Showing papers on "Product design specification published in 2010"

Matching Product Architecture and Supply Chain Configuration

Abstract: In this paper, we examine the suggested link between product architecture (i.e., the extent to which a product is modular vs. integral) and supply chain configuration (i.e., whether the product development is done internally by the manufacturer in an integrated supply chain or in collaboration with a supplier in a decentralized supply chain). Our model suggests that the choice of product architecture depends on firm, market, and product characteristics in addition to supply chain structure. In contrast to other studies, we find that the optimal mapping from architecture to supply chain structure is not always one-to-one. A decentralized supply chain may be associated with a more integral product when the technical collaboration penalty is not excessive and suppliers have significantly superior product development capabilities. Furthermore, in a decentralized supply chain, the nature of the relationship between the original equipment manufacturer and its supplier (adversarial or collaborative) plays a role in the choice of product architecture: modular architectures are more likely when the parties have adversarial relationships, while long-term trust-based relationships facilitate more integral product architectures.

Development of a low-carbon product design system based on embedded GHG emissions

Abstract: The GHG emissions of a product throughout its life cycle must be estimated, with problematic parts and/or materials identified to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by the product. Products are made of parts; thus, the amount of GHG emissions of a product depends on the GHG emissions of the individual parts. Parts suitable for product specification are chosen to form the bill of materials (BOM) of the product. This paper proposes a low-carbon product design system based on BOM using the embedded GHG emissions data of the parts. The embedded GHG emissions of a part represent the GHG emissions of the part for its entire life cycle, which is defined as the sum of two sets of GHG emissions: the first from the use of raw materials, manufacturing and transport of the part itself, and the second from the emissions allocated to the part during the product's manufacturing, distribution, use and end of life stages. A low-carbon product design system consists of several steps. The major steps include setting up establishment of the GHG emission target, establishment of the BOM structure, formation of the g-BOM (green house gas-BOM), estimation of the GHG emissions of the product, identification of problematic parts, selection of alternative parts and evaluation of the GHG emissions of the newly designed product. The applicability of the proposed low-carbon product design system was evaluated using a liquid-crystal display (LCD) TV module. The low-carbon product design system allows quick calculation of the GHG emissions of a product. Thus, a designer can easily and quickly evaluate alternative parts for the design of a low-carbon product. Case study results showed that a low-carbon product design can be simple and easy to apply in the evaluation of alternative design solutions; thus, making low-carbon product design possible during the embodiment design stage.

Toward meso-level product-market network indices for strategic product selection and (re)design guidelines over the product life-cycle

Abstract: Many methods to arrive at a product-market choice through selection and (re)design assume stationary demand and a stable range of products to pick and maximize profit trading off operational performance in manufacturing versus (under)servicing certain market segments. The determination and decisiveness in the product-market choice and marketing and manufacturing strategies are likely to be different when anticipating technological change and (ensuing) shifts in demand and competition of which the timing and direction is often uncertain. As the product life-cycle pattern describes such changes in market, technology and competition over time, we can use the stylization thereof to derive strategic and forward-looking product selection and (re)design decisions. We introduce the notion of a meso-level product-market network and two indices to quantify features of that network. We then relate index values over time to phases in the meso-level product life-cycle to derive micro-level, forward-looking product selection and (re)design guidelines that anticipate developments in the industry.We also uncover the different roles of the marketing and engineering departments in the various product life-cycle phases. Keywords: Product-Market Network; Product Selection and Design; Network Index; Marketing-Manufacturing Interface; Technological Change; Product Life-Cycle

Quality function deployment and its extensions

Abstract: Purpose – The author aims to review the fundamental concept of quality function deployment and to discuss the facts that the road to success for new product development is the identification of customers' requirements and their conversion into engineering design requirements. Thereafter, the author seeks to present an in‐depth review of the subject and to study five new cases on the topic of quality function deployment.Design/methodology/approach – The paper discusses the key elements of quality function deployment and the fact that the vision for the development of a comprehensive quality system can be built on the principles of quality function deployment taking customer requirements into consideration and relating them to design requirements.Findings – To make the product development task successful and bring competitive advantages to the core business, management must be committed to the needs of customers through marketing surveys and implementing these in the process of product development by conver...

Product Line Design for Consumer Durables: An Integrated Marketing and Engineering Approach

Abstract: Product line design for consumer durables often relies on close coordination between marketing and engineering domains. Product lines that evolve as “optimal” from marketers’ perspective may not be “optimal” from an engineering viewpoint, and vice versa. Although extant research has proposed sophisticated techniques to handle problems that characterize each individual domain, the majority of these developments have not addressed the interdependent issues across marketing and engineering. We present a product line optimization method that enables managers to simultaneously consider factors deemed as important from both domains of marketing and engineering. One major advantage of this method is that it takes into account the strategic reactions from the incumbent manufacturers and the retailer in the design of the product line. We demonstrate in a simulation study that this method is applicable to problems with a reasonably large scale. Using data collected in a power tool development project undertaken by a major U.S. manufacturer, we illustrate that the proposed method leads to a more profitable product line than alternative approaches that consider requirements from these two domains separately.

Green product design through product modularization using atomic theory

Abstract: With increasing environmental consciousness and the establishment of environmental protection regulations, green product design not only plays a crucial role in a modern industry but is also becoming the main focus of the future market. In this paper, an innovative method is presented that uses the concepts of atomic theory to solve design modularization problems for green product design. With the developed method, products can be modularized based upon given green constraints, e.g., material compatibility, part recyclability, and part disassemblability. The developed method can help engineers effectively create green designs in the initial design stage, based on product lifecycle requirements. With green considerations incorporated into new modules, a new design can be created that improves upon an original design, with respect to environmental impacts. Product designers can use our method to compare differences between their original designs and the new green modules and then perform necessary design modifications. A table lamp and a motor are used as case study examples to show the effectiveness of the atomic-theory-based green product design method.

A theory of software product line refinement

Abstract: To safely derive and evolve a software product line, it is important to have a notion of product line refactoring and its underlying refinement notion, which assures behavior preservation In this paper we present a general theory of product line refinement by extending a previous formalization with explicit interfaces between our theory and the different languages that can be used to create product line artifacts More important, we establish product line refinement properties that justify stepwise and compositional product line development and evolution

The lifecycle of active and intelligent products: The augmentation concept

Abstract: This paper aims to demonstrate the consistency of extending the active or intelligent product concept to the whole product lifecycle. The first two sections describe the state of the art in the field of closed-loop PLM and the repercussions of introducing active products in the different phases of the product lifecycle: design, manufacturing, distribution, use and recycling. A functional generic model is then introduced. This model is based upon the ‘augmentation’ concept, which is available throughout the whole product lifecycle. To illustrate our proposal, we provide examples in the design and distribution phases. To validate our proposal, we focus on the manufacturing phase, describing a real implementation on a flexible assembly cell at Valenciennes AIP Primeca pole. Our ongoing research works to apply the ‘augmentation’ concept to the operating phase of a complex system in order to improve performance, especially in terms of availability.

Leadtime-Variety Tradeoff in Product Differentiation

Abstract: The literature on mass customization generally focuses on the tradeoff between higher revenues from better matching customer preferences with product specifications, and higher costs of offering a broader---possibly fully customized---product line. Less well understood is the tradeoff between the increased ability to precisely meet customer preferences and the increased leadtime from order placement to delivery often associated with customized products. In this paper, we use a locational customer choice model to formulate a firm's integrated product line design problem that involves variety, leadtime (or inventory), and pricing decisions. We propose a dynamic programming based solution procedure that amounts to solving a shortest path problem on an acyclic network, and derive some structural results on the optimal product line design. We find that unimodal preferences generally result in hybrid product lines, with standard products clustering around the mode and custom products covering the tails, in contrast with the all-custom or all-standard product lines that are optimal under uniform preferences. We also numerically examine how the firm should adjust its leadtime and variety in response to changes in parameters such as customer dispersion and operational scale. We find that the tradeoff between leadtime and variety is sometimes nonintuitive and complex.

Product lifecycle management through innovative and competitive business environment

Abstract: Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the whole life cycle of a product starting from generating an idea, concept description, business analyzes, product design and solution architecture and technical implementation, to the successful entrance to the market, service, maintenance and product improvement. At present, a wide range of stakeholders including consumers, regulators, shareholders and public bodies are demanding that companies address product management through all life cycle in a more comprehensive and sustainable way. However, even if a company actually wishes innovate its processes for improving the way to account for project management, it will face relevant difficulties to deal with different guidelines, tools and methods currently addressing the matter from various points of view. The purpose of this paper is to review literature on PLM from an operational point of view with the objective to help companies to answer to the main market needs.

System and method for exclusion of inconsistent objects from lifecycle management processes

Abstract: The present disclosure involves systems, products, and methods for excluding inconsistent objects from lifecycle management processing. One method includes operations for identifying a set of objects in a system, at least a subset of the set of objects associated with a lifecycle management process; prior to performing the lifecycle management process, determining a consistency status for each object in the subset of objects associated with the lifecycle management process; and performing the lifecycle management process, wherein performing the lifecycle management process includes executing at least one lifecycle management operation on each object in the set of objects determined to be consistent within the system prior to performing the lifecycle management process. In some instances, performing the lifecycle management process may include skipping the execution of the at least one lifecycle management operation for each inconsistent object during the lifecycle management process.

A new approach for conceptual design of product and maintenance

Abstract: Services such as maintenance are increasingly important for a manufactured product, which can improve customer satisfaction and promote sustainable consumption. A trend has appeared that manufacturers change their attentions from providing only a product to offering both product and its services as a whole. However, preliminary literature review shows that few studies focus on integrated design of product and service. In the paper, a design approach is proposed for supporting conceptual design of product and maintenance (P&M). In the layout process, the approach uses an improved quality function deployment (QFD) tool to translate customer requirements into concept specifications. An information exchange mechanism is developed to exploit the interrelationships between P&M. In the mechanism, a failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) tool is used to identify and analyse failure modes and their effects on the product concept. Then maintenance concepts are generated based on the results of QFD and FMEA. The proposed approach is applied in a conceptual design case of a horizontal directional drilling machine with its maintenance. Furthermore, the paper also addresses the management and improvement of P&M concepts.

Guest Editors' Introduction: Successful Software Product Line Practices

Abstract: A software product line is a set of software-intensive systems sharing a common, managed set of features that satisfy the specific needs of a particular market segment or mission and that are developed from a common set of core assets in a prescribed way in place. Organizations adopting product development strategies that include a software product line have achieved impressive results, reducing product cycle time and increasing productivity by an order of magnitude. The software product line strategy is a blend of business and technical actions that lets an organization satisfy a wide range of customers, gain leverage with suppliers, meet the threats of substitute products, and deter other companies seeking to enter the market. The strategy is robust over a wide range of technologies, domains, and organizations of different structures, cultures, and goals. Service-oriented architectures, agile development methods, and open source business models have all played roles in successful product line organizations.

Developing a Maturity Matrix for Software Product Management

Abstract: The quality of processes in Software Product Management (SPM) has a high impact on the success of a software product, as it improves product quality and prevents release delays. To improve the SPM practice, we propose the maturity matrix for SPM, a focus area oriented maturity model concentrating on the SPM functions Requirements Management, Release Planning, Product Roadmapping, and Portfolio Management. In this paper, we describe the development of the SPM maturity matrix, consisting of (a) identification and description of capabilities, (b) positioning the capabilities at the right levels in the maturity matrix and (c) validating the maturity matrix with expert validation and a survey among 45 product managers and product management experts. The result is a validated maturity matrix that will guide further development of methodical support in SPM.

System Design Optimization for Product Manufacturing

Abstract: Product manufacturing is currently one of the most important activities that people perform, as it directly or indirectly affects the daily life and economic well-being of countless people around the world. It is likely to continue to have a profound effect on world economies by providing a large source of employment and, ideally, by creating products that positively affect the lives of numerous people. For manufacturing to be successful in the long run, a broad range of factors must be taken into account when products are designed and developed. Product manufacturing today requires skilful decision-making in scenarios that are more complex and demanding than ever before, and the use of optimal system technologies has become essential. Readers of System Design Optimization for Product Manufacturing will learn about detailed concepts and practical technologies that enable successful product design and manufacture. These concepts and technologies are based on system optimization methodologies that consider a broad range of mechanical, as well as human, factors. System Design Optimization for Product Manufacturing explains the methodologies behind current and future product manufacture. Its detailed explanations of key concepts are relevant not only for product design and manufacture, but also for other business fields. These core concepts and methodologies can be applied to practically any field where informed decision-making is important, and where a range of often conflicting factors must be carefully weighed and considered. System Design Optimization for Product Manufacturing can be used as a fundamental reference book by both engineers and students in the fields of manufacturing, design engineering, and product development.

Evaluating End-of-Life Recovery Profit by a Simultaneous Consideration of Product Design and Recovery Network Design

Abstract: Product recovery has become a field of rapidly growing interest for product manufacturers as a promising solution for product stewardship as well as for economic viability. Because product recovery is highly dependent on the way a product is designed, it should be considered in the design stage so that the product is designed to have high recovery potential. To make a product easy to recover, manufacturers first need to understand the links between product design and recovery profit and be able to evaluate which design is better than others and why. This study proposes a framework for analyzing how design differences affect product recovery and what architectural characteristics are desirable from the end-of-life perspective. For better design evaluation, an optimization-based model is developed, which considers product design and recovery network design simultaneously. For illustration, a comparative study with cell phone examples is presented. Three cell phone handset designs that share the same design concept but have different architectural characteristics are created, and the recovery potential of each design variant is evaluated under three different recovery scenarios. The results show that the framework can highlight preferred design alternatives and their design implications for the economic viability of end-of-life recovery. DOI: 10.1115/1.4001411

Methods for the capture of manufacture best practice in product lifecycle management

Abstract: The capture of manufacturing best practice knowledge in product lifecycle management systems has significant potential to improve the quality of design decisions and minimise manufacturing problems during new product development. However, providing a reusable source of manufacturing best practice is difficult due to the complexity of the viewpoint relationships between products and the manufacturing processes and resources used to produce them. This paper discusses how best to organise manufacturing best practice knowledge, the relationships between elements of this knowledge plus their relationship to product information. The paper also explores the application of UML-2 as a system design tool which can model these relationships and hence support the reuse of system design models over time. The paper identifies a set of part family and feature libraries and, most significantly, the relationships between them, as a means of capturing best practice manufacturing knowledge and illustrates how these can be linked to manufacturing resource models and product information. Design for manufacture and machining best practice views are used in the paper to illustrate the concepts developed. An experimental knowledge based system has been developed and results generated using a power transmission shaft example.

Product modeling of configurable building systems - a case study

Abstract: This paper investigates a Swedish house manufactures building system regarding the documentation and information structures. The aim is to evaluate how product modeling technology can be used to facilitate product customization. By dividing the product in four different views the complexity of the product can be reduced and each view represent the interest of customer, engineering, production and assembly respectively. The analysis shows that the connections between the different view, i.e. the information transfer, is an area for potential improvements and little attention has been devoted to transfer information upstream from manufacturing and engineering to the customer view. The lack of information transfer can often lead to ad-hoc solutions in the customization process. We believe that successful cooperation and information exchange between these four views is the key to future development and customize-to-order configuration.

Methods and systems for control of a surface modification process

Abstract: A method and system for modifying a substrate, such a thin film, solar panel or the like detects error and/or variance and, if needed, re-optimizes the product design and/or process parameters on the fly, so that product can meet the product specification. This allows for methods and systems of process control that can adaptively change the product design in real time.

Integrating automated product derivation and individual user interface design

Abstract: Software Product Lines, in conjunction with model- driven product derivation, are successful examples for extensive automation and reuse in software development. However, often each single product requires an individual, tailored user interface of its own to achieve the desired usability. Moreover, in some cases (e.g., online shops, games) it is even mandatory that each product has an individual, unique user interface of its own. Usually, this results in manual user interface design independent from the model-driven product derivation. Consequently, each product configuration has to be mapped manually to a corresponding user interface which can become a tedious and error-prone task for large and complex product lines. This paper addresses this problem by integrating concepts from SPL product derivation and Model-based User Interface Development. This facilitates both (1) a systematic and semi-automated creation of user interfaces during product derivation while (2) still supporting for individual, creative design.

Improving cost effectiveness in an existing product line using component product platforms

Abstract: Previously, we introduced a new method for improving commonality in a highly customised, low volume product line using component product platforms. The method provides a bottom-up platform approach to redesign family members originally developed one-at-a-time to meet specific customer requirements. In this paper, we extend the method with an activity-based costing (ABC) model to specifically capture the manufacturing costs in the product line, including the cost associated with implementing a platform strategy. The valve yoke example is revisited in this paper, the customised ABC model is defined, two design strategy alternatives are addressed, and the new method is used to determine which alternative is better at resolving the trade-off between commonality, total cost, and product performance. The proposed method shows promise for creating a product platform portfolio from a set of candidate component platforms that is most cost-effective within an existing product line. The proposed method allows for ar...

An integrated lifecycle model of product-service-systems

Abstract: Managing today’s innovation processes becomes increasingly difficult due to higher dynamics and complexity along the PSS lifecycle. To be able to consider dynamics along the lifecycle early in the innovation process, an integrated understanding of the PSS lifecycle is crucial. Therefore, this paper addresses a PSS lifecycle model considering phases from the planning and development of PSS throughout the phases of use and disposal. The lifecycle of the physical component (product) must thereby not be seen separately from the associated service lifecycle. Based on existing lifecycle models in the areas of service engineering and integrated product development, an aggregated PSS lifecycle model is deduced and discussed.