Modelling Product Families for Product Configuration Systems with Product Variant Master

This article presents an evaluation of applying a suggested method for modelling product families for product configuration based on theory for modelling mechanical products,systems theory and object-oriented modelling. The modelling technique includes a so-called product variant master and CRC-cards for modelling and visualising the parts and properties of a complete product family. The modelling techniques include: Customer, engineering and part views on the product assortment to model the properties, functions and structure of the product family. This also makes it possible to map the links between the three views. Modelling of characteristics of the product variants in a product family Modelling of constraints between parts in the product family Visualisation of the entire product family on a poster e.g. 1x2 meters The product variant master and CRC-cards are means to bridge the gap between domain experts and IT-developers, thus making it possible for the domain experts (e.g. engineers from product development) to express their knowledge in a form that is understandable both for the domain experts and the IT-developers. The product variant master and CRC-cards have currently been tested and further developed in cooperation with several industrial companies. This article refers to experiences from applying the modelling technique in three different companies. Based upon these experiences, the utility of the product variant master and CRC-cards is evaluated. Significance. Product configuration systems are increasingly used in industrial companies as a means for efficient design of customer tailored products. The design and implementation of product configuration systems is a new and challenging task for the industrial companies and calls for a scientifically based framework to support the modelling of the product families to be implemented in the configuration systems.