Designing evolving families of products using the utility-based compromise decision support problem
by Carolyn Conner Seepersad, Farrokh Mistree, Janet K. Allen
International Journal of Mass Customisation (IJMASSC), Vol. 1, No. 1, 2005

Abstract: By designing families of products based on product platforms, many companies are providing product variety efficiently and effectively and facilitating the development of an overall product development strategy. An important factor in product development is the evolution of a family of products in response to changing technologies, market demands, competitive pressures and other factors. In this paper, we present a method for designing product platforms for an evolving product family that meets changing performance requirements with an expanding portfolio of products. The method is based on the utility-based compromise Decision Support Problem – a multiobjective decision support model with an objective function derived from utility theory. With this method, a designer can balance multiple, nondeterministic objectives in product platform design and consider explicitly the evolution of platform-based families of products in response to shifting performance targets. We apply this method to an example study of product platform design for an expanding family of absorption chillers.

Online publication date: Mon, 11-Jul-2005

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Mass Customisation (IJMASSC):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

    Username:        Password:         

Forgotten your password?


Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com