CAREER: Product Platform Modeling and Customization

该职业奖的研究目标是为基于决策的产品族设计方法奠定基础，并为基于网络的产品平台定制开发元建模策略。第一个目标将研究生成产品平台备选方案的方法，并对从每个平台备选方案派生的相应产品系列中的产品的相关成本、需求和不确定性进行建模。第二个研究目标将通过互联网实现平台变体的快速定制。这一职业奖的教育目标将通过产品族设计和定制方面的行业重点项目，让学生参与以问题为基础的学习，并评估拟议的教育活动在增强学生学习和学生对终身学习的态度方面的有效性。这些教育目标将纳入三门本科课程和一门研究生课程。还将开展产品剖析活动，让K-12年级的新生、女性和少数族裔学生接触设计和产品系列。三个行业合作伙伴--Duramtal、FlowServe和Ivalo Lighting--将在拟议的研究和教育活动中合作。如果成功，这项研究的结果将帮助公司在增加产品多样性和定制化的同时，降低开发成本和上市时间。基于网络的平台定制战略也将加强客户互动，提高客户满意度。拟议的研究将促进设计方法和工具的开发，这些方法和工具可用于设计满足各种快速变化的客户需求的产品系列。这些教育活动将帮助学生为在当今竞争激烈的数字和全球市场中取得成功做好准备。在这个市场中，公司不断努力缩短上市时间，增加产品种类，同时降低成本。研究和教育活动还将为长期从事工程设计、研究和教育奠定基础。

The research objectives of this CAREER Award are to establish a foundation for a decision-based approach to product family design and develop metamodeling strategies for web-based product platform customization. The first objective will investigate methods for generating product platform alternatives and modeling the associated costs, demand, and uncertainties of the products within the corresponding product family derived from each platform alternative. The second research objective will enable rapid customization of platform variants via the Internet. The educational objectives in this CAREER Award will engage students in problem-based learning through industry-focused projects in product family design and customization and assess the effectiveness of the proposed educational activities at enhancing student learning and student's attitudes toward lifelong learning. These educational objectives will be integrated within three undergraduate courses and one graduate course. Product dissection activities to expose freshmen and women and minority students in grades K-12 to design and product families will also be developed. Three industrial partners -- Durametal, Flowserve, and Ivalo Lighting -- will collaborate in the proposed research and educational activities.If successful, the results of this research will help companies reduce development costs and time-to-market while increasing product variety and customization. Strategies for web-based platform customization will also enhance customer interaction and improve customer satisfaction. The proposed research will foster the development of design methods and tools that can be used to design families of products that meet a wide range of rapidly changing customer requirements. The educational activities will help prepare students to succeed in today's highly competitive digital and global marketplace in which companies are constantly striving to shorten time-to-market and increase product variety while reducing costs. The research and educational activities will also establish a foundation for a long-term career in engineering design research and education.