CAREER: Product Platform Modeling and Customization

本次CAREER奖的研究目标是为基于决策的产品族设计方法建立基础，并为基于web的产品平台定制开发元建模策略。第一个目标将调查生成产品平台替代方案的方法，并对来自每个平台替代方案的相应产品族中的产品的相关成本、需求和不确定性进行建模。第二个研究目标是通过互联网实现平台变体的快速定制。职业生涯奖的教育目标是通过产品系列设计和定制的行业项目，让学生参与基于问题的学习，并评估拟议的教育活动在促进学生学习和学生终身学习态度方面的有效性。这些教育目标将整合在三门本科课程和一门研究生课程中。还将开展让大一新生、K-12年级的女性和少数民族学生接触设计和产品家族的产品剖析活动。三家工业合作伙伴——Durametal、Flowserve和Ivalo Lighting将在拟议的研究和教育活动中进行合作。如果成功，这项研究的结果将帮助公司减少开发成本和上市时间，同时增加产品种类和定制。基于web的平台定制策略也将增强客户互动，提高客户满意度。拟议的研究将促进设计方法和工具的发展，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在当今竞争激烈的数字和全球市场中取得成功，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。研究和教育活动也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.