Recap of the Book, Current/Future
Directions, and the “Model” Platform
ME 546 - Designing Product Families - IE 546
Timothy W. Simpson
Professor of Mechanical & Industrial
Engineering and Engineering Design
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802 USA
phone: (814) 863-7136
email: tws8@psu.edu
http://www.mne.psu.edu/simpson/courses/me546
PENNSTATE
© T. W. SIMPSON
Overview of Lecture
• Recap of the book

What we covered and what we did not…
…and other books of interest
• Current/future directions in platform/family design

Excerpts from:
–
Simpson, T. W., Marion, T. J., de Weck, O., Holtta-Otto, K., Kokkolaras,
M. and Shooter, S. B. (2006) Platform-Based Design and Development:
Current Trends and Needs in Industry, 2006 ASME Design Engineering
Technical Conferences - Design Automation Conference, Philadelphia,
PA, ASME, Paper No. DETC2006/DAC-99229
• The Model T as the “model” platform

Excerpts from:
–
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Alizon, F., Shooter, S. B. and Simpson, T. W. (2008) Henry Ford and the
Model T: Lessons for Product Platforming and Mass Customization,
2009 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences - Design
Automation Conference, Saitou, K., ed., New York, NY, August 3-6,
ASME, DETC2008/DAC-49420 to appear in Design Studies (2009)
© T. W. SIMPSON
Product Platform and Product Family Design
• Editors:

Timothy W. Simpson,
Zahed Siddique, &
Jianxin (Roger) Jiao
• Year of Publication:

2005
• Publisher:

Springer (New York)
• Focus:

Methods for designing
product platforms and
product families
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Target Audience
• Our target audience includes:
1. Researchers and Ph.D. students in Mechanical Engineering,
Industrial Engineering, Computer-Integrated Manufacturing,
and related fields in Engineering Management
2. Practitioners involved in Design, Development, Planning and
Production in the manufacturing industry
• We wanted to provide an overview of the more mature
research that has occurred, emphasizing methods for:





developing platform architectures
identifying platform leveraging strategies
positioning products within a family
planning the extent of the product family
optimizing families of products based on platforms
including platform case studies form industry
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Contributing Authors
• Over 30 authors contributed 22 chapters
• Authors span academia as well as industry:

Penn State, MIT, Georgia Tech, Michigan, BYU, Bucknell,
UIUC, University of Oklahoma

Osaka University, Nanyang Technological University, University
of Twente, Chalmers University of Technology

ABB, PRTM, Robust Systems & Strategy, Infotiv,
Hofer & Partner, KPMG Advisory Services
• National and international contributors from:

United States, Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland,
Germany, Malta, Japan, Singapore
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Chapter 1: Introduction & Overview
Chapter 1 
Product Variety and Customization
 Definitions of Platforms and Product Families
 General Approaches to Platform Design

Module-Based Product Families and Examples
 Scale-Based Product Families and Examples
 Discuss Organization of the Book

• Authors:
–
–
–
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Timothy W. Simpson, Penn State University
Zahed Siddique, Oklahoma University
Jianxin (Roger) Jiao, Nanyang Technological University
(Singapore)
© T. W. SIMPSON
Pictorial Overview (Chapter 1)
Part IV: Applications
Part IV: Applications
Part
Part
PartI:I:
PartII:
II:
Front
End
Issues
Optimization
Based
Front-End Issues Optimization-BasedMethods
Methods
Part
Part III:
III:
Back
End
Back-End Issues
Issues
Product
Process
Product
Customer Portfolio Functional Platform Physical Platform Process
Domain
Domain
Domain
Domain
Customer
Needs
(CNs)
Functional
Requirements
(FRs)
Design
Parameters
(DPs)
Process
Variables
(PVs)
Customer
Satisfaction
Functionality
Technical
Feasibility
Manufacturability
and Cost
Product Definition
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Product Design
Process Design
© T. W. SIMPSON
Part I: Front-End Issues in Platforming
Chapters 2-7
2: Effective Platform Planning in the Front-End 
–
Daniel Bowman, PRTM
3: Platform-Driven Development of Product Families 
–
Johannes I. M. Halman, University of Twente (Netherlands), Adrian P.
Hofer, Hofer & Partner (Switzerland), and Wim van Vuuren, KPMG
Advisory Services (Malta)
4: Platform Concept Selection 
–
Katja Hölttä-Otto, MIT (UMass-Dartmouth) with Kevin Otto, Robust
Systems and Strategy
5: Platform Leveraging Strategies and Market Segmentation 
–
Tucker Marion and Timothy W. Simpson, Penn State University
6: Product Family Positioning
–
Jianxin Jiao and Yiyang Zhang, Nanyang Technological University
(Singapore)
7: Commonality Indices for Product Families 
–
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Henri J. Thevenot and Timothy W. Simpson, Penn State University
© T. W. SIMPSON
Part II: Optimization-Based Approaches
Chapters 8-12
8: Methods for Optimizing Platforms and Families 
–
Timothy W. Simpson, Penn State University
9: Commonality Decisions in Platform Design
–
Michael Kokkolaras, Ryan Fellini, and Panos Y. Papalambros,
University of Michigan
10: Product Variety Optimization
–
Kikuo Fujita, Osaka University (Japan)
11: Analytical Target Cascading in Product Family Design
–
Ryan Fellini, Michael Kokkolaras, and Panos Y. Papalambros,
University of Michigan, with Harrison H. Kim from UIUC
12: Determining Product Platform Extent 
–
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Olivier de Weck, MIT
© T. W. SIMPSON
Part III: Back-End Issues in Platforming
Chapters 13-18
13: Roadmap for Product Architecture Costing
–
Sebastian K. Fixson, University of Michigan
14: Activity-Based Costing for Product Families
–
Jaeil Park and Timothy W. Simpson, Penn State University
15: Product Platform Redesign using Platforms
–
Zahed Siddique, University of Oklahoma
16: Process Platforms and Product Configuration
–
Jianxin (Roger) Jiao, Lianfeng Zhang, and Shaligram Pokharel,
Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
17: Measuring Shape Commonality
–
Zahed Siddique, University of Oklahoma
18: Process Parameter Platform Design
–
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Christopher B. Williams, Janet K. Allen, David W. Rosen, and Farrokh
Mistree, Georgia Tech
© T. W. SIMPSON
Part IV: Applications
Chapters 19-22
19: Ice Scraper Platforms
at Innovation Factory 
–
Steven B. Shooter,
Bucknell University
Ice dozer
Mini dozer variants
20: Engineering Platforms and Families at ABB 
–
Srinivas Nidamarthi and Harshavardhan Karandikar, ABB (Germany)
21: Product Design Generator at Honeywell 
–
Gregory M. Roach and Jordan J. Cox, BYU
22: Platform Management Practice at Cetetherm 
–
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Tobias Holmqvist and Magnus Persson, Chalmers University of
Technology (Sweden) with Karin Uller from Infotiv
© T. W. SIMPSON
Other Books: The Power of Product Platforms
• Authors:

Marc Meyer & Al Lehnerd
• Year of Publication:

1997
• Publisher:

Free Press (New York)
• Focus:

This has become THE
book on product platform
planning
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Product Strategy for High-Tech Companies
• Author:

Michael E. McGrath
• Year of Publication:

2001
• Publisher:

McGraw-Hill
(New York)
• Focus:

Use of platforms in high-tech
industries and PRTM’s
platform planning process
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Managing Product Families
• Authors:

Susan Sanderson &
Mustafa Uzumeri
• Year of Publication:

1997
• Publisher:

Irwin (Chicago, IL)
• Focus:

Product family management
with an emphasis on Sony’s
platform planning strategy
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Design Rules
Volume I: The Power of Modularity
• Authors:

Carliss Y. Baldwin
& Kim B. Clark
• Year of Publication:

2000
• Publisher:

MIT Press (Cambridge, MA)
• Focus:

Modular-based design
strategies and examples
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© T. W. SIMPSON
The Age of Modularity
• Author:

Peter O’Grady
• Year of Publication:

1999
• Publisher:

Adams and Steele
(Iowa City, IA)
• Focus:

Modularity and its role in
product design as well as
organizational design
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Controlling Design Variants
• Authors:

Anna Ericsson
& Gunnar Erixon
• Year of Publication:

1999
• Publisher:

SME (New York)
• Focus:

Modular Function
DeploymentTM and Module
Identification MatrixTM
Methods
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Product Variety Management
• Editors:

Teck-Hua Ho &
Christopher S. Tang
• Year of Publication:

1998
• Publisher:

Kluwer (Boston, MA)
• Focus:

Collection of papers dealing
with the management of
product variety
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Integrated Design of a Product Family
• Authors:

Pierre De Lit &
Alain Delchambre
• Year of Publication:

1998
• Publisher:

Kluwer (Boston, MA)
• Focus:

Assembly system design to
facilitate manufacturing
products in a family
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Build-to-Order & Mass Customization
• Author:

David M. Anderson
• Year of Publication:

2004
• Publisher:

CIM Press (Cambria, CA)
• Focus:

Product design and supply
chain issues associated with
mass customization and
build-to-order systems
PENNSTATE
© T. W. SIMPSON
Overview of Lecture
• Recap of the book

What we covered and what we did not…
…and other books of interest
• Current directions in product family and platform design

Excerpts from:
–
Simpson, T. W., Marion, T. J., de Weck, O., Holtta-Otto, K., Kokkolaras,
M. and Shooter, S. B. (2006) Platform-Based Design and Development:
Current Trends and Needs in Industry, 2006 ASME Design Engineering
Technical Conferences - Design Automation Conference, Philadelphia,
PA, ASME, Paper No. DETC2006/DAC-99229
• The Model T as the “model” platform

Excerpts from:
–
PENNSTATE
Alizon, F., Shooter, S. B. and Simpson, T. W. (2008) Henry Ford and the
Model T: Lessons for Product Platforming and Mass Customization,
2009 ASME Design Engineering Technical Conferences - Design
Automation Conference, Saitou, K., ed., New York, NY, August 3-6,
ASME, DETC2008/DAC-49420 to appear in Design Studies (2009)
© T. W. SIMPSON
2004 Platform Management for Continued Growth
• Nov. 30 – Dec. 1, 2004 in
Atlanta, GA
• Sponsored by PDMA/IIR
• Keynote Speaker:

Marc Meyer, co-author of
Power of Product Platforms
• Twenty industry experts:

Harley Davidson, Kodak,
DuPont, Intel, and Lockheed
Martin, Aventis Pasteur,
IBM, Case-New Holland
Global, Cingular Wireless,
Playtex, Argon Engineering,
and Innovation Focus
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Post-Conference Workshop
• Hosted by Mr. Patrick Gordon from PRTM
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© T. W. SIMPSON
• November 9-10, 2005 at MIT
Co-organized by Olivier de Weck and Timothy W. Simpson
 Co-sponsored by MIT, CIPD (Prof. Chris Magee), Penn State,
and a generous donation from DuPont (Debbra Johnson)

• Objectives:
Unveil and present new edited volume (book)
 Bring community of practitioners and academics together: to
learn, think, debate, network, socialize,…
 Extend concept of product families and platforms to nontraditional areas: software, services
 Transition from CIPD to Center for Engr Sys Fundamentals

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© T. W. SIMPSON
Conference Highlights
• Two keynote speakers:
Marc Meyer, co-author of Power of Product Platforms (1997)
 B. Joseph Pine II, author of Mass Customization (1993)

• Industry speakers from:

HP, DuPont, Design Continuum, LG, United Technologies,
PRTM, ABB, GM/Saab, Robust Systems and Strategy, and
Innovation Factory
• Panel discussion and enlightening talks from academia
• Drew 114 participants split evenly between industry and
academia
• All presentations and materials available on website:

http://cipd.mit.edu/pd
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Platforms for Innovation and Enterprise Growth
Cumulative
Sales
Enterprise
Growth
Market Expansion
Stagnation
& Decline
Technological
Discontinuities
Niche Players
Time
Source: (Meyer, 2005)
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Time
© T. W. SIMPSON
Common Themes & Trends
• Several common themes arose from the 30+ industry
presentations and ensuing discussions:

Corporate Culture Change

Upper Management – Catalyst for Change

Product Development – Results through Teamwork

Architecture – Common Subsystems and Reduced Complexity

Platform Strategies in “Non-Traditional” Applications

Forecasting and Analysis – Understand the Market

Financial Planning

Globalization and Product Platforms
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Corporate Culture Change
• Corporations that embraced cross-functional product
platform teams routinely were able to quickly reinvent
themselves and successfully enter new markets
Functional management structures tend to lead to ‘fiefdoms’
with overlapping capabilities (R&D, marketing, design, etc.)
 IBM example taken from Paul Mugge:

In 1996, IBM Servers shared fewer than
2% of components between divisions
(any sharing was unintentional)
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By reorganizing around cross-disciplined,
market-facing platform teams, they used
platforms to save over $775M in 4 years
© T. W. SIMPSON
Upper Management – Catalyst for Change
• Reorganization will fail without strong support from
upper management


After losing $8B in 1993, Louis V. Gerstner spearheaded a
culture change by appointing senior management to lead the
effort and commit the required resources (see: LVG, Who
Says Elephants Can’t Dance?, Harper Business, 2002)
In 2000, Intel’s Desktop Platform Group shifted focus from
developing components to developing platforms, and
management provided evolutionary improvement and
implementation of a coherent Platform Development
Management System
• Whether through a change manager (IBM) or an
evolutionary change (Intel), upper management must
support and be integrated in platform management
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Product Development – Results through Teamwork
• Cross-functional product development teams are
essential for implementing a successful platform
development strategy

Sanofi Aventis shared
experiences with using
platforms to expedite
FDA approval process
for the vaccines that
they develop
Adapted from Monica McGill, Sanofi Aventis Group
• Some firms experimenting with layered models:

platform teams serve as “middleware”, connecting slower
science-related R&D layer with fast-paced market-related
product development layer that wants to assemble and
customize products from existing, proven technologies quickly
for changing customer demands
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Architecture – Common Subsystems and Reduced Complexity
• Developing cohesive and flexible product architectures
is a necessity for successful platform implementation
• To achieve this, nearly every speaker presented a
customized version of Meyer’s “Power Tower” at the
PDMA Conference that served as their firm’s product
planning roadmap

DuPont’s
example
from their
work with
Innovation
Focus 
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© T. W. SIMPSON
“Non-Traditional” Applications of Platforms
• Platform-based development is being adopted in “nontraditional” sectors such as telecommunications,
software, food and drug industries, health care and
service systems (e.g., entertainment, tourism, banking)
Cingular
Pre-Paid
Wireless
Platform
(J. Schlueter)
Example of software product line architecture (K. Weiss, MIT)
• Requires rethinking platform principles for technologyfocused platforms, artistic and industrial design-based
platforms, brand recognition-based platforms, etc.
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Forecasting and Analysis – Understand the Market
• Companies must listen to and identify the needs and
expectations of each market segment and tier
What is the significance of this segment?
 What are the key products?
 What are their volumes, revenue, and profits?
 What is the outlook for the next 5 years?
 What does the company have to do to enter, sustain, and
grow in the segment?

• Companies can then develop a ‘360 degree’ view of
potential customers to understand their needs,
requirements, and usage patterns
• ‘Voice of the Customer’ (VOC) based approaches were
used successfully by many companies to guide the
specification and features of new product platforms
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Financial Planning
• Justifying product family development to senior-level
management requires estimating the expected
financial benefits: savings due to commonality (e.g., in
manufacturing, inventory, training, maintenance) and
revenues due to successful products in the market

Requires integrating
marketing, design,
engineering, and
manufacturing
considerations into
a unifying framework
to support platform
decision-making
Technology
-2Engineering
Performance
Performance
Attributes
f
Product
Value
-3Product
Value
Soft
x
Attributes
Design
s
Variables
-1Product
Architecture
Competition
Customers
Modules
Parts
-4Market
Demand
V
D
P
Demand
-5Manufacturing
Cost
C
Price
-6Investment
Finance
A
Profit
NPV
Variable
Cost
Shareholders
Standards
Regulations
Labor Rates
Raw Materials
Suppliers
Interest Rates
Plants & Tooling
Example from Chapter 12 by Olivier de Weck
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Globalization and Product Platforms
• Globalization not only offers opportunities for product
families but actually implies them
• Speakers stated that platform-based development is
the only way for international companies to market
their products efficiently and stay in business
• Taking a global perspective
can offer new market
opportunities also

DuPont example 
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© T. W. SIMPSON
Needs & Future Directions
• Recognizing a Holistic Platform Strategy

How to integrate life-cycle concerns and manage knowledge
• Flexible Platform Design for Multiple Generations

How do we embed flexibility into platforms to enable them to
evolve as technology changes to serve multiple generations
• Corporate Platform Strategy and Tradeoffs

How can we facilitate corporate reorganization for platform
teaming while ensuring management “buy in” is achieved
• Expanding Views for Platforms

How to best leverage platform principles to service platforms,
software platforms, brand platforms, etc.
• Effective Partnerships: Industry+Academic+Government

How to exploit synergies among our efforts and help educate
future generations of platform designers and engineers
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© T. W. SIMPSON