Title: A systematic process for developing product configuration rules

Authors: Anna Tidstam; Johan Malmqvist

Addresses: Department of Research and Development, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dornierstraße 4, 82110 Germering, Germany ' Department of Product and Production Development, Chalmers University of Technology, Hörsalsvägen 7A, 412 96, Göteborg, Sweden

Abstract: This paper proposes a systematic development process for product configuration rules. The approach was to first conduct a literature review on product configuration research and knowledge-based systems (KBS). In combination within sights from empirical studies in the automotive industry this resulted in a generalised process model for the development of product configuration rules applicable to product families as well as products. The process is divided into three major stages which are further subdivided in steps: author (elicit, interpret, formalise, implement), evaluate (inspect, compute, test) and release. Best-practice methods are recommended for each of the steps.

Keywords: product configuration; configuration systems; configuration rules; knowledge-based systems; KBS; elicitation; inspection; automotive products; automobile industry; process modelling; product families.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPLM.2015.068013

International Journal of Product Lifecycle Management, 2015 Vol.8 No.1, pp.46 - 64

Received: 11 Jan 2014
Accepted: 21 Sep 2014
Published online: 13 Mar 2015 *

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