Product family design based on analytic network process

In order to remain productive and efficient in today's global competition, mass customization is adopted in many leading companies. Mass customization through product family and product platform enables global enterprise to develop new products with flexibility, efficiency and quick responsiveness. Thus, product family is well suited to satisfy the mass customization. Product family is defined as a group of related products that share common features, components, and subsystems; and satisfy a variety of market niches. The purpose of this paper is to propose a product family design architecture that satisfies customer requirements with minimal efforts. The decision making process for a new product development requires a multiple criteria decision making technique with feedback. An analytical network process (ANP) is adopted for this purpose. An example product is chosen and product family is derived based on the proposed architecture.