Title: Process platform planning for mass customisation production

Authors: Jianxin (Roger) Jiao, Lianfeng (Linda) Zhang, Shaligram Pokharel

Addresses: School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore. ' School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore. ' School of Mechanical and Production Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore

Abstract: Current practice in developing product platforms only encompasses the design domain. It seldom, if at all, considers the impact of product platforms on production and, in turn, the implication of process data for product platform development. Hence, it is imperative for platform development to synchronise product and process variety from both design and production perspectives. In this paper, the concept of process platform planning is proposed to support variety synchronisation from design to production. A process platform involves three main aspects: 1) a common process structure shared by all process variants; 2) the derivation of specific process variants from the common structure; 3) the correspondence between product and process variety. The study suggests that planning a process platform is conducive to the synchronisation of product and process variety.

Keywords: mass customisation; product variety; process variety; process platforms; product data management; PDM; production information management; bill-of-materials; BOM; product platforms; process planning; product families; synchronisation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMASSC.2006.008624

International Journal of Mass Customisation, 2006 Vol.1 No.2/3, pp.237 - 259

Published online: 12 Jan 2006 *

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