Methodical Development of Modular Product Families

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Climate change and the growing consumption of natural resources has made it increasingly clear that engineering must focus on the development of more sustainable products. To do so, the methodologies for developing products need to address sustainability. However, many of the frequently used methodologies, such as Modular Function Deployment (MFD) or the Life Phases Modularisation (LPM), do not do that sufficiently. The product life phases, these methodologies are based, only address sustainability in the form of recycling. That is why a broader approach to sustainability, such as the R-imperatives, is not considered. Therefore, in this contribution, the model of product life phases is extended by integrating the R-imperatives. Furthermore, the module drivers resulting from the extended product life phases that are necessary to apply the MFD and the LPM are developed. Finally, the positive impact of the developed module drivers on the product architecture is shown by applying the resulting method onto an industrial example.

Section: Product Life Phasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Product Life Phasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting the Sustainability Potential of Modular Products by Integrating R-Imperatives Into Product Life Phases

Breimann,

Rennpferdt,

Wehrend

et al. 2023

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“…The Integrated PKT-approach is focused on modular product families, to satisfy an external variety with low internal complexity (Krause and Gebhardt, 2023). It contains the two methods of Design for Variety (DfV, see Figure 1) and a technical-functional and product-strategic Life Phase Modularization after.…”

Section: Product Family Development and Conceptualization With Module...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Incorporating Field Effects Into the Design of Modular Product Families

Kuechenhof,

Berschik,

Beibl

et al. 2023

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With advancing digitalization, new technologies with more and more digital components make it necessary to integrate new components into current and future products. Sensors and actuators, such as motors, emit electromagnetic and thermal fields that can greatly affect product performance. Recent work has considered fields at the functional level using functional structures and at the system level using DSM. In this paper, the effects of fields on product architecture are investigated at the component level. Using an appropriate visualization, the impact of fields on the product structure is considered. Architectural guidelines are then used to develop suitable product structures. The methodological approach is then applied to a product family of vacuum cleaner robots. The overlaid field information helps to gain deeper insights into the product architecture. The approach is useful for representing alternative structures. The new mapping of functional and structural relationships by moving module boundaries against fields can help promote architectural innovation.

“…Under a specific question, the relevant design domains are determined respectively the pool is defined. This can be the problem and solution space for innovative problem solving as shown in Küchenhof and Bickmeier (2021) or the domains of product properties, functions, operating principles or components relevant for product architecture design according to Krause and Gebhardt (2023). Within the selected domain, information is gathered and relevant elements are identified, which are to be worked with in the further procedure.…”

Section: Step Creationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In terms of innovation, the answer is not obvious, as modularity, for example, can facilitate imitation Mertens et al (2022). For the development of modular product families, the Integrated PKT approach for the development of modular product families provides a toolbox for modular design considering the external offer variety as well as the internal product and process complexity (Krause and Gebhardt, 2023). Basic terminology is adopted from here and tools from it such as a Tree of External Variety, which represents product features, and a Module Interface Graph, which represents product structure, are used in the design method experiment.…”

Section: Theoretical Foundationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Validation of a Method for Systematic New Development

Kuechenhof,

Krause

2023

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Creativity is an essential factor in the development of innovative products. 4 Step Creation (4SC) is a method for systematic ideation and can be used to enhance the new product development process. It aims to promote creativity in interdisciplinary teams and provides a framework for collaboration so that original ideas can emerge, laying the foundation for innovation. At the same time, the method can be used for continuous improvement of existing systems. In this contribution 4SC is used in a design method experiment following the Design Method Validation System (DMVS) to validate design methods in product development. The experiment was carried out at PAD2022 International Summer School on the example of a vacuum cleaner robot. Findings show, that the developed method promotes transparency, traceability of ideas and thus communication in the team. It also facilitates the integration of different stakeholders in the ideation phase. The experiment also shows that the DMVS is well suited for planning, conducting, and evaluating design experiments.