A review of modular strategies and architecture within manufacturing operations

This paper reviews existing modularity and modularization literature within manufacturing operations. Its purpose is to examine the tools, techniques, and concepts relating to modular production, to draw together key issues currently dominating the literature, to assess managerial implications associated with the emerging modular paradigm, and to present an agenda for future research directions. The review is based on journal papers included in the ABI/Inform electronic database and other noteworthy research published as part of significant research programmes. The research methodology concerns reviewing existing literature to identify key modular concepts, to determine modular developments, and to present a review of significant contributions to the field. The findings indicate that the modular paradigm is being adopted in a number of manufacturing organizations. As a result a range of conceptual tools, techniques, and frameworks has emerged and the field of modular enquiry is in the process of codifying the modular lexicon and developing appropriate modular strategies commensurate with the needs of manufacturers. Modular strategies and modular architecture were identified as two key issues currently dominating the modular landscape. Based on this review, the present authors suggest that future research areas need to focus on the development and subsequent standardization of interface protocols, cross-brand module use, supply chain power, transparency, and trust. This is the first review of the modular landscape and as such provides insights into, first, the development of modularization and, second, issues relating to designing modular products and modular supply chains

Supporting 'design for reuse' with modular design

Engineering design reuse refers to the utilization of any knowledge gained from the design activity to support future design. As such, engineering design reuse approaches are concerned with the support, exploration, and enhancement of design knowledge prior, during, and after a design activity. Modular design is a product structuring principle whereby products are developed with distinct modules for rapid product development, efficient upgrades, and possible reuse (of the physical modules). The benefits of modular design center on a greater capacity for structuring component parts to better manage the relation between market requirements and the designed product. This study explores the capabilities of modular design principles to provide improved support for the engineering design reuse concept. The correlations between modular design and 'reuse' are highlighted, with the aim of identifying its potential to aid the little-supported process of design for reuse. In fulfilment of this objective the authors not only identify the requirements of design for reuse, but also propose how modular design principles can be extended to support design for reuse

Developing modular product family using GeMoCURE within an SME

Companies adopt the strategy of producing variety of products to be competitive and responsive to market. Product variation is becoming an important factor in companies' ability to accurately meet customer requirements. Ever increasing consumer options mean that customers have more choices than ever before which put commercial pressures on companies to continue to diversify. This can be a particular problem within Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who do not always have the level of resources to meet these requirements. As such, methods are required that provide means for companies to be able to produce a wide range of products at the lowest cost and shortest time. This paper details a new modular product design methodology that provides a focus on developing modular product families. The methodology's function is described and a case study detailed of how it was used within an SME to define the company's product portfolio and create a new Generic Product Function Structure from which a new family of product variants can be developed. The methodology lends itself to modular re-use which has the potential to support rapid development and configuration of product variants

Validation of a New Evaluation Method of Modular Design Focused on the Prosumer

The modular design harbors a potential development in the prosumer scope that has hardly been previously exploited. Their joint application can lead to products focused on user participation through modular design. This work proposes and validates a concept evaluation metric in the design phases that meet these characteristics. To do this, 24 external designers and prosumers evaluate five products using this method. The results and conclusions contribute to the improvement of the method and provide information on how to approach it to the prosumers

Developing and applying an integrated modular design methodology within a SME

Modularity within a product can bring advantages to the design process by facilitating enhanced design reuse, reduced lead times, decreased cost and higher levels of quality. While the benefits of modularity are becoming increasingly better known, at present it is usually left to the designers themselves to introduce modularity into products. Studies into modularity have shown that byimplementing 'formal' methods, further benefits can be made in terms of time, cost, quality and performance. Current approaches that have been proposed for the formal development of modular design methodologies fail to accurately represent knowledge that is inherently produced during design projects and fail to consider design from the different viewpoints of the development process. This work, built on previous work on modularity and design for reuse, aims to develop an integrated design methodology that will optimise the modules created through the design process and allow for modularity to be 'built-in' to product development from the initial stages. The methodology andassociated tools have been developed to provide an easy-to-use approach to modularity that has support for design rationales and company knowledge that aid in effective design decision making. The methodology, named GeMoCURE, provides an integrated total solution to modular design based on reuse of proven physical and knowledge modules. Its incremental nature allows for the optimalstructure to be maintained as the design progresses. A special focus has been on the application of this approach for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are typically challenged by a lack of design human resources and expertise

Modular Design Architecture: Accelerating Product Design Processes through Modularity

Finding the line between time investment in pre-designing product architecture instead of creating it only when needed is complex; if the foundation is rashly defined, it results in a high chance of failure. On the other hand, strict planning means time away from production, and thus, the postponement of a product launch. Moreover, a restricted foundation can make responding to future changes challenging. Modular design architecture, together with modular product architecture, enables companies to design, iterate, and push their products faster to the markets. Since the building blocks for agile product design and development are readily available, approximately all robust products are modular nowadays. This thesis addresses and inspects how modular design architecture can accelerate product design and development processes when creating new web-based products. The researched literature presents insights and theoretical frameworks regarding modularity, software development, and product design. It additionally addresses teamwork and best practices found in product development. The research was conducted based on the grounded theory methodology. Its primary data collection method was benchmarking, and it applied the grounded theory data coding methods to scrutinize and categorize the acquired data. This thesis coins a novel framework based on the research findings to address interrelationships amidst various definitions, elements, and categories found within modular design architectures.Täydellisen linjan löytäminen siinä, kuinka paljon aikaa tulisi investoida tuotearkkitehtuurin suunnitteluun etukäteen sen sijaan, että sitä luotaisiin vain tarvittaessa, on hankalaa; jos tuotteen pohjatyö määritetään liian harkitsemattomasti, se luo suuremman riskin epäonnistumiseen. Toisaalta, liian yksityiskohtainen suunnittelu vie aikaa pois tuotannosta, lykäten tuotteen lanseerausta. Tämän lisäksi liian rajoitettu tuotearkkitehtuuri voi tehdä reagoimisen tuleviin muutoksiin haastaviksi. Modulaarinen suunnitteluarkkitehtuuri yhdessä modulaarisen tuotearkkitehtuurin kanssa mahdollistaa yritysten suunnitella, iteroida ja lanseerata nopeammin tuotteitaan markkinoille. Koska kaikki ketterän tuotesuunnittelun ja kehityksen vaadittavat osa-alueet ovat jo saatavilla, ovat melkein kaikki pitkälle kehitetyt tuotteet modulaarisia. Tässä työssä tarkastellaan, kuinka modulaarinen suunnittelu- arkkitehtuuri voi nopeuttaa tuotesuunnittelu- ja kehitysprosesseja luotaessa uusia verkkopohjaisia tuotteita. Työssä hyödynnetty kirjallisuus tarjoaa näkemyksiä ja teoreettisia viitekehyksiä modulaarisuudesta, ohjelmistokehityksestä ja tuotesuunnittelusta. Edellä mainittujen lisäksi se käsittelee myös ryhmätyötä ja tuotekehityksen parhaita käytäntöjä. Tutkimus suoritettiin grounded theory -metodologian pohjalta. Sen ensisijainen tiedonkeruumenetelmä oli vertailuanalyysi, ja se hyödynsi grounded theory:n eri koodausmenetelmiä hankitun tiedon tarkastelemiseen ja luokitteluun. Tämä tutkimus luo tutkimustuloksien pohjalta uuden viitekehyksen tarkastelemaan modulaarisen suunnitteluarkkitehtuurin eri määritelmien, elementtien ja luokkien keskinäisiä vuorovaikutussuhteita ja -tasoja

Improving Lead-Time in Product Development

The impact of modular products on the organization of product development has recently attracted interest in academia. This paper explores the economic rational behind the idea that modular products result in modular product organizations using a team-theoretic approach. An important implication that can be drawn from team theory is that the nature of the design problem and the way in which it can efficiently be decomposed into design tasks strongly influence the information structures of organizations and therefore also the extent to which the organization can be characterized as a modular organization. Different economic rationales behind task definitions are identified and discussed. The organization of product development activities also can be expected to vary with the main goal of the product development team. I argue that when the minimization of lead-time is the main goal one should expect to find a more modular product development organization among firms that follow a modular product development strategy compared to those that follow an integral product development strategy

Interdisciplinary system architectures in agile modular development in the product generation development model using the example of a machine tool manufacturer

This paper considers the orientation of product development structures towards interdisciplinary system architectures using the example of a tool machine manufacturer. Due to the change from simple mechanical products to extensively designed systems, whose successful development requires the integration of all disciplines involved, it is analyzed which requirements there are for these interdisciplinary system architectures in today\u27s development environment. In addition, it is validated on the basis of the investigation environment that interdisciplinary system structures are necessary for the development on the different levels of the system view. In doing so, the investigation environment addresses the concept of extracting customer-relevant features (systems) from a physical-tailored modular system (supersystem) in order to develop and test them autonomously, as well as to transfer them to the entire product range in a standardized manner. The elaboration identifies basic requirements for the development of a knowledge base in interdisciplinary system structures and places them into the context of an agile modular kit development