Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Modular and platform methods for product family design: literature analysis

  • Published:
Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

After the industrial revolution, the literature has mentioned different “principles” to allow a better management of the production and product life cycle activities. For example the principle of standardization was first mentioned in the literature by an automobile engineer and placed in a real context by Henry Ford. Standardization has made possible the configuration of different products using a large set of common components. Another strategy called “modularization” was first mentioned in the literature in the 60s. The modularity proposed to group components of products in a module for practical production objectives. Today, modularity and standardization are promising tools in product family development because they allow to design a variety of products using the same modules of components called “platforms”. Using platforms allows important family design savings and easy manufacturing. In this paper we give a literature review of the platform concept with a special interest on the efficient product family development. This paper is organized as follows. Section 1 mentions the general context of modularity to develop product variety. Section 2 details the importance of product architectures in the literature for a modular design. Section 3 points on some important works that apply some modular and platform methodologies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • S. Adam (1776) An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations W. Strahan and T. Cadell London

    Google Scholar 

  • Agard, B. (2002) Contribution à une méthodologie de conception de produits à forte diversité. Ph.D. Thesis, INPG, Grenoble France

  • Baldwin, C. Y. and Clark, K. B. (1997) Managing in the age of modularity. Harvard Business Review, (September–October), 84–93

  • C. Y. Baldwin K. B. Clark (2000) Design Rules. Volume 1: The Power of Modularity MIT Press Cambridge, Masseachusetts

    Google Scholar 

  • Bongulielmi, L., Henseler, P., Puls, Ch. and Meier, M. (2001) The K- and V-matrix method—an approach in analysis and description of variant products. International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) 01 Glasgow, 21–23 August

  • J. L. Burbidge (1982) ArticleTitleThe simplification of material flow systems International Journal of Production Research 20(3) 339–347

    Google Scholar 

  • A. S. Carrie (1973) ArticleTitleNumerical taxonomy applied to group technology and plant layout IJPR 11 IssueID4 399–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Chakrabarti, A. (2001) Sharing in design—categories, importance, and issues. International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) 01 Glasgow, 21–23 August

  • Chambolle, F. (1999) Un modèle produit piloté par les processus d’élaboration. Application au secteur automobile dans l’environnement STEP. Laboratoire ≪Productique Logistique≫. Ph.D. Dissertation, École Centrale Paris

  • M. P. Chandrasekharan R. Rajagopalan (1986) ArticleTitleModroc: an extention of rank order clustering for group technology IJPR 24 IssueID5 1221–1233

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Corbett M. Dooner J. Meleka C. Pym (1991) Design for Manufacturing: Strategies, Principles, and Techniques Addison Wesley New York

    Google Scholar 

  • J. B. Dahmus J. P. Gonzalez-Zugasti K. N. Otto (2001) ArticleTitleModular product architecture Design Studies 22 IssueID5 409–424

    Google Scholar 

  • H. David A. Kusiak T.-L. Tseng (1998) ArticleTitleDelayed product differentiation: a design and manufacturing perspective Computer-Aided Design 30 IssueID2 105–113

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobrescu, G. and Reich, Y. (2001) Design of a gradual modular platform and variants for a layout product family. International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) 01 Glasgow, 21–23 August

  • Elgård, P. and Miller, T. D. (1998) Defining modules, modularity and modularization, design for integration in manufacturing. Proceedings of the 13th IPS Research Seminar, Fuglsoe 1998, ISBN 87-89867-60-2. Aalborg University

  • D. Evans (July-August 1963) ArticleTitleModular design—a special case in nonlinear programming Operations Research 11 637–647

    Google Scholar 

  • Feitzinger, E. and Lee, H. L. (1997) Mass customization at Hewlett-Packard: the power of postponement. Harvard Business Review, (Jan–Feb), 116–121

  • Fellini, R., Papalambros, P. and Weber, T. (2000) Application of a product platform design process to automotive powertrains. Eighth AIAA/USA/NASA/ISSMO, Simposium on Multidisciplinary Analysis And Optimization, 6–8 September, 2000, Long Beach, CA

  • Fixson, S. K. (2001) Three perspectives on modularity a literature review of a product concept for assembled hardware products. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineering Systems Division Working Paper Series ESD-WP-2001-06

  • Fujita, K., Sakaguchi, H. and Akagi, S. (1999) Product variety deployment and its optimization under modular architecture and module commonalization. 1999 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, DFM-8923, Las Vegas, Nevada

  • G. D. Galsworth (1994) Smart, Simple Design Oliver Essex Junction, Vermont

    Google Scholar 

  • R. Garud K. Arun (1995) ArticleTitleTechnological and organizational designs for realizing economies of substitution Strategic Management Journal 16 IssueIDSummer 93–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilmore, J. H. and Pine, B. J. (1997) The four faces of mass customization. Harvard Business Review, (Jan–Feb), 91–101

  • J. P. Gonzalez-Zugasti K. Otto J. Baker (2000) ArticleTitleA method for architecting product platforms Research in Engineering Design 12 61–72

    Google Scholar 

  • Hadj-Hamou, K. (2002) Contribution à la conception de produits à forte diversité et de leur chaîne logistique: une approche par contraintes. Thèse de l’Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse

  • Hata, T. and Kimura, F. (2001) Design of Product Modularity for Life Cycle Management, Department of precition Engineering, University of Tokio, Hongo, pp. 7–3–1

  • Huang, C.-C. and Kusiak, A. (1998) Modularity in design of products and systems. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part-A: Systems and Humans, 28(1), 66–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang, C.-C. and Kusiak, A. (1999) Synthesis of modular mechatronic products: a testability perspective. IEEE/ASME Translation on Mechanotronics, 4(2), 119–132

    Google Scholar 

  • J. Jiao M. Tseng (1999) ArticleTitleA methodology of developing product family architecture for mass customization Journal Of Intellignet Manufacturing 10 3–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Joines, J. and Culberth, C. T. (1996) Manufacturing cell Design: An Integer Programming Model Employing Genetic Algorithms, Department of Industrial Engineering, North Carolina Sate University, pp. 27, 695–27, 906

  • José, A. and Tollenaere, M. (2004) Using modules and platforms for product family development: design and organizational implications. Fifth International Conference in Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechnaical Engineering (IDMME), University of Bath, Bath United Kingdom

  • J. R. King V. Nakornchai (1982) ArticleTitleMachine-component group formation in group technology: review and extention International Journal of Production Research 20 IssueID2 117–133

    Google Scholar 

  • J. R. King (1980) ArticleTitleMachine-component grouping in production flow analysis: an aproach using a rank order clustering algorithm International Journal of Production Research 18 IssueID2 213–232

    Google Scholar 

  • S. Kotha (1995) ArticleTitleMass customization: implementing the emerging paradigm for competitive advantage Strategic Management Journal 16 21–42

    Google Scholar 

  • C. S. Kumar M. P. Chandrasekharan (1990) ArticleTitleGroup efficacy: a quantitative criterion of goodness of block diagonal forms of binary matrices in group technologie International Journal of Production Research 28 233–244

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Kusiak (1987) ArticleTitleThe generalized group technology concept IJPR 25 IssueID4 561–569

    Google Scholar 

  • A. Kusiak (1999) Engineering Design: Products, Processes, and Systems Academic San Diego, CA

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusiak, A. and Larson, N. (1995) Decomposition and representation methods in mechanical design. Journal of Mechanical Design, Vol. 117(B), June, pp. 17–24

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusiak, A., Wang, J., He, D. W. and Feng, C. X. (1995) A structured approach for analysis of design processes. IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging, and Manufacturing Technology—Part A, 18(3), 664–673

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, H. L. and Tang, C. S. (1997) Modelling the costs and benefits of delayed product differenciation. Management Science, 43(1) 40–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, M. and Ishii, K. (1997) Design for variety: development of complexity indices and design charts.␣ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference. September 1997. Sacramento, CA. DETC97-DFM4359. ASMEDTC CD, ISBN 0-7918-1243-X. Presented at the 1997 ASME Conference

  • J. McAuley (1972) ArticleTitleMachine grouping for efficient production Production Engineer 51 IssueID2 53–57

    Google Scholar 

  • W. T. McCormick P. J. Schweitzer SuffixJr. T.␣W. White (1972) ArticleTitleProblem decomposition and data reorganization by cluster technique Operations Research 20 IssueID5 993–1009

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, M. H. and Lehnerd, A. P. (1997) The power of product platforms, building value and cost leadership, New York, The Free Press

  • Mikkola, J. H. (1999) Modularization in black-box design: implications for supplier-buyer partnerships. DRUID Winter Conference, 7–9 January, Holte, Denmark

  • Mikkola, J. H. (2000) Product architecture design: implications for modularization and interface management. Paperwork presented at LINK Workshop, 15 May, Organizing processes of Learning, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

  • Mikkola Juliana, (2003), Modularization in New Product Development: Implications for product Architectures, Supply Chain Management, and Industry structures. Ph.D. Thesis, School of Technologies of Managing, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

  • Nayak, R. U., Chen, W. and Simpson, T. W. (2000) A variation-based methodology for product family design. Proceedings of DETC’00 ASME 2000 Design Engineering Technical Conferences Baltimore, 10–13 September, Maryland

  • J. L. Nevins D. E. Whitney (1989) Concurrent Design of Products & Processes: A Strategy for the Next Generation in Manufacturing McGraw-Hill New York

    Google Scholar 

  • P. J. Newcomb B. Bras D. W. Rosen (1998) ArticleTitleImplications of modularity on product design for the life cycle Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions of the ASME 120 IssueID3 483–491

    Google Scholar 

  • Otto, K. (2000) Modular platform-based product family design. Proceedings of DETC’00 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference Baltimore, 10–13 September, 2000, Maryland

  • Otto, K. and Sudjianto A. (2001) Modularization to support multiple brand platforms. Proceedings of DETC: ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences. DETC 2001, DTM-21695, September 9–12, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

  • Otto, K. (2001) Identyfing product family architecture modularity using function and variety heristics. PaperWork Center for Innovation on Product Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

  • Pahl,G.and Beitz,W.(1998)Engineering Design A systematic approach,Springer-Verlag,ISBN 0-387-50442-7.

  • Pedersen, K., Allen, V. and Mistree, F. (2001) Numerical taxonomy—a systematic approach to identifyng potential product platforms. International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) 01 Glasgow, 21–23 August

  • B. J. Pine (1993) Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition Harvard Business School Press Boston, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, D. and Ulrich, K. (1998) Platform product development. Working Paper, The Wharton School, University of Pennysylvania

  • Sanchez, R. and Collins, R. P. (2000) Competing and Learning in Modular Markets, Elsevier Science Ltd., 3 PII: S002 4-63 01(01)00099–1

  • R. Sanchez J. T. Mahoney (1996) ArticleTitleModularity, flexibility, and knowledge management in product and organization design Strategic Management Journal 17 IssueIDWinter Special Issue 63–76

    Google Scholar 

  • H. A. Simon (1996) The sciences of the artificial EditionNumber3 MIT Press Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • T. W. Simpson J. Maier F. Mistree (2001) ArticleTitleProduct platform design: method and application Research in Engineering Design 13 2–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Simpson, T. W., Chen, W., Allen, J. K. and Mistree, F. (1996) Conceptual Design of a Family of Products Through the Use of the Robust Concept Exploration Method, Vol. 2, 4–6 September, AIAA-96-4161-CP, Bellevue, WA, pp. 1535–1545

  • M. K. Star (1965) ArticleTitleModular Production—A New Concept Harvard Business Review 43 IssueIDNovember–December 131–142

    Google Scholar 

  • Stone, R. B., Kristin, L. W. and Richard, H. C. (1998) A Heuristic Method to Identify Modules from a Functional Description of a Product. ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Atlanta, GA, ASME, DETC98/DTM-5642, 11

  • J. M. Swaminathan S. R. Tayur (1998) ArticleTitleManaging broader product lines through delayed differentiation using vanilla boxes Management Science 44 S161–S172

    Google Scholar 

  • J. M. Swaminathan S. R. Tayur (1999) ArticleTitleManaging design of assembly sequences for product lines that delay product differentiation IIE Transactions 31 1015–1026

    Google Scholar 

  • F. W. Taylor (1967) Principles of Scientific Management Norton New York

    Google Scholar 

  • L. D. Thomas (1991) ArticleTitleCommonality analysis using clustering methods Operations Research 39 IssueID4 677–680

    Google Scholar 

  • S. H. Thomke D. Reinertsen (1998) ArticleTitleAgile product development: managing development flexibility in uncertain environments California Management Review 41 IssueID1 8–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Thyssen, J. and Hansen, P. K. (2001) Impacts for modularization. International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) 01 Glasgow, 21–23 August

  • K. Ulrich (1995) ArticleTitleThe role of product architecture in the manufacturing firm Research Policy 24 419–440

    Google Scholar 

  • T. K. Ulrich S. D. Eppinger (2000) Product Design and Development EditionNumber2 McGraw-Hill, Inc New York

    Google Scholar 

  • K. Ulrich K. Tung (1991) Fundamentals of product modularity A. Sharon (Eds) Issues in Design/Manufacture Integration 1991 NumberInSeriesDE 39 ASME Press New York 73–79

    Google Scholar 

  • Veeralamolmal, P. and Gupta, S. M. (1999) A combinatorial cost-benefit analysis methodology for designing modular electronic products for the environment. Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE International Symposium on Electronics and the Environment, 268–273

  • Venkat, A. and Rahul, R. (2002) Module-based multiple product design. IIE Proceedings, IERC, Sustainable Design Lab Engineering Management Department, University of Missouri-Rolla Rolla, MO-65401

  • Viriththamulla, G. (1991) Mathematical Programming Models and Heuristics for Standard Modular Design Problems, University of Arizona

  • Wilhelm, B. (1997) Platform and modular concepts at volkswagen—their effects on the assembly process. Transforming Automobile Assembly—Experience in Automation and Work Organization, K. Shimokawa, U. Juergens and T. Fujimoto (eds), Springer, Berlin, p. 146

  • Zamirowski, E. J. and Otto, K. N. (1999) Product Portfolio Architecture Definition and Selection, ICED 99 Munich, 24–26 August

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GILCO-Laboratory, INPG France, 46 avenue Félix Viallet, 38-031, Grenoble, Cedex, France

    Alberto Jose & Michel Tollenaere

Authors
  1. Alberto Jose
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michel Tollenaere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alberto Jose.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jose, A., Tollenaere, M. Modular and platform methods for product family design: literature analysis. J Intell Manuf 16, 371–390 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-005-7030-7

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-005-7030-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation