Function-behavior Platforms Using Ant Colony Optimization

Abstract

Product platforming strategy is widely used by many companies to generate customized product variants for different market segments. Most research on product platform focuses on maximizing the usage of common physical assets (structures such as components and sub-assemblies) amongst product variants. We opine that even before considering product platforms at the structure level, there is merit to consider building platforms at a higher level of abstraction, namely, at the function-behavior level. Here, behavior refers to the working principles employed to realize desirable functions. The product structure is the end result of the set of functions and behavior (F-B) that is chosen by the company to target a given market segment. This study presents a methodology based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique to determine a higher abstract platform at the F-B level. We demonstrate the working of the methodology using an example of a product family.

Department(s)

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Ant Colony Optimization; Function-Behavior Platform; Product Family

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2005 Institute of Industrial Engineers (IIE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 May 2005

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