IEEM 3200 Product Design and Development

- Product Architecture
Prof. Chih-Hsing Chu
2015 / 05 / 18

Where are we?

Planning

Concept
Development

System-Level
Design

Platform
decision

Concept
decision

Decomposition
decision

Detail
Design

Testing and
Refinement

Production
Ramp-Up

Product architecture is determined early in the development process.

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Product Architecture Example

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Functional/Physical Forms

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What is Product Architecture?

A product can be analyzed from and represented with both

func7onal and physical terms.
Product architecture involves:
The deni7on and the arrangement of func7onal elements
The mapping of these elements to physical components
The specica7on of interfaces among interac7ng physical
components

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Example of trailer
Mission statement of trailer: a device that
expands the capability of cargo transporta7on
for vehicles

protect cargo
from weather
connect to
vehicle
minimize
air drag
support
cargo loads
suspend
trailer structure
transfer loads
to road

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Functional Form Schematic

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Physical Forms
The physical elements of a product are the parts, components, and
subassemblies that provide the products func7on.
The physical elements of a product are typically organized into several
major physical building blocks, referred to as

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box

protect cargo
from weather

hitch

connect to
vehicle

fairing

minimize
air drag

bed

support
cargo loads

springs

suspend
trailer structure

wheels

transfer loads
to road

Different Product Architecture

The product architecture is the way that the func,onal
elements of the product are arranged into physical chunks and
how the chunks interact with each other.

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upper half

protect cargo
from weather

lower half

connect to
vehicle

nose piece

minimize
air drag

cargo hanging
straps

support
cargo loads

spring slot
covers

suspend
trailer structure

wheels

transfer loads
to road

Product Architecture
Decomposi1on + Interac1ons

Interactions within chunks

Interactions across chunks

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Modular vs. Integral

A modular architecture usually has the following proper7es
- Each chunk implement one or a few func7onal elements
- The interac7ons between chunks are well dened
An integral architecture usually has the following proper7es
- Func7onal elements are realized with more than one chunk
- A single chunk implements many func7onal elements
- The interac7ons between chunks are not well dened and may be
incidental to the primary func7ons of the product
A product is rarely strictly modular or integral. is used to
characterize the rela7ve degree of this property.
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Examples of Integral Product

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Examples of Modular Product

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Integral vs. Modular Products

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Integral vs. Modular Products

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Types of Modularity
Modular architecture normally contains three types. Each type
species a one-to-one mapping from func7onal elements to
chunks. The dierences between types lie in the way the
interac7ons are organized.
: each of the interfaces between chunks is of a dierent
type from the other.
: there is a common bus to which the other chunks
connect via the same type of interface.
: all interfaces are of the same type, but there is no
single element to which all the other chunks aHach
: no well-dened interface.
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Different Modularity

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Types of Modularity - Trailer

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Types of Modularity - Desk

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Types of Modularity - Computer

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Bills of Material (BOM)

A is a list of the raw
materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub
-components, parts and the quan77es of each needed to
manufacture an end product.

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Q&A
http://prl.ie.nthu.edu.tw/