Knowledge Intensive Support for Product Family Design

This paper presents an on-going research effort on platform-based product family design using a knowledge intensive support paradigm. The background research related to product family design is first reviewed. Then, the fundamental issues underlying the product family design are discussed. A module-based integrated product family design scheme is proposed with knowledge support for customer requirements’ modeling, product architecture modeling, product platform establishment, product family generation, and product assessment. The systematic methodology and the relevant technologies are investigated and developed for knowledge modeling and support in the product family design process. An information and knowledge-modeling framework is developed for the module-based product family design scheme. The issues and requirements related to develop knowledge intensive support system for module-based product family design are also addressed. Finally, a case study on knowledge support for power supply family design and evaluation is provided for illustration.