Conceptual model of modularisation

Abstract

Mass-producing companies of standard products need to become more agile because of the customisation trend. Capabilities to respond to customisation requirements is also required in the manufacturing industry, where production volumes can be small and products large, complex and expensive. The delivery chain for unique products puts a lot of pressure on companies, because almost the same product has to be invented over and over again in different projects. Product development tools are needed in developing capability to produce customisable products. Efficiently customisable and modular products enable many benefits in the supply chain if successfully implemented. For example, engineering resources may be freed from engineering work in delivery projects to develop new concepts. Few modularisation projects succeed in the first time. Designing a modular product architecture is difficult. In many cases, modularisation has been started on a purely technical basis, without consideration of the business environment and the type of design information that will allow the benefits to be realised. Due to a lack of understanding of the design information associated with the modular product architecture, it has not been well documented and the development of tools has been limited except a few consulting companies. Software commonly used by industry does not focus on modularisation. This research is part of a research project to develop software support for developing and managing modular products in different environments. We discuss problem definition, solution goals, and criteria definition for the modularisation support tool. It is difficult to produce and manage information for which there is no conceptual model. Therefore, the results of the paper illustrate what kind of design information is specific for a modular product. This is also described as a conceptual model, because without it, software supporting development work cannot be done.