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.

Published Article / Any economy is based on the production and consumption of material or immaterial goods. Development is the process that creates a concise concept of a product. To develop good products within a given frame of time and resources is one of the most challenging and most important tasks within an economy. We state the common features within development project management for several different kinds of products. Most general issues are the model transformation and decision making process at phase transitions.

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Designers of consumer products are concerned with how their products will be perceived by consumers in the market place. The materials used in the manufacture of these products become the media by which the interface between the consumer and the designed product is perceived. Our perception towards these products will be strongly infleunced by the sensory interaction with the materials through both visual and non-visual means. Compared with the engineering properties of materials, sensory properties, perceived images, meanings and values of a material in the human-product interface, referred to as the 'material representation' are far from being systematically investigated. This is the background from which this research was initiated. The aim of this research is to explore the material representation in a holistic system, which is referred to as the visual narrative matrix. The matrix is created in an empirical way but based on a combination of theoretical and experimental research. Controlled experimental investigation is focused on the relationship between the material sensory properties (texture) and human subjective response via the sensation of touch. The theoretical analysis and the experimental findings contribute to the development of a new databse. the database will make it possible for designers, artists and engineers, through innovative treatment and application of existing and emerging materials, to be able to create artefacts more effectively matching human perceptual, sensory and emotional expectation. The experiemental findings and the visual narrative matrix are original. This thesis includes the research background, literature review, research methodology, the results from controlled experimental research, and the development of a matrix of material representation. By carrying out controlled experimental research on texture, it has been possible to identify a way in which people subjectively describe a material texture by touch (Dimension-Lexicons). Slight differences in these descriptive lexicons have been analysed in terms of gender, material surface finish, sensory conditions, and control groups etc. Further in-depth experimental research has revealed correlations between various subjective responses within texture perception dimensions. Understanding of these correlations will assist in the selection of an optimal material texture. A series of texture perception maps have been produced which directly display the nature of texture perception in terms of material categories and sensory modalities. In parallel, through experimental testing, the quantitative relationships between subjective response to texture and the objective physical parameters of materials have also been reported. This has provided important information about human sensory perception for the manufacturing and processing of materials. All of these experimental results have been integrated into the matrix of material representation.

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This research evaluates the role of industrial design in the development of technologically innovatory products (t i p's) designed for untrained users. Technologically innovatory products are studied because of their unpredictable patterns of use, visual identity and market potential. Untrained users are studied since it is likely that they are less well equipped to adjust to new design characteristics than trained users and thus present a greater requirement for a self-explanatory product identity. The thesis examines recent technological developments and their potential effects on product design. A working definition of the t i p is developed and particular problems posed for manufacturers, designers and users identified. Contemporary secondary source material is employed, together with primary source material culled from interviews with design practitioners and theorists in Europe and the United States. The concept of product identity is explored with reference to the differences apparent in professional, domestic and leisure contexts. Four research hypotheses are established, the principal of which states "that a series of differentials exists between product design intentions and medium to long term user needs and preferences". A research method for making direct comparisons between design intentions and user responses utilising a two-part questionnaire is described. The pilot and application of the method to a single t i p - a microwave oven - is documented. Responses are divided into four groups: operational, stylistic, manufacturing and technological, which facilitate the direct comparison of user and design responses. The research demonstrates that there are perceptual mismatches between designer and user responses and between members of the design team itself. The thesis concludes with an examination of the results with respect to their detrimental effects on product use, and a discussion of the potential reapplication of the method as both a research and design tool.

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