Analysis of modularity implementation methods from an assembly and variety viewpoints

摘要

The advent of product modularity has enabled the manufacturing firms to develop substantial product variety at lower costs and shorter lead times. Several modular design methodologies exist in the literature, but each method was developed to optimize a certain criterion. It is also not clear which method would provide the best results under a specific case, as most of these methods have not yet been compared quantitatively. This paper reviews and compares three well-known modularizing methodologies in order to determine the method generating the best modularized design. Our hypothesis for comparison is that the method offering highest ease of assembly, and accommodating design for variety to meet future customer needs, is the best. An electronic toothbrush and a bicycle are used to compare the three methodologies: (1) function heuristic method, (2) behavioral-driven function-environment-structure (B-FES) modeling framework, and (3) decomposition approach.