research within this field is interesting for manufacturing companies producing complex products in a modular environment since it could ease and optimize their product development processes. An efficient product development process is crucial to stay competitive and to be able to serve the market rapidly with qualitative and desired products, which increases the importance of this study.With the aim to address the limitations of the existing literature on product development based from modular complex product systems a case study was conducted. The constraints of developing a new paver model demanded by the market caused by the complexity of the paver design were identified.The findings of the research have both theoretical and managerial implications. The theoretical contribution consists mainly of the identification of a new type of overall constraints in modular complex product systems which I call ‖architectural functional constraints‖. These constraints cause an unexpected chain reaction of affected modules in the product system when a change to one module is made, even if the change ostensibly only should affect the module in question. The results show that the effects of this type of constraints is a constraining factor on product development of new product variants in a modular environment. The effects of the architectural functional constraints constrain product development since they trigger time consuming activities in order to avoid a dysfunctional product, or a product that has a high level of commonality with other product offerings. Further the effects oppose a rapid and cost-efficient product development which is regarded to be two of the main benefits with modularity.The managerial implications include a decision process for new product development projects that can be used when architectural functional constraints are found in a product in order to ensure an economic sustainable development of new product variants. Hence managers can use the decision process as a tool to both make and communicate current and future decisions in a structured way.The study is a starting point for further studies investigating how the complexity of modular products might constrain product development efforts. It is expected that the results of the study can be used by other manufacturing companies operating in a similar context, producing complex product systems in a modular environment.

Due to a growing interest in communication in today’s society the demand for equipment that is used in communication networks increases while the competition between companies that produce this equipment grows. To meet the increasing demand and at the same time having a competitive product development many companies use some effective product design, such as the modular product design. When a modular product design is used it’s good to compare different module configurations for a certain product and to simplify these comparisons some tool can be used. This work examines the design and development of a tool that visualize information about different modular plans in a web interface. The focus of the work is on the storage and processing of data to be presented and also the software architecture, namely the back-end of the tool. The front-end consists of a web interface that is developed and described in another thesis. Different techniques to store data are examined and data models are developed. A multitier architecture, more precisely three tiers, is used in the tool where the three tiers are one tier for the data storage, one tier for the processing of data and one for the web interface. A relational database is used as data storage and to process data the programing language Java is used. To communicate between the web interface and the tier that process data a RESTful API is used.

Submitted by CÉSAR COUTINHO RAMOS null (cesar.ramos@volkswagen.com.br) on 2016-05-17T16:05:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 CesarCoutinhRamos-MestradoProfissionalizante.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-05-19T19:18:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ramos_cc_me_guara.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-05-19T19:18:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ramos_cc_me_guara.pdf: 2191241 bytes, checksum: 312d1b09db67ad58815b0cf71365dc9e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-19 / Este trabalho compara qualitativamente sete métodos de modularização, com o objetivo de escolher e aplicar aqueles que melhor se adaptam ao projeto piloto de modularização de uma suspensão traseira a ar para caminhões e ônibus. Dentre os métodos estudados, os métodos MFD (Modular Function Deployment) e DSM (Design Structure Matrix) foram escolhidos, basicamente em função de possuírem: aplicação prática, repetibilidade dos resultados, softwares disponíveis e facilidade de organização dos dados. O método DSM serviu de base para gerar os primeiros possíveis módulos e simplificar o problema dos inicias 44 componentes para 26, simplesmente com uma visão funcional e técnica. O MFD foi utilizado principalmente para estruturar o processo de modularização e atender aos requisitos dos clientes e estratégias do negócio. Os resultados apresentados pelos dois métodos foram analisados de forma detalhada e indicaram a formação de sete módulos, que foram obtidos tanto diretamente dos métodos DSM e MFD, quanto da combinação de ambos. Ficou evidente, através dos resultados alcançados, que a utilização conjunta desses dois métodos, juntamente com a análise criteriosa dos resultados no desenvolvimento do produto aumentou consideravelmente a eficiência do processo de modularização. / This work presents and compares qualitatively seven modularization methods, in order to choose and apply those that best suits for a rear air suspension modularization pilot project for trucks and buses. Among the methods studied, the MFD (Modular Function Deployment) and DSM (Design Structure Matrix) methods were mainly chosen on the basis that they present: practical application, repeatability, software availability and ease data organization. The DSM method was the basis to generate the first possible modules and simplify the problem from the initial 44 to 26 components, only with a functional and technical approach. The MFD was mainly used to structure the modularization process and meet the customer requirements and business strategies. The results shown by the two methods were analyzed in detail and resulted in the generation of seven modules, which were obtained either directly from DSM and MFD methods, or from the combination of both. It became evident, by the results achieved, that the combined use of these two methods, along with a careful analysis of the results on product development, greatly increased the modularization process efficiency.

Im Zuge der Globalisierung sehen sich produzierende Unternehmen mit einem kontinuierlich anwachsenden Wettbewerbsdruck konfrontiert. Aufgrund dessen sehen sich viele Marktakteure zu einer intensivierten Spezialisierung gezwungen, um auf kunden-individuelle Anforderungen eingehen zu können. Einen möglichen Lösungsansatz zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderung bietet der Ansatz der Modularisierung. Hier wird allerdings nicht konkret ein Baukasten definiert, vielmehr werden verschiedene Alternativen generiert. Die Entscheidung, welcher Baukasten schlussendlich implementiert wird, fällt meist aufgrund einiger weniger Einflussfaktoren sowie maßgeblich durch Expertenentscheidungen. An dieser Stelle setzt der vorliegende Beitrag an. Um ein quantifizierbares und ganzheitliches Kriterium zur Unter-stützung der Auswahl modularer Baukastensysteme zu bieten, wird eine multifaktorielle Simulation eingesetzt. Einer der maßgeblichen Aspekte derer ist die beidseitige Inbezugnahme von sowohl Kunden- als auch Unternehmensperspektive. Dies wird v.a. durch die Verwendung eines dynamischen Produktkonfigurationssystems ermöglicht. Um die zugrundeliegenden, teils komplexen Produktarchitekturen datentechnisch konsistent und pflegbar zu halten, wird zusätzlich der Einsatz einer modellbasierten Datenstruktur aufgezeigt. Die Verwendung des Model-Based Systems-Engineering (MBSE) Ansatzes hilf dabei, die vielschichtigen Zusammenhänge des Modulbaukastens in einer konsistenten und maschinenlesbaren Form auszudrücken. Somit kann das Konfigurationssystem produktunabhängig auf die Ontologie der zugrundeliegenden Datenstruktur zugreifen. Für die Baukastensimulation wird dieses Konfigurationssystem rekursiv für mehrere Kundenanfragen und alternative Baukästen eingesetzt, um anschließend mittels eines geometrisch-mathematischen Algorithmus ein multi-dimensionales Entscheidungskriterium hinsichtlich der Baukasten-performance zu generieren.

Syftet med studien var att studera fördelar samt utmaningar med att använda sig av modularisering. Vidare var syftet att undersöka hur kundens önskemål tas i beaktning vid produktutvecklingsprocessen för modulära produkter. Studien avgränsades till att undersöka ett svenskt teknikintensivt företag vars huvudsakliga produkterbjudande är lastbilar och bussar. En litteraturstudie genomfördes och låg till grund för resten av rapporten. Dessutom är rapporten baserad på en kvalitativ empirisk studie bestående av semistrukturerade intervjuer. Samtliga respondenter har goda kunskaper om modularisering och arbetar på olika avdelningar hos det studerade företaget. Studien visar många fördelar och utmaningar med att ha en modulär produktarkitektur. En av de främsta fördelarna är en stor slutproduktsvariantbildning vilket möjliggör skapande av högst kundanpassade produkter. Produktarkitekturen skapar tillfredsställda kunder som är- villiga att betala ett högre pris. Inom produktion leder den modulära produktarkitekturen till ett effektivare arbete samt kortare ledtider. Produkterna tillverkas efter order vilket minskar lagernivåerna samt logistikkostnaderna. Vid produktutveckling är det av stor betydelse att förhålla sig till befintliga gränssnitt och formfaktorer vilket gör att det krävs mer tankeverksamhet samt att kompromisser ibland behöver göras. Det är ett komplext system i många aspekter vilket ökar behovet av en stark företagskultur och en stabil IT-infrastruktur. / This report aims to study the benefits and challenges of using modularization. The purpose was also to investigate how customer requirements are taken into account in the product development process for modular products. The study was limited to examining a Swedish technology-intensive company whose main product offerings are trucks and buses. A literature review served as the basis for the rest of the report. In addition, the report is based on a qualitative empirical study consisting of semi-structured interviews. All respondents have good knowledge of modularization and work in different departments at the studied company. The study demonstrated many advantages and challenges of having a modular product architecture. One of the primary benefits was a large number of possible end product variations, which allows for highly customized products. Thus, the product architecture enables satisfied customers, making them willing to pay a higher price. In production, the modular product architecture leads to more efficient work and shorter lead times. Products are manufactured by make-to-order, reducing inventory levels and logistics costs. In product development, it is crucial to adhere to existing interfaces and form factors, which requires more thoughtful consideration and sometimes compromises. It is a complex system in many aspects, increasing the need for a strong corporate culture and a stable IT-infrastructure.