Modularity in design of products and testin

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a major paradigm shift that is taking it from traditional manufacturing into a world of agile manufacturing. An agile corporation should be able to rapidly respond to the market changes. Modular product development is becoming a focus of attention and a frequently stated goal of good design practice. However, it has not received sufficient attention in the literature. It has not been explored in the industry to the same degree as, for example, design for manufacturing. Approaches to modular products have only been considered conceptually. This research aims to accomplish the three goals: (1) the development of a formal approach to determine modules while considering cost and performance, (2) the relationship between the design of modular products and testability, testing products in modular tests, and (3) the module-based product synthesis.;In this research, products are represented with interaction graphs. A formal approach for development of modular products is presented that considering cost and performance. For the known module components, a fuzzy neural network approach is applied to analyze the tradeoff between performance and cost of generic modules. A matrix representation of the modularity problem and the interpretation of three different types of modularity are discussed. Refined methodologies for the design of modular products for testability and the design of test modules are developed. An integrated design system for modular products and testing is presented. The interaction between product modularity and design for testability is discussed. Assuming that the product modules have been defined, the development of products through assembly of modules with the consideration of testability is considered. A generalized label-correcting algorithm to determine the testability values, points of focus, and access paths for a module is developed. The generation of modular products is discussed. A module-based design approach with the consideration of testability is developed.;The main contribution of this research is in the development of a formal approach to define modules, represent modularity, and the development of modular products with the consideration of testability, and the assessment of the impact of modularity on the design process and testability.