Research on Product Platform Configuration with Module Options

Platform-based product development has been regarded as a cost-efficient approach to handle wide product variety. The key to successful platform-based product development is finding the best combination of the platform configuration and modular design. Most research papers have focused on product platform configuration with a given module set without considering operation costs including the design cost, procurement costs and inventory costs. A new model is proposed in order to determine the optimal product platform configuration for a given external product family considering the vertical and horizontal selection of a module with multiple options and operation costs. The demand for the external product family is unknown, and normal distribution has been assumed. The module acquisition lead time varies along with the module acquisition amount and the transportation time. A hybrid methodology combining a simulated annealing and VNS (variable neighborhood search) is proposed and applied to solve the proposed model. Numerical examination was carried out for the purpose of evaluation. The results show that the proposed model can provide an optimal solution. This research makes two main contributions: the vertical and horizontal selection process of module options and the consideration of operation cost of module acquisition in product platform configuration.