Reactive design methodology for product family platforms, modularity and parts integration

A new model is proposed for automatically redesigning product variants using physical commonality, instead of evaluating alternate solutions provided by designers using commonality indices. The model innovatively balances two conflicting strategies; Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) and products modularity. It hierarchically clusters the common components among product variants to define a core platform while combining as many of the common parts as possible into integral parts and modules using Cladistics. The model's ability to automatically generate product platforms and modules, identify components for potential integration, which reduce the number of product components and promote modular product architecture was demonstrated using a consumer goods case study. The Developed Reactive Products Platform Design model was applied to a family of household kettles resulting in single- and two-platform solutions to increase the number of modularized common components and integrated adjacent parts.