Knowledge representation, retrieval and reuse for product family design: An anti-logicist approach

Abstract

the product family design is a design approach to meet the demand of customisable products. This paper deals with the knowledge representation, retrieval and reuse supporting the design stage of product families. Usually, the methods in the literature do not focus on the retrieve and the reusability of the knowledge. In other words, they do not ensure if a non-expert user can effectively retrieve and reuse the represented knowledge. To cope with this point, here, the aim is to apply an anti-logicist approach for the unambiguous design-knowledge representation to support the unambiguous retrieval and the automatic reuse of the knowledge during a product family design stage. The retrieval is unambiguous because the link between the knowledge models and the requirements is based on a syntax comparison, e.g. intervals of numbers, units of measure. An algorithm for the automatic reuse has been developed: provided an unambiguous definition of the new requirements related to the product family, the algorithm's outputs are the functional and physical definitions of all the products included in the product families, i.e. performances and CAD files. The case study is a family of components of the HVAC (heating, ventilating and airconditioning) systems sector. Finally the advantages and issues of a potential industrial implementation are discussed.

Progressive modelling of feature-centred product family development

“…Product family provides an architecture foundation for the management, sharing and re-use of knowledge, in turn knowledge modelling supports to deal with the diverse and rapidly changing customer requirements and to reduce product cost and environmental impacts for product family (Giovannini et al 2016;Luo, Sun, and Pan 2005). With the increasing number of product offerings targeted at different market segments, it is more complicated and challenging than knowledge management in product family (Lim, Liu, and Lee 2011).…”

“…Therefore, a flexible information model is crucial for the systematic development and deployment of product families during all life phases of product (Nanda et al 2007). To capture, manage, share, reuse and integrate product family knowledge, Xu, Ong, and Nee (2007) initiated a product family design reuse (PFDR) process model; Nanda et al (2007) proposed a flexible knowledge management framework which is called a networked bill of material (NBOM) using formal concept analysis (FCA); Ki Moon et al (2009) presented a methodology to develop a service ontology for capturing and reusing design knowledge in a service family; Moon, Simpson, and Kumara (2010) proposed a methodology of integrating an ontology and data mining for knowledge discovery of product family; Lim, Liu, and Lee (2011) proposed a multi-facet product family ontology framework to search and retrieve information of product family; Pan et al (2014) put forward an information integration modelling architecture for product family life cycle (I 2 MAfPFL); Giovannini et al (2016) applied an anti-logicist approach for the unambiguous design-knowledge representation during a product family design stage; Lundin et al (2017) explored the computer-aided technologies (CAX) to capture and represent reuse knowledge of product families.…”

A Bayesian Network Based Adaptability Design of Product Structures for Function Evolution

“…Product Family (PF) strategy [7] differs from single product development in that it aims to maximize the overall performance by adjusting the balance between performance and commonality within products that have some similar characteristics (a product family). Recently, there are many studies that are related to PF [8][9][10][11]. Therein, regarding to PF design, Jiao et al [12] divided the developing approaches into two classes, i.e., modularized and parameterized.…”

Graph-enabled digital twins for intelligent product lifecycle management: a multi-dimensional approach to design, manufacturing, and supply chain transformation

“…MC paradigms stemming from PF approaches are increasingly used to satisfy customer demands [3]. This design strategy uses a product platform with compatible modular components configured to create products for varying purposes [27]. Here, products share common traits and a range of techniques supporting their design are derived from formal logics [28].…”

“…Qiao et al [41] adopts a hybrid approach, using static DSMs to segregate product architecture for product reconfiguration. Studies on knowledge representation for PF design have been conducted, with Giovannini et al [27] using an anti-logiscist approach and Nanda et al [42] using ontologies to represent PF for product design iteration.…”