Product family modeling for mass customization

With growing reliance on modeling in product development, it is imperative to describe product families in a cohesive way. In particular, mass customi zation calls for a close integration of product life cycle from customer re cognition to delivery and services. This paper proposes a triple-view schem e for modeling product families. Technical challenges are discussed by comp aring product family modeling with modeling single products. Individual mod eling formalisms for different views are discussed. An example of product f amily modeling in power supply design is presented to illustrate the feasib ility and potential of the proposed approach. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.