A New Approach To Product Platform Design Based On Functional Requirements Analysis In Axiomatic Design

Nowadays, with the globalization and huge progress of information technology, thecompetition in world-wide is fiercer than ever before. The competition between enterpriseshas focused on meeting individual needs quickly, that is called individualization, because thelifecycle of product is going shorter and shorter, and the innovative speed of new product isgoing faster and faster. In the circumstances, it has become a very important aspect forenterprises to improve product individualization and improve the capability of innovation inorder to attain and keep competitive advantages. The using of product platform and productfamily concept in practice is an effective approach to solve the conflict between productvariety and short delivery time.Product platform is the core of product family, and establishing reasonably the productplatform is crucial to increase product design adaptability. For mass customization andproduct platform technology, modular design is an effective method. Based on the axiomaticdesign and design structure matrix (DSM), uses independent axiom to analyze the functionalrequirements of the product and establish its design matrix. The design relationship matrix(DRM) of the product is built by combining design matrix and design structure matrix, andthe extension clustering algorithm is utilized to cluster the elements in design relationshipmatrix. Then the functional independence of the modules is verified by using independentaxiom and the modules of product are identified. Then the meaning of platform strategy isintroduced, and the evolvement of the concept of platform is given. Based on analyzinguncertainty of markets and technologies and complexity of platform development, the paperpresents that product platform planning is important components of product developmentbased platform strategy.The paper sums up product platform theories of scholars at home and abroad. And adesign method for product platform is put forward. Considering the link between customerneeds and product quality characteristics, product functional requirements are classified intobasic functional requirements, expectable functional requirements and adjunctive functionalrequirements based on Kano model, and their concepts are defined. Then, the functionalrequirements are zigzagging mapping to design parameters, and the design matrix is created.The design relationship matrix of the product is built by analyzing the fluency relationshipbetween functional requirement and design parameter, and the extension clustering algorithmis utilized to cluster the elements in design relationship matrix. The module realizing basicfunctional requirements of product family is defined as common module. Based on above foundations, the platform parameters are selected by analyzing the sensitivity of the designparameters, and the clustering algorithm is applied to determine the sharing strategy ofplatform parameters.