Estabelecendo um processo de customização livre de retrocessos para famílias de produtos

Orientador: Yuzo IanoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: Um conceito chave na área de customização em massa é o de família de produtos. Embora o projeto de uma família de produtos é uma tarefa difícil e desafiadora, derivar os membros da família de produtos para atender os requisitos de clientes individuais pode ser uma tarefa de design rotineira. Neste trabalho, propomos uma abordagem formal para modelar o processo de customização de famílias de produtos, que alcançar este objetivo. De fato, construímos uma teoria para a customização de famílias de produtos. Esta abordagem é baseada em uma estrutura de conhecimento para a representação de famílias de produtos que combina uma estrutura de produto genérica e uma rede de restrições estendida com funções de design. O método para derivar os membros da família de produtos é um processo de instanciação com duas fases. Primeiramente, uma solução para o modelo de rede de restrição consistente com os requisitos do cliente é encontrada. Em seguida, esta solução é utilizada para transformar a estrutura de produto genérica em uma estrutura especifica que corresponde a um membro da família de produtos. Neste trabalho, provamos que, se o modelo de rede de restrição estendida com funções de design satisfaz algumas condições de modelagem, então encontrar soluções se torna um processo livre de retrocessos. Embora existam outros trabalhos na literatura que também afirmam ser livre de retrocessos, um fato notável sobre a nossa abordagem é que conseguimos isso através da introdução de conhecimento sobre a família de produtos, em vez de recorrer ao poder computacional e pré-processamento como naquelas abordagens. Outro aspecto notável da nossa abordagem é que os componentes podem ser projetados como parte do processo de personalização através das funções de design. Isto implica que é possível dispor de um processo de customização eficiente sem comprometer a flexibilidade da família de produtos. Na conclusão deste trabalho, argumentamos que a nossa abordagem pode lidar com problemas de customização que estão fora da área de configuração de produtos. Dois apêndices também são adicionados à tese. Um deles é uma modelagem completa de uma família de produtos Chave de Transferência Automática (ATS) baseado em nossa abordagem. Este exemplo é usado no corpo principal da tese para ilustrar os conceitos que estão sendo introduzidos. A outra é uma implementação computacional do primeiro estágio do processo de customização da família de produtos ATSAbstract: Product family is a key concept is the area of mass customisation. Although the design of a product family is a difficult and challenging task, to derive members of the product family to meet the requirements of individual customers can be a routine design task. In this work, we propose a formal approach to model the customisation of product families that achieves this goal. In fact, we are setting up a theory for the customization of product families. This approach is based on a knowledge framework for the representation of product families, which combines a generic product structure and a constraint network extended with design functions. The method for deriving members of the product family is a two-stage instantiation process. First, a solution to the constraint network model consistent with the customer requirements is found. Next, this solution is used to transform the generic product structure into a specific structure that corresponds to a member of the product family. In this work, we prove that if the constraint network model extended with design functions satisfies a few modelling conditions, then to find solutions become a backtrack-free process. Although there are other works in the literature that also claim to be backtrack-free, a remarkable fact about our approach is that we achieve this by the introduction of knowledge about the product family, instead of resorting to computational power and pre-processing as in those approaches. Another remarkable aspect of our approach is that components can be designed as part of the customisation process using the design functions. This implies that it is possible to have an efficient customisation process without compromising the flexibility of the product family. In the conclusion of this work, we argue that our approach can deal with customisation problems outside the product configuration area. Two appendixes are also added to the thesis. One is a compete modelling of the Automatic Transfer Switch (ATS) product family using our approach. This example is used in the main body of the thesis to illustrate the concepts that are being introduced. The other one is the computational implementation of the first-stage customisation process of the ATS product familyDoutoradoTelecomunicações e TelemáticaDoutor em Engenharia Elétric

A configuration-based domain-specific rule generation framework for process model customization

In today’s changing world, there is an ever-increasing demand and need for software reuse in applications, where the process model needs to be reused in different applications in a domain-specific environment. The process model is required to adapt and implement changes promptly at run-time, in response of the end-user configuration requirements. Furthermore, reusability is emerging strongly as a necessary underlying capability, particularly for customization of business in a dynamic environment where end-users can select their requirements to achieve a specific goal. Such adaptations are in general, performed by non-technical end-users which can lead to losing a significant number of person-days and which can also open up possibilities to introduce errors into the system. These scenarios call for - indeed cry out for - a system with a configurable and customizable business process, operable by users with limited technical expertise. Research aims to provide a framework for generating the rule language and configuring domain constraints. This framework builds upon the core idea of Software Product Lines Engineering (SPLE) and Model-Driven Architecture (MDA). The SPLE provides a platform that includes the variability model. Variability models offer features where end-users can select features and customize possible changes in the domain template, which is the container for domain and process models. The user selects their requirements as a feature from feature models and generates rules from domain models using MDA. Then, the generated rules are translated from a high-level domain model, based on the requirements of the end-user. On the other hand, the weaving model is responsible for reflecting activation and de-activation of features of variabilities in the domain template. The usability of the proposed framework is evaluated with a user study in the area of Digital Content Technology. The results demonstrate that usability improvements can be achieved by using the proposed techniques. The framework can be used to support semi-automatic configuration that is efficient, effective and satisfactory

A novel approach to computer-aided configuration design based on constraint satisfaction paradigm

The trend in today’s manufacturing industry is changing from mass production to mass customization. The companies which win the markets are those which can deliver highly customized products at the fastest rate and allow for life-cycle participation of customers regardless of where they are and when they participate. One of the strategies for implementing the mass customization paradigm is to implement the product development according to the assemble-to-order (ATO) pattern. Under the ATO pattern, the design of a product becomes the determination of a configuration which contains a set of pre-developed components – configuration design for short. The configuration design problem can be well treated as a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). The mature methods are available for CSP, but there are several limitations with CSP for configuration design. This thesis proposes a novel approach to configuration design. This approach is based on a CSP but adds a wrapper (product data model, PDM for short) over the CSP model. Consequently, both the customer and the other life cycle development programs only communicate with the PDM, and a more intelligent and user-friendly computer system for configuration design can then be implemented. Both the conceptual design and implementation of such a wrapper are discussed in this thesis. A computer prototype system for elevator design is developed for demonstrating the effectiveness of this approach

A systematic literature review on the semi-automatic configuration of extended product lines

Product line engineering has become essential in mass customisation given its ability to reduce production costs and time to market, and to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. In product line literature, mass customisation is known as product configuration. Currently, there are multiple heterogeneous contributions in the product line configuration domain. However, a secondary study that shows an overview of the progress, trends, and gaps faced by researchers in this domain is still missing. In this context, we provide a comprehensive systematic literature review to discover which approaches exist to support the configuration process of extended product lines and how these approaches perform in practice. Extend product lines consider non-functional properties in the product line modelling. We compare and classify a total of 66 primary studies from 2000 to 2016. Mainly, we give an in-depth view of techniques used by each work, how these techniques are evaluated and their main shortcomings. As main results, our review identified (i) the need to improve the quality of the evaluation of existing approaches, (ii) a lack of hybrid solutions to support multiple configuration constraints, and (iii) a need to improve scalability and performance conditions

Product Configuration with Bayesian Network

For the satisfaction of individual customer requirements, products with many options are offered in mass customization. However, in the area of ecommerce, the large number of possible product configurations can overwhelm the customer, as he or she is not supported by a human sales expert. To minimize the customer’s overload, this paper examines the combination of a knowledge-based product configurator with an upstream probabilistic recommender system to provide a quick, individual and dynamic initial orientation for the customer. The application of the approach is demonstrated using an example from engineering design