3 research outputs found
Hierarchical Clustering Approach for Product Variety Management
Continually evolving customerâs needs has contributed to an increase in demand for product variety over the recent decades. Proliferation of product variants affects different aspects of product life cycle which increases the complexity of managing product variety. In this context, the notion of grouping and classification based on similarity within a family of product is the key in managing product variety. This research proposes hierarchical clustering as solution approach that is intuitively relevant and it focuses on progressively grouping the elements that share high similarity with each other.
In this research, three types of product variety-related problems are investigated. The first problem concerns with designing product architecture in a way to support product variety. Design Structure Matrix (DSM) is used to visualize product architecture and to develop a new matrix-based clustering approach based on hierarchical cluster analysis. The challenge is that there are numerous possible product architectures even for a product with few components. One unique advantage of the proposed method lies in supporting âoverlapping componentsâ which is not directly addressed by the conventional techniques in cluster analysis.
The second problem focuses on structuring supply chain network in case of product variety that indicates the precedence orders of suppliers and sub-assemblers. The challenge is that the number of possible structures of supply chain network grows dramatically with the increase in the number of product variants. The solution approach is based on hierarchical clustering, in which the tree structure is applied to construct the supply chain network. The core technique is to investigate the coupling values between the module variants and characterizing the grouping condition in the structuring process.
The third problem is to develop semi-finished products to reduce production costs. The challenge is that the possible solution space can increase exponentially with increase in the number of elements (e.g. components) in the problems. In the solution approach, the basic information of product variety is captured in a matrix format, specifying the component requirements for each product variant. Then, hierarchical clustering is applied over the components with the consideration of demands. The key stage is similarity analysis, in which problem-specific information can be incorporated in the clustering process.
In summary, the proposed method can be a practical tool for tackling product variety-related problems. It yields good quality results in a limited time. Thus, it can be used to obtain better results than other algorithms when the amount of time available to perform the task is limited
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Development of an integrated sustainable design approach for furniture design and its implementation and application perspectives
This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonWith increasing demand in design, most of the industrial designers or engineering designers are facing the challenge to make timely sustainable design decisions in their design practices. For instance, designers have focused and efforts towards developing to determine the best conceptual design and demands for product design with environmental consciousness are a natural result of this trend. This PhD research aims to develop an industrial-feasible approach and tools for sustainability assessment in-process for designers in the furniture industry. The approach proposed seeks to optimize the product life cycle assessment through developing the sustainable design index (SDI). This built-in sustainable design automation which lead to comprehensive benefits of helping furniture designers directly communicate sustainability in their product design process and customers consider sustainability. In this research, it firstly begins with the overview and characterization of the sustainable furniture design. These are four key criteria as identified in this research, modular product architecture, re-configurability, using a design structure matrix (DSM) and axiomatic design (AD). The derived sustainable design index combines all these criteria into an integrated decision-making process, n âembeddedâ integrating SDI algorithm within the CAD design environment, using built-in Visual Basic programming codes, tool to aid the design process while assessing the design sustainability as well. SDI represents, a novel methodology for integrating sustainability considerations into the design process and working within a computer aided design (CAD) environment with the designerâs interactive design interface (Graphical User Interface). To determine the relevant assessment criteria for sustainable design, preference analysis and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were applied. It is which enables the industrial product designers to work with mainly the productâs sustainability performance strongly linking to the consumerâs satisfaction. The case studies further show the comprehensive and application perspectives of the SDI and associated tools, thus achieve the sustainable furniture design as the ultimate goal