OPTIMAL DESIGN OF PRODUCT FAMILY THROUGHOUT COMMONALIZATION, CUSTOMIZATION AND LINEUP ARRANGEMENT

摘要

Product family design is a framework for effectively and efficiently meeting with spread customers' needs by sharing components or modules across a series of products. This paper systematizes product family design toward its extension to throughout consideration of commonalization, customization and lineup arrangement under the optimal design paradigm. That is, commonalization is viewed as the operation that restricts the feasible region by fixing a set of design variables related to commonalized components or modules against later customization and final lineup offered to customers. Customization is viewed as the operation that arranges lineup by adjusting another set of design variables related to reserved freedom for customers' needs. Their mutual and bi-directional relationships must be a matter of optimal design. This paper discusses the mathematical fundamentals of optimal product family design throughout commonalization, customization and lineup arrangement under active set strategy, and demonstrates a case study with a design problem of centrifugal compressors for showing the meaning of throughout optimal design.