Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2002.Includes bibliographical references (p. 354-364).Using a structured approach to understand the interaction between product design decisions and manufacturing system design is critical to reflect manufacturing system issues early in the product development process. Early consideration of manufacturing system issues prevents product design iterations due to manufacturing system constraints or unnecessary manufacturing system design modification to accommodate new product designs. However, in academia and industry, few frameworks are available to capture the interaction between manufacturing system design and product design decisions. This thesis presents an approach to capture the interaction between manufacturing system design and product design decisions, which is called manufacturability evaluation process. The manufacturability evaluation process aims to guide product development teams to see the effects of their design decisions on manufacturing systems and thus, to make the right decision from the early stage of product development. The manufacturability evaluation process satisfies four objectives: 1) to describe the objectives of manufacturing systems clearly separated from the means of achievement, 2) to present the impact of various design decisions on the achievement of the objectives of manufacturing systems, 3) to provide a common platform to effectively communicate the impact across the organization, and 4) to provide a framework to put existing tools together to integrate manufacturing system design and product design. The manufacturability evaluation process is based on a recently developed Manufacturing System Design Decomposition (MSDD).(cont.) This thesis describes three groups of case studies to identify industry practices and provide application examples of the proposed manufacturability evaluation process. The manufacturability evaluation process has been successfully applied to the cases. In addition, the interaction between manufacturing system design and product design decisions are discussed with industry case study examples in the automotive industry. An evaluation tool is developed to evaluate the general practices of a company ensuring the manufacturability of product designs. Furthermore, this thesis provides a basis for future research to extend the scope of the MSDD into product development areas.by Yong-Suk Kim.Ph.D
