Title: An interactive particle swarm optimisation for selecting a product family and designing its supply chain

Authors: S.R. Yadav, Yogesh Dashora, Ravi Shankar, Felix. T.S. Chan, M.K. Tiwari

Addresses: Department of Manufacturing Engineering, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, 834003 Ranchi, India. ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, 834003 Ranchi, India. ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India. ' Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong. ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur-721302, India

Abstract: A platform-based product development with mixed market-modular strategy can maintain product differentiation and help trade-off the cost and price premium drawing capability. This paper formulates a multi-objective problem to select a product family and design its supply chain and uses an Interactive Particle Swarm Optimisation (IPSO) approach. A case study for a wiring harness supplier of an Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) manufacturer is considered and IPSO is implemented to solve it. The results establish that the platform-based product development serves the purpose of maintaining market diversity with near optimal cost and profits; more explorative insights are concern of future research.

Keywords: modular products; platform-based product development; process flexibility; product families; supply chain management; SCM; particle swarm optimisation; interactive PSO; product family selection; supply chain design; market strategy; product differentiation; wiring harness suppliers; automated guided vehicles; AGVs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2008.018155

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2008 Vol.31 No.3/4, pp.168 - 186

Published online: 05 May 2008 *

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