Abstract
This paper develops a design method and design system of product family architecture considering variety of lineups, profit of platform modules and lifecycle scenario. Computational and graphical model of product family architecture is proposed as the summation of all product architectures in lineup. Based on the product family model, the design problem of interface generalization is formalized as the option generation of product. The platform module design is described as the generalized module architecture design across all lineup of the product family. Decision making system is developed considering the value of product family, variety of lineups, cost reduction effect of platform modules and cost of design change. The product family architecture design method addresses: (1) how to formalize the product family and platform modules to describe computationally ; (2) how to evaluate the difficulty of design change, merit and cost of platform module and the variety of lineup ; (3) How to make decision on the product architecture design considering product family strategy.
