Analyzing Module Commonality for Platform Design in Functional and Physical Domain

Product platforms can provide many advantages from cost savings to a large variety of products with less effort than without platforms. The key choice in modular platform design is the choice of common platform modules. We developed an algorithm to aid in this choice. The algorithm is based on calculating the distance between function inputs and outputs, in the functional domain, or component attributes, in the physical domain. Unlike other methods before, this method can identify commonalities from any or mixed degrees of decomposition and it is not limited to a single measure of commonality. In addition we analyze the degree of commonality quantitatively. The common module candidates are clustered to a hierarchical dendrogram that serves as a decision tool for the designer. It is shown how the algorithm identifies common module candidates for a family of sensors in the functional domain and for a family of micro machines in the physical domain.