Knowledge Based Configurable Product Platform Models

Book chapter, 2009

Product platform development faces problems with inefficient knowledge management and reuse, as well as configuration strategies leading to intolerable part number growth. In order to address these problems a system oriented and abstract knowledge based approach is proposed to define and to describe configurable product platforms. A modeling procedure and a new fully configurable platform model concept, consisting of linked fully configurable generic and autonomous sub-systems, have been developed. The model has been implemented as a separate platform configuration (PFC) system being the base for system configuration. The proposed platform model has been partly verified and validated in cooperation with the industrial partners participating in the referred research project.