Product Modularity û The Link Between Product Architecture and Product Life-cycle Costs

这个项目的重点是建立一种方法来理解产品架构、产品模块化和生命周期成本之间的定性和定量联系。产品架构——组件、子组件和组件的结构——对与产品的每个生命周期阶段（制造、组装、服务、退役等）相关的成本有着巨大的影响。将组件分组到模块中是设计人员早期做出的关键决策之一。这项工作旨在提供模块化决策和生命周期产品成本之间的关系，这是设计师通过定量地将它们与产品架构联系起来所缺乏的。预期的结果将是一个经过验证的，可实施的设计方法，包括这些定量关系，并希望明确地显示，因此鼓励对设计方法的验证应用。如果成功，这项研究将在设计工程师在工程设计过程早期控制的元素和产品的长期生命周期成本之间架起一座基本的桥梁。经过设计工程师的应用，结果应该是大大降低了产品生命周期成本，大大缩短了产品开发周期时间。从长远来看，产品架构方面的研究应该产生基本的联系，从而实现真正的预先并行工程，在这种工程中，产品和过程是为最小的总生命周期成本而设计的。在整个项目中，PI将与生命周期工程实验室的博士生和本科生合作，通过密歇根King-Chavis-Parks倡议为未被充分代表的学生提供服务。PI还计划在生命周期工程，高级顶点设计和新产品开发课程中进行研究/教学机会。

This project focuses on establishing a method for understanding qualitative and quantitative connections among product architecture, product modularity, and life-cycle costs. Product architecture - the structure of assemblies, sub-assemblies, and components - has an enormous impact on the costs associated with each life-cycle phase of a product - manufacturing, assembly, service, retirement, etc. Component grouping into modules is one of the critical early decisions made by designers. This work aims to provide the relationship between modularity decisions and life-cycle product costs that designers lack by quantitatively relating each to product architecture. The expected result will be a validated, implementable design method that includes these quantitative relationships and it is hoped to explicitly show, and therefore encourage, the application of validation to design methods. If successful, this research will yield a fundamental bridge between the elements that a design engineer controls early in the engineering design process and the long-term life-cycle costs of a product. After application by design engineers, the result should be dramatically reduced product life-cycle costs and dramatically reduced product development cycle times. In the longer term, this research in product architecture should yield fundamental linkages that enable true up front concurrent engineering where products and processes are designed for minimum total life-cycle costs.Throughout this project, the PI will team with Ph.D. students in the life-cycle engineering laboratory and undergraduate researchers through the Michigan King-Chavis-Parks Initiative for underrepresented students. The PI also plans research / teaching opportunities with classes in life-cycle engineering, senior capstone design, and new product development.