Application of Modularity Principles in the Press Tool Enterprise: Reconfigurability

Effects of Demand, Manufacturing Flexibility, Cost and Supply Chain on Product Modularity: A Study in Malaysia

“…High customer dynamics and competitive intensity make it beneficial for firms to adopt modular strategies, this was found consistently across all the accumulated research findings (Worren et al, 2002;Tu et al, 2004;Phuluwa et al, 2013). Conversely, Sorenson, (2003) found that several research contributions show that some aspects of the technological dynamics may actually counteract the drive to modular strategies in some situations.…”

“…The aim of modular design architecture is to allow independence and interchangeability between units in fulfilling the various functions of the product. As mentioned by Huang et al (1998) and Phuluwa et al (2013), modularity enables modification to several product functional elements separately without affecting the design of the other elements. Modularity emphasized product module expansion with minimum dependency on other components for maintenance (Dzuraidah et al, 2008).…”

“…Product modularity deals with a number of features of product components, including the extent to which modules are independent or separate, the extent to which components are specific, the extent to which modules are transferable or reusable within the production process (Baldwin et al, 2000;Schilling, 2000). While, Schilling (2000) and Phuluwa et al (2013) defined that product modularity as a continuum, describing separateness, specificity and transferability of product components in a product system. Separateness refers to the degree to which a product can be disassembled and recombined into new product configurations without loss of functionality.…”