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Flexible platform component design under uncertainty

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Abstract

Incorporating flexibility into product platforms allows manufacturers to respond to changing market needs with a minimal increase in product family complexity and investment cost. To successfully design a flexible product platform, proper design of flexible platform components is critical. These components can be described as “cousin” parts as they are neither completely unique nor completely common among variants. In this paper, a multidisciplinary process for designing flexible product platform components is introduced, assuming the platform component is decided a priori. The design process starts with identification of uncertainties and generation of multiple design alternatives for embedding flexibility into the component. Design alternatives are then optimized for minimum cost, while satisfying the component performance requirements. The flexible designs are then evaluated for economic profitability under identified uncertainty, using Monte Carlo simulation. At the end, the most profitable flexible component design is selected. The proposed design process is demonstrated through a case study, in which different flexible designs are generated and optimized for an automotive floor pan, an essential element of most vehicle product platforms. Results suggest that the way in which the flexibility is incorporated in the component, production volume trends, and the degree of built-in flexibility are important factors to consider when designing flexible product platforms.

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Abbreviations

c :

Total unit cost of the component

c a :

Unit assembly cost of a component

c f :

Unit fabrication cost of a component

C :

Total variable cost for a design alternative

CF :

Cash flow

D h :

Historical demand

D o :

Initial demand

E[D]:

Expected demand

E[NPV]:

Expected net present value

F :

Set of economic variables

J :

Set of performance variables

k L :

Total line investment cost

k T :

Total tooling investment cost

K :

Total capital investment cost

L :

Length of the floor pan

M :

Mass of the floor pan

NPV :

Net present value

N S :

Number of simulation runs

p :

Number of uncertain parameters

q :

Number of component variants

r :

Discount rate

T :

Lifetime of the product platform

T F :

Total number of future time periods

T H :

Total number of historical time periods

u :

Individual uncertainty

U :

Set of uncertainties

v :

Individual design alternative

V :

Set of design alternatives

w :

Number of welding connections

x L :

Geometric design vector for long floor pan

x s :

Geometric design vector for short floor pan

Y :

Total number of design alternatives

α :

Drift coefficient

ε :

Random variable ~N(0,1) normally distributed

δ :

Bending stiffness

σ :

Volatility coefficient

τ :

Torsional stiffness

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA

    Eun Suk Suh & Olivier de Weck

  2. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Queens University, Kingston, ON, Canada, K7L 3N6

    Il Yong Kim

  3. General Motors R & D, Warren, MI, 48090, USA

    David Chang

Authors
  1. Eun Suk Suh
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  2. Olivier de Weck
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  3. Il Yong Kim
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  4. David Chang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olivier de Weck.

Additional information

D. Chang was retired from General Motors R & D

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Suh, E.S., de Weck, O., Kim, I.Y. et al. Flexible platform component design under uncertainty. J Intell Manuf 18, 115–126 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-007-0008-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10845-007-0008-x

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