Towards Development Platforms - Models, Processes and IT-Tools for Platform-Based Development across the Lifecycle
Licentiate thesis, 2012

Product developing companies strive to provide their customers with high quality products, more quickly than their competitors, using as few resources as possible. One way of managing all three aspects at the same time is to reuse old, quality assured designs and knowledge in new products. A common way to do that is to create a platform with designs that are reusable in many different products. Traditionally, research on platforms has focused on finding ways to provide manufacturing with a low number of parts to be able to increase utilization of expensive production equipment. However, a designer needs more information than just the physical form of a design in order to reuse the design to cut development lead-time. The use of platforms based on core technologies and re-configurable systems as platform elements may on the other hand give the needed support. These types of platforms are here referred to as development platforms. This thesis elaborates on support for working with development platforms that are integrated across the lifecycle of a product. The studies in this thesis show that platform approaches in literature today do not cover the need to support holistic platform development across all stages of a lifecycle. As a solution, configurable system elements may be used as a bridge between abstract descriptions of platforms (e.g. technology platforms) and concrete descriptions (e.g. part-based and module-based platforms). Further, development platforms may be supported by a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) architecture for engineering-to-order configuration, but it can also serve as a tool to learn about the knowledge gaps that need to be filled to get a product to meet requirements. However, there is a great risk in trying to support design reuse with IT-applications alone. In order to fully support platform-based development, an organization needs to consider business objectives, processes, information architecture and application architecture.

product lifecycle management

product development

configurable components

technology development

platform-based design

Gamma, Hörsalsvägen 7, Chalmers University of Technology
Opponent: Prof. Ola Isaksson, Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology

Author

Christoffer E Levandowski

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Product Development

PLM as Support for Global Design Reuse - Long Term Benefits and Immediate Drawbacks

9th International Conference on Product Lifecycle Management - PLM12,; (2012)

Paper in proceeding

PLM Architecture for Optimization of Geometrical Interfaces in a Product Platform

Proceedings of the ASME 2011; International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (Volume 2: 31st Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, Parts A and B ),; (2011)p. 1237-1244

Paper in proceeding

Platform Strategies from a PLM Perspective - Theory and Practice for the Aerospace Industry

53rd AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference 2012; Honolulu, HI; United States; 23 April 2012 through 26 April 2012,; (2012)

Paper in proceeding

An Integrated Approach to Technology Platform and Product Platform Development

Concurrent Engineering Research and Applications,; Vol. 21(2013)p. 65-83

Journal article

Subject Categories

Mechanical Engineering

Computer and Information Science

Areas of Advance

Production

Gamma, Hörsalsvägen 7, Chalmers University of Technology

Opponent: Prof. Ola Isaksson, Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology

More information

Created

10/8/2017