Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 041403 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions Of the ASME |
| Volume | 142 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 19 Sept 2019 |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Nov 2019 |
Abstract
Research in modularization of product families reveals numerous individual cause and effect impacts of modularity on a firm. There are clearly many interrelated positive and negative economic impacts arising from different activities of the firm impacted by the modular product structures. This makes the construction of an economic business case for modularity difficult, where often the benefits are reduced indirect costs. This paper presents a literature-based network model of how modular product structures affect firm's economics across the design-to-manufacturing life cycle phases. It shows how (1) changes on modularity properties may lead to (2) different effects within the product's life cycle phases that (3) have an economic impact on the firm. For instance, modularization can prolong development time of a platform, while shortening the subsequent development times of product variants and lowering manufacturing costs. To validate the proposed model, the given effect chains were compared by industrial experts against nine case study modularization projects by marking effects that were experienced and observed in their projects. The results first revealed that in design, an increase of commonality drove component reuse leading to lower development costs per unit. Second, in procurement, it was found that increased modularity caused better predictability, less purchasing orders, and better purchasing conditions that ultimately lead to lower costs. Third, in production, it was found that a smaller variety of components allowed less process variety, leading to fewer and more optimized processes and therefore lower production costs. We present these cause and effect impacts of modularity as drivers for quantifying the economic impact of modularity.
Keywords
- Cause and effect model, Life cycle analysis and design, Modularity, Product development, Product family design, Product platform design
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Engineering(all)
- Mechanics of Materials
- Engineering(all)
- Mechanical Engineering
- Computer Science(all)
- Computer Science Applications
- Computer Science(all)
- Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
Sustainable Development Goals
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In: Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions Of the ASME, Vol. 142, No. 4, 041403, 08.11.2019.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Impact of modularity decisions on a firm's economic objectives
AU - Hackl, Jennifer
AU - Krause, Dieter
AU - Otto, Kevin
AU - Windheim, Marc
AU - Moon, Seung Ki
AU - Bursac, Nikola
AU - Lachmayer, Roland
N1 - Funding information: This work was also supported by a grant from the Academy of Finland (Grant No. 297095; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100002341) for Aalto University together with the Hamburg University of Technology supported by a grant from German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100001655). Thanks to the German Research Foundation (Deutsche For-schungsgemeinschaft—DFG; Funder ID: 10.13039/501100001659) for funding this project within the research grant “WiMo— Entwicklung eines Wirkmodells der Eigenschaften modularer Produktstrukturen zur Bewertung methodischer Ansaetze” at the Hamburg University of Technology.
PY - 2019/11/8
Y1 - 2019/11/8
N2 - Research in modularization of product families reveals numerous individual cause and effect impacts of modularity on a firm. There are clearly many interrelated positive and negative economic impacts arising from different activities of the firm impacted by the modular product structures. This makes the construction of an economic business case for modularity difficult, where often the benefits are reduced indirect costs. This paper presents a literature-based network model of how modular product structures affect firm's economics across the design-to-manufacturing life cycle phases. It shows how (1) changes on modularity properties may lead to (2) different effects within the product's life cycle phases that (3) have an economic impact on the firm. For instance, modularization can prolong development time of a platform, while shortening the subsequent development times of product variants and lowering manufacturing costs. To validate the proposed model, the given effect chains were compared by industrial experts against nine case study modularization projects by marking effects that were experienced and observed in their projects. The results first revealed that in design, an increase of commonality drove component reuse leading to lower development costs per unit. Second, in procurement, it was found that increased modularity caused better predictability, less purchasing orders, and better purchasing conditions that ultimately lead to lower costs. Third, in production, it was found that a smaller variety of components allowed less process variety, leading to fewer and more optimized processes and therefore lower production costs. We present these cause and effect impacts of modularity as drivers for quantifying the economic impact of modularity.
AB - Research in modularization of product families reveals numerous individual cause and effect impacts of modularity on a firm. There are clearly many interrelated positive and negative economic impacts arising from different activities of the firm impacted by the modular product structures. This makes the construction of an economic business case for modularity difficult, where often the benefits are reduced indirect costs. This paper presents a literature-based network model of how modular product structures affect firm's economics across the design-to-manufacturing life cycle phases. It shows how (1) changes on modularity properties may lead to (2) different effects within the product's life cycle phases that (3) have an economic impact on the firm. For instance, modularization can prolong development time of a platform, while shortening the subsequent development times of product variants and lowering manufacturing costs. To validate the proposed model, the given effect chains were compared by industrial experts against nine case study modularization projects by marking effects that were experienced and observed in their projects. The results first revealed that in design, an increase of commonality drove component reuse leading to lower development costs per unit. Second, in procurement, it was found that increased modularity caused better predictability, less purchasing orders, and better purchasing conditions that ultimately lead to lower costs. Third, in production, it was found that a smaller variety of components allowed less process variety, leading to fewer and more optimized processes and therefore lower production costs. We present these cause and effect impacts of modularity as drivers for quantifying the economic impact of modularity.
KW - Cause and effect model
KW - Life cycle analysis and design
KW - Modularity
KW - Product development
KW - Product family design
KW - Product platform design
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074869031&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1115/1.4044914
DO - 10.1115/1.4044914
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074869031
VL - 142
JO - Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions Of the ASME
JF - Journal of Mechanical Design, Transactions Of the ASME
SN - 1050-0472
IS - 4
M1 - 041403
ER -