FRAMEWORK FOR DIAGNOSING STANDARDIZATION POTENTIAL IN CURRENT PRODUCT RANGE
Year: 2015
Editor: Christian Weber, Stephan Husung, Gaetano Cascini, Marco Cantamessa, Dorian Marjanovic, Frederico Rotini
Author: Chandra, Sushil
Series: ICED
Institution: Hero Motocorp Limited, India
Section: Product Modularisation, Product Architecture, Systems Engineering, Product Service Systems
Page(s): 053-062
ISBN: 978-1-904670-70-4
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
Standardization and innovation are two contradictory but essential requirements of modern design. Standardization improves operational efficiency and innovation which essentially results in differentiation of a product improves the marketability. The challenge to share the parts across a range of products without compromising the distinctiveness needs to be resolved by the designer at many levels- at the top level design while defining the architecture of the product and at level of detailing. This becomes more difficult in a situation where a range of products already exist without a clear definition of platforms. This paper successfully attempts to develop a basis for identifying platforms and formulate a tool to identify the focus areas for standardization both from microscopic and macroscopic perspectives accounting for financial considerations. At the macro level, the paper is able to identify the areas with substantial standardization potential by scanning an automobile industry for example.
Keywords: Innovation, Platform Strategies, Product Architecture