Many firms and organizations have to provide ever increasing numbers of variants and customized products and services to remain successful.

To master this external complexity with minimal internal complexity, firms are pursuing a variety of platforming and commonality strategies. Where and how much commonality should be introduced in a product family or set of related projects? What are the technical, financial and architectural implications of alternative platform and commonality strategies? This research area focuses on developing frameworks and methods for platforming, commonality and standardization and their application and refinement through industrial practice.

Specific contributions to Design for commonality, standardization and platforms include the following:

• First comprehensive solution of the product platform extent problem
• Quantifying the impact of commonality on spare parts logistics
• A seven-step process for flowing exogenous market and demand uncertainties into a product platform to identify opportunities for flexibility (real options)
• The sensitivity-DSM (sDSM) and Invariant Design-Rules (IDR) method, for isolating subsystems that are insensitive to external requirements differences among variants

Links

2005 Innovations in Product Development Conference
Product Families and Platforms:From Strategic Innovation to Implementation
November 9-10, 2005
Website: http://web.mit.edu/cipd/pd/

Product Platform and Product Family Design: From Strategy to Implementation [ESD.39s] Summer Course through MIT Professional Institute
Date: July 22-25, 2008
Explore the strategic and implementation aspects of using product architecture and platforms to manage a product family in a competitive manner. Learn the latest theory and tools through case studies, interactive discussion and hands-on exercises.
Website: http://web.mit.edu/mitpep/pi/courses/product_family_design.html

Publications

• Suh E.S., de Weck O.L., and Chang D., “Flexible product platforms: framework and case study”, Research in Engineering Design, 18 (2), 67-89, 2007
• Suh, E.S., de Weck O.L., Kim I.Y. and Chang D., “Flexible platform component design under uncertainty”, Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Special Issue on Product Family Design and Development, 18 (1), 115-126, February 2007
• de Weck, O., 2006, "Determining Product Platform Extent", Chapter 12, Product Platform and Product Family Design: Methods and Applications, T. W. Simpson, Z. Siddique and J. Jiao, eds., Springer, New York, pp. 241-301. PDF
• Siddiqi A., de Weck O., “Spare Parts Requirements for Space Missions with Reconfigurability and Commonality”, Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets, 44 (1), 147-155, January-February 2007 PDF
• Simpson T., Marion T., de Weck O., Holtta-Otto K., Kokkolaras M., and Shooter S., “Platform-based Design and Development: Current Trends and Needs in Industry”, DETC2006-99-229, Proceedings of IDETC/CIE 2006 ASME 2006 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, September 10-13, 2006, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA PDF
• Kalligeros K., de Weck O., de Neufville R., Luckins A., “Platform Identification using Design Structure Matrices”, Sixteenth Annual International Symposium of the International Council On Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Orlando, Florida, 8 - 14 July 2006 PDF
• Hassan R., de Weck O.L., and Springmann P., “Architecting a Communication Satellite Product Line”, AIAA-2004-3150, 22nd AIAA International Communications Satellite Systems Conference and Exhibit, Monterey, California, May 9-12, 2004. PDF
• Galabova K., Bounova G., de Weck O. and Hastings D., ”Architecting a Family of Space Tugs based on Orbital Transfer Mission Scenarios”, Paper AIAA-2003-6368, AIAA Space 2003 Conference and Exhibition, Long Beach, California, 23-25 September 2003. PDF
• de Weck O., Suh E. S. and Chang D., ”Product Family and Platform Portfolio Optimization”, Paper DETC03/DAC-48721, Proceedings of DETC’03, 2003 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences, Chicago, Illinois, 2-6 September, 2003. PDF