Research On Technologies Of Product Family Design Based On Common Product Platform

Mass Customization (MC) production pattern aims at satisfying custom individual needs while maintaining Mass Production efficiency and cost. Developing product family is an effective means for mass customization, which has been widely recognized in industry and academe. On the basis of the review of the research on Design for Mass Customizaton and the discussion of its development trends, the methods and key technologies of product family design based on Common Product Platform (CPP) are investigated in detail. The main efforts and contribution of this dissertation are given as follows:The principle of product family design is illuminated with Axiomatic Design Theory. The methods and advantages of product family design based on common platform are discussed. By analyzing the product family design process, the research frame of product family design based on platform is put forward.The technologies of common platform construction are investigated in detail. The technologies relating to platform planning are discussed. Main focus is platform commonization: identifying common platform and capturing platform elements. A method of layered constructing platform architecture is presented and formalized. The approach of identifying and capturing platform elements automatically is discussed. An approach to capturing platform elements, viz. Graph Theory-Based Clustering Analysis (GTBCA), is proposed, which illustrates platform construction with a quantified analysis model through analyzing the commonality and standardization on a series of existing similar products of a company. This approach can be used to help designers plan and design product platform rationally. Subsequently, GTBCA and Pareto Sort are used in commonization design of platform elements. Cases study of a pumping unit family and cover parts are presented to illustrate the feasibility and validity of this approach.The three main stages of product family evolution based on CPP are investigated,viz. selecting initial platform architecture and constructing a product family; expanding and upgrading the platform and its derivate family members; renewing the platform and a product family as a whole. The strategies in above three stages are made according to comprehensive evaluation of product family design. Main focus is evaluation methods of CPP and its derivate family members. Consequently, comprehensive evaluation architecture of CPP is proposed. The evaluation indicators (on product platform commonality, efficiency and benefit, etc) are investigated and quantified from technology and economy aspects. An AHP-GCD-based decision model of platform evaluation is presented, which combines qualitative with quantitative analysis together to evaluate platform more rationally and effectively. The refrigerator family and platform are taken as example to illustrate the above approach.Theory system of Product Family Gene Model (PFGM) is made in general. In the new view, viz. Neo-Darwinism theory, product family development system is analyzed and the architecture of product family gene model is built. After analyzing the gene expression of product family model, the center-principle for product family gene model is proposed and its information hereditary mechanisms are clarified. The algorithms of transcription, retrotranscription, translation, direct-translation and mutation for information gene are presented. The technologies of PFGM and its configuration reasoning are investigated. The feasible technologies of product family gene representation based on article characteristic and layouts of article characteristics, characteristic gene operation, platform gene database construction, CBR-based family member configuration reasoning are expatiated.The general architecture of prototype system for Internet-based Tools Aided Product Family Development (TAPFD) is given. The functional modules including customer and order management, product platform development and management, product family gene modeling, product configuration and rapid design are implemented. A pumping unit family and a bicycle family are used to validate the correctness and effectiveness of the research results.