Abstract
This paper discusses the optimal design of common components used for a class of products. Simultaneously designing multiple products has become an important concept in manufacturing in these days. Consequently, simultaneously designing a set of components becomes to have another meaning beyond ones in the past. This paper formulates the design problem of common components behind the design problem of multiple products as an optimization problem, and investigates the condition of optimal design through the tradeoff among the level of system-level performance, the number of different components, etc. Then, the situation on the optimality and tradeoff structure of common components is demonstrated by using a tentatively-configured optimal design method through a design problem of liftgate dumpers for passenger cars.
