Modules and Interfaces

Abstract

The business environment of today tends to be more and more customer focused, with customized products which satisfy each customer’s individual needs. To be able to launch product variants more frequently the companies have to change their product development to develop multiple products at the same time. By introducing the product on the market earlier than the competitors the market share and profit of the product will increase. Modularization can significantly reduce manufacturing and assembly processes leading to increased product variety and customization. This is a result of the possibility to develop the modules in parallel. Interface is the connection between the modules and it enables different variants of the product to be assembled. The specifying of interfaces is by many seen as the main issue in modularization. By designing interfaces which can be used in the product over time, the development of successful future variants will be facilitated. The focus of this paper is how to determine the modules in a product and the interfaces which connect them. The methods presented in this paper helps the designer to systematically locate modules, define the type of interface, evaluate the interface connections and select the best interface location on the module.