A design method for product family under manufacturing resource constraints

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A design method for product family under manufacturing resource constraints

Kimura, F. / Nielsen, J.

Due to the rapid technological advances and changes of market trends, new products are frequently introduced into the market, and their sale volumes heavily fluctuate. Such trends are accelerated by competition in a globalized market. Durable mass-production products, such as automobiles, require large-scale production facilities, and it is very difficult to cope with these changes. It is a critical issue how to reduce 'production inertia' to achieve short lead time and relevant cost for reconfiguration of production facilities. Instead of constructing completely new manufacturing systems, it is mandatory to reuse already existing system components, and to reconfigure exiting systems to be adapted to new requirements. While satisfying customers' demands, efficient re-utilization of existing available resources is strongly required for achieving sustainable and environmentally benign manufacturing. If arbitrary changes of products are allowed, it is not easy to achieve efficient and sustainable reconfiguration of existing manufacturing systems. Integration of product design with manufacturing system reconfiguration is an effective way to solve this difficulty. The objective of this study is to investigate a general method for designing a group of products, called as a product family, which does not require substantial reconfiguration of manufacturing systems. In this study, a modeling framework for relationship between product functionality and manufacturing resources is discussed. Based on this framework, a design method is investigated for product family structure which realizes required product functional variety with efficient utilization of manufacturing resources. Application examples are discussed for automotive components.