View article

Developing product architectures is a key phase in design and development processes. It encompasses the transformation of product function to alternative product layouts. In this paper, we describe a new approach for identifying modules for product architectures. We begin by reviewing the terminology and motivation for modular products. The new concepts of a functional basis and time ordered function chains are used to formally derive functional models of products. Then, three heuristic methods for identifying modules from functional models are presented. Using the formal functional decomposition and heuristic methods, modular design can be executed earlier in the product development process, as illustrated by the example of a consumer power-tool product and a larger, complex maintenance device. A database of 70 consumer products is used to verify and confirm the overall modular design approach.