This book focuses on the development of multi-variant products using modular product structures and thus addresses the reduction of complexity from a product development perspective. These modular product structures allow for a greater variety of demand with a smaller, internal variety of components and processes. As a supplement to the common product development methodology, the necessary basics of modularity and variant diversity as well as the corresponding methods are presented comprehensively. The book thus summarizes the current state of science as well as the research activities of the past ten years at the Institute of Product Development and Design Technology at the TU Hamburg-Harburg. The target groups This book is aimed at product developers and decision makers in practice. Science is offered a helpful reference book and interested engineering students can immerse themselves in the development of modular product families with the necessary basics. This book is a translation of the original German 1st edition Methodische Entwicklung modularer Produktfamilien by Dieter Krause & Nicolas Gebhardt, published by Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature in 2018. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation. Springer Nature works continuously to further the development of tools for the production of books and on the related technologies to support the authors.

The development of modular product families holds enormous economic potential for companies, as there are always great opportunities but also risks associated with all life phases of a product. However, these fundamental and far-reaching effects inevitably lead to conflicting objectives when defining modular product structures, which makes decision-making in product development particularly complex.Considering relevant theories from decision theory and product family design, this book presents an innovative method to support decision makers in the development of modular product families. The central element of the method is a novel Modularity Decision Dashboard (MDD), which interactively visualizes all decision-relevant data. The findings presented here confirm that applying the method to real-world decision-making problems leads to a more balanced ratio between internal and external variety, and thus significantly contributes to the efficient economic benefit of modularization.

The Future of Design Methodology gives a holistic overview of perspectives for design methodology, addresses trends for developing a powerful methodical support for design practice and provides a starting point for future design research. The chapters are written by leading scientists from around the world, who have great expertise in design methodology, as well as the farsightedness needed to develop design methodology further. The Future of Design Methodology is a detailed contribution to consolidated design methodology and design research. Instead of articulating the views of one scientist, it provides a comprehensive collection of perspectives and visions. The editor highlights the substantial deficiencies and problems of the current design methodology and summarizes the authors’ findings to draw future-oriented conclusions. The comprehensive overview of the status of design methodology given in The Future of Design Methodology will help enhance the individual scientific development of junior researchers, while the authoritative perspectives on future design methodology will challenge the views of experts. It is suitable for readers working in a wide range of design fields, such as design methodology, engineering design and industrial design.

Advances in Product Family and Product Platform Design: Methods & Applications highlights recent advances that have been made to support product family and product platform design along with successful applications in industry. This book provides not only motivation for product family and product platform design (i.e., address questions about “why and when should we platform”) but also methods and tools to support the design and development of families of products based on shared platforms (i.e. address the “how” and “what” questions about platforming). It begins with a general overview of product family design to introduce the general reader to the topic and then progress to more advanced topics and design theory to help designers, engineers, and project managers plan, architect, and implement platform-based product development strategies for their company. Finally, successful industry applications provide readers and practitioners with case studies and “talking points” to become platform advocates and leaders within their organization.

Design Methodology for Future Products – Data Driven, Agile and Flexible provides an overview of the recent research in the field of design methodology from the point of view of the members of the scientific society for product development (WiGeP - Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft für Produktenwicklung e.V.). This book aims to contribute to design methods and their implementation for innovative future products. The main focus is the crucial data-driven, agile, and flexible way of working. Four topics are covered in corresponding chapters, Methods for Product Development and Management, Methods for Specific Products and Systems, Facing the Challenges in Product Development and Model-Based Engineering in Product Development. This publication starts with the agile strategic foresight of sustainable mechatronic and cyber-physical systems, moves on to the topics of system generation engineering in development processes, followed by the technical inheritance in data-driven product development. Product improvements are shown via agile experiential learning based on reverse engineering and via combination of usability and emotions. Furthermore, the development of future-oriented products in the field of biomechatronic systems, sustainable mobility systems and in situ sensor integration is shown. The overcoming of challenges in product development is demonstrated through context-adapted methods by focusing on efficiency and effectiveness, as well as designer-centered methods to tackle cognitive bias. Flow design for target-oriented availability of data and information in product development is addressed. Topics of model-based systems engineering are applied to the function-driven product development by linking model elements at all stages and phases of the product. The potential of model-based systems engineering for modular product families and engineering of multidisciplinary complex systems is shown.

Modular Systems for Energy and Fuel Recovery and Conversion surveys the benefits of the modular approach in the front end of the energy industry. The book also outlines strategies for managing modular approaches for fossil, renewable, and nuclear energy resource recovery and conversion with the help of successful industrial examples. The book points out that while the modular approach is most applicable for distributed and small-scale energy systems, it is also often used for parts of large-scale centralized systems. With the help of successful industrial examples of modular approaches for energy and fuel recovery and conversion, the book points out the need for more balance between large-scale centralized systems and small-scale distributed systems to serve the energy needs of rural and isolated communities. Coal, oil, natural gas, hydrogen, biomass, waste, nuclear, geothermal solar, wind, and hydro energy are examined, showing that modular operations are very successfully used in all these components of the energy industry. Aimed at academic researchers and industry professionals, this book provides successful examples and analysis of the modular operation for energy and fuel recovery and conversion. It is also a reference for those who are engaged in the development of modular systems for energy and fuel recovery and conversion.

The use of modular product architectures can significantly increase the efficiency in manufacturing companies. Various modularization methods are used in the development of these architectures, but they always result in different architecture alternatives. This thesis describes the development of a model-based simulation for multi-dimensional performance assessment of these architecture alternatives with their corresponding modular kits. The central element of this simulation is formed by a model-based configuration system, identifying individually valid product variants using concepts and tools of Model-based-systems-engineering (MBSE). Based on the developed Hyperspace algorithm, a geometric-mathematical solution approach, these variants are then evaluated considering multiple parameters. By recursively configuring multiple customer requests using alternative modular kits, an individual performance criterion of these alternatives can be generated, including customer-, market- and company parameters. This thesis describes the development of the performance simulation on the basis of a simplified explanation example. A validation based on customer-specific laser welding systems is also shown.

Particularly in the humanities and social sciences, festschrifts are a popular forum for discussion. The IJBF provides quick and easy general access to these important resources for scholars and students. The festschrifts are located in state and regional libraries and their bibliographic details are recorded. Since 1983, more than 659,000 articles from more than 30,500 festschrifts, published between 1977 and 2011, have been catalogued.

Simple problems have become rare in today’s technologically advanced world. Problems are typically much more complex, and solving them requires integrative knowledge from several disciplines. Technology alone cannot be the answer. Collaborative teams equipped with knowledge and skills in various disciplines are indispensable to exploit technologies effectively and create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and translational innovations that integrate and move beyond discipline-specific approaches to address a common problem in the changing and connected world. This book presents the proceedings of TE2023, the 30th International Conference on Transdisciplinary Engineering, held in Hua Hin Cha Am, Thailand from 11-14 July 2023. The theme of this year’s conference was Leveraging Transdisciplinary Engineering in a Changing and Connected World, and it provided a forum for more than 115 participants from academia and industry to exchange knowledge and ideas connected to this aspect of transdisciplinary engineering. A total of 117 submissions were received for the conference, of which 93 were selected for presentation and publication here following a rigorous abstract and full-paper review process. They are arranged under 7 categories: product design and development; team working; smart operations for value chain management; transdisciplinary approaches; engineering education; critical issues in transdisciplinary engineering; and theoretical contributions. Providing a comprehensive overview of the latest innovations and ideas in transdisciplinary engineering, the book will be of interest to all those working in the field.

This 4-volume set, IFIP AICT 689-692, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International IFIP WG 5.7 Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems, APMS 2023, held in Trondheim, Norway, during September 17–21, 2023. The 213 full papers presented in these volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 224 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Part I : Lean Management in the Industry 4.0 Era; Crossroads and Paradoxes in the Digital Lean Manufacturing World; Digital Transformation Approaches in Production Management; Managing Digitalization of Production Systems; Workforce Evolutionary Pathways in Smart Manufacturing Systems; Next Generation Human-Centered Manufacturing and Logistics Systems for the Operator 5.0; and SME 5.0: Exploring Pathways to the Next Level of Intelligent, Sustainable, and Human-Centered SMEs. Part II : Digitally Enabled and Sustainable Service and Operations Management in PSS Lifecycle; Exploring Digital Servitization in Manufacturing; Everything-as-a-Service (XaaS) Business Models in the Manufacturing Industry; Digital Twin Concepts in Production and Services; Experiential Learning in Engineering Education; Lean in Healthcare; Additive Manufacturing in Operations and Supply Chain Management; and Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing. Part III : Towards Next-Generation Production and SCM in Yard and Construction Industries; Transforming Engineer-to-Order Projects, Supply Chains and Ecosystems; Modelling Supply Chain and Production Systems; Advances in Dynamic Scheduling Technologies for Smart Manufacturing; and Smart Production Planning and Control. Part IV : Circular Manufacturing and Industrial Eco-Efficiency; Smart Manufacturing to Support Circular Economy; Product Information Management and Extended Producer Responsibility; Product and Asset Life Cycle Management for Sustainable and Resilient Manufacturing Systems; Sustainable Mass Customization in the Era of Industry 5.0; Food and Bio-Manufacturing; Battery Production Development and Management; Operations and SCM in Energy-Intensive Production for a Sustainable Future; and Resilience Management in Supply Chains.