The Modular Product Life Cycle Management Capabilities

Modularity has received increasing attention as a new production and organization pattern, which is being used in all kinds of industries to increase competitiveness.Based on the survey of previous findings and a case study, this article takes Mass Customization as intermediary, studies the influence from Modularity to Product Life-cycle Management ability. Following existing research and observation from real world, the author divides modularity into two divisions: structural modularity and process modularity, for which, this article builds conceptual measurement index. The research of MC is carried upon two areas: the scale of customization and the efficiency of customization, so as to analyze how modularity enables corporations to produce with low cost, high performance and high customization through MC. Finally, this article studies modularity's impact on corporation by focusing on product life-cycle management ability, analyzing and measuring the influence brought by modularity on design, manufacturing, usage, maintenance, and recycling, and how the corporations achieve the maximum value of a product. This article builds hypothetical models regarding modularity, MC and life-cycle management ability, analyzes the statistical result from survey and data collection by Structure Equation Model method, after the modification of original model, the paper presents the final conclusions.The main findings of the research: (1) from the result of the case study of GiantKone elevator Inc., this research not only testifies the intermediate role MC has played in the model, but also presents the essential effect MC has on the entire production system; (2) Modularity encompasses meanings on structure and process which positively influence scale and efficiency regard MC; (3) product life-cycle management ability consists of two divisions relate to cost and customer utility, which both positively related to modularity.The contribution of this article comes from focusing on the theory and practice of modularity by solving practical problems regarding manufacturers, comparing with previous findings more focusing on definition and classification. Meanwhile, comparing with previous literature study modularity solitarily, this article proceeds research on modularity by relating it with MC and life-cycle management theory, and building conceptual measurement index to provide tutorial approaches for corporations.