ppXML: A generic and extensible language for lifecycle modelling of platform products

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Abstract

This paper presents a new language, ppXML (platform product eXtensible Markup Language), for the lifecycle modelling of platform products in agile product development for mass customization (MC). ppXML has multi-folded meanings. Firstly, ppXML provides a set of constructs that are consistent with concepts and methods widely used in platform product development (PPD) for MC. Secondly, derived from XML as a sublanguage, ppXML is a standard and yet extensible modelling language dedicated to the modelling of product variants and platforms reflecting commonality, modularity, scalability and other strategies. Thirdly, ppXML can also be extended for defining web services deployed in the computation grid of web-based decision support systems (DSS) for platform product development and mass customization. Finally, ppXML serves as a standard interface with the product platform repository and a PPD web service registry, together with a set of online facilities for data representation and transformation between different components and parties involved in the web services. ppXML complements the efforts in product lifecycle data modelling by emphasizing the strategic level of product planning using a platform approach.

Introduction

Mass customization (MC) embarks a new paradigm for manufacturing industries [1], [2]. MC focuses on variety and customization through flexibility and quick responsiveness with the goal of developing, producing, marketing, and delivering affordable products that can satisfy as wide a range of customers as possible [3]. There have appeared a number of approaches to MC. A common element widely advocated by researchers and industrialists is the concept of a product platform [4], [5], [6]. A product platform represents basic design features of a family of product variants satisfying a segment of business needs and customer requirements. In its narrowest sense, a product platform consists of common features (e.g. components and assembly relationships) of a family of products. In its broadest sense, a product platform also includes all the knowledge that is required for customizing a specific product within the family according to customer requirements. Product platforms provide baselines for rapid and accurate customization.

Leading manufacturers have employed the concept of product platforms for their agile product development to enhance their competitiveness. Although isolated, successful cases include Nippondenso panel meters [7], Swatch watches [8], Lutron lighting systems [9], Dell computers [10], Sony Walkmans [11], [12], and Philips Medical Systems [13].

Despite benefits reported in numerous industrial cases, the extent and scope to which the platform approach has been practiced in industries have been generally limited. One possible reason for this is due to the high complexity of the product platform and the difficulty of establishing an appropriate platform and then deriving a family of product variants according to specific market and business needs. In order to tackle the problem, a number of major research projects have been initiated and progress has been achieved to some extent.

Majority of the research projects is aimed at delivering a suite of decision support systems (DSS), most of which are centred around product platform development and/or product platform customization. There has been an increasing demand of deploying these DSS as online web services that allow customers to define their requirements, configure their personalized products, place their orders, and track the status of their orders on the Internet. Examples include Dell [14], Cannondale [15], Haworth [16], IDtown [17], Customatix [18], Eyeplanet [19], and Volvo [20].

Most DSS for platform product development (PPD) are data intensive in the sense that a large amount of information and data are required as the inputs in suitable formats and produced as outputs presented in meaningful ways for intended uses. Indeed, extensive knowledge management is involved in PPD decision-making activities. Unfortunately, each research group uses their own formats to represent the contents of information and knowledge, resulting in a situation of inconsistency between various PPD DSS. This situation has hindered the adoption of PPD practice in industries, and has motivated this research. A new language for modelling and representing platform products becomes necessary, despite efforts made in devising new product modelling and definition languages as will be reviewed in the next section.

This paper presents a new modelling and representational language for defining and mass-customizing platform products through emerging web-based decision support systems. Several questions immediately emerge. (1) Why do we need a new model and language for defining platform products across the lifecycle stages? (2) What new constructs should the new model and language provide for platform product lifecycle modeling? (3) How does the new platform product definition language relate to other existing efforts? (4) What roles does the new platform product definition language play in computer aided mass customization?

The remainder of this paper is set out to address the above questions. Section 2 firstly reviews the related literature and identifies the gap for a new platform product definition language (PPDL). Section 3 discusses the requirements and new constructs that the new platform product definition language, ppXML, should meet and provide. Sections 4 ppXML documents for defining platform products, 5 Extending ppXML for mass customization grid continue the discussion on using the proposed ppXML data structures for defining platform products through a case example. Section 6 sets a wider scene for the research on ppXML and discusses its roles in web-based mass customization environment.

Section snippets

Literature review

This section selects and reviews some relevant works mainly for defining products, processes, web services, and product platforms in the literature. The purpose of this literature review is to identify the need for a new language for platform product definition.

ppXML as a platform product lifecycle definition language

ppXML is a new language specially derived from XML for modelling platform products. Its main purpose is to provide common data structures for both the PPD/MC service providers and consumers to define platform-based products for various lifecycle applications. A ppXML document describes a platform product development project completely in a machine operable and user-understandable manner. Section 4 will use a case example to illustrate the detail of a typical ppXML document. This XML-based

ppXML documents for defining platform products

A ppXML document is an XML document, a well formed textual data object. It consists of ppXML entities for defining platform products with the constructs discussed in the previous section. This section shows the use of ppXML to model a typical platform product – transmission boxes shown in Fig. 3. The ppXML document for this platform reducer can be accessed through the hyperlike: http://www.digiprise.org/ppXML/reducer.xml. The first few lines are for general declaration purposes such as

Extending ppXML for mass customization grid

A computational grid called mcGrid has been proposed for mass customization and agile platform product development, as shown in Fig. 8. There are two groups of users as shown at the top of the figure. The first group of users includes the Web services providers who are responsible for providing PPD/MC methods and tools in the form of web services. The other group mainly includes web service consumers, e.g. product platform designers, product designers and customers who use Web services for

Concluding discussions

This paper has presented a new language called ppXML for defining platform products and their development projects. The original emphasis was in generalizing and simplifying the data model for wider distribution, easy access, web enabling the data for other applications and keeping it in public domain for maintenance and updating. The outcome of ppXML schema development will provide the platform product design and development software developers to work with one standard format for describing

Dr. George Huang is associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, the University of Hong Kong. He obtained his B.Eng. degree in mechanical engineering from Southeast University (China), and Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wales Cardiff (UK). His main research areas include collaborative product commerce, digital manufacturing. He has published extensively in these topics, including two monographs entitled Cooperating

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    Dr. George Huang is associate professor in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, the University of Hong Kong. He obtained his B.Eng. degree in mechanical engineering from Southeast University (China), and Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wales Cardiff (UK). His main research areas include collaborative product commerce, digital manufacturing. He has published extensively in these topics, including two monographs entitled Cooperating Expert Systems in Mechanical Design and Internet Applications in Product Design and Manufacturing respectively, and an edited reference book entitled Design for X: Concurrent Engineering Imperatives. Dr. Huang is a Chartered Engineer, and a member of IEE, ASME, IIE, and HKIE.

    Miss Li Li is a Ph.D. researcher in the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, the University of Hong Kong. She received her B.E. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Dalian University of Technology (China), in 2000 and 2003, respectively. Her research interests include mass customization, product design, product platform/family optimization, and evolutionary algorithms.

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