Platform product development is a contemporary approach to agile
product development for mass customization. Distinctive product variants
are derived or customized from a platform that is defined as components
and subsystems commonly shared across a product family. A well-organized platform is essential to connect different parties of an enterprise
including soliciting customer needs through order fulfillment to field
service. Hence, it is also critical to achieve the economy of scale by
identifying repetitive applications of share tooling, knowledge, and
other resources. In this Special Issue, we attempt to cover the different
aspects of platform product development. The topics span a wider range of
artificial intelligence (AI) disciplines, from knowledge representation
to knowledge support systems. It identifies a fertile area not only for
applying AI to contemporary issues of design and manufacturing systems
but also for enriching the methodology for developing AI systems in
manufacturing enterprises. Indeed, we consider that numerous successful
applications in the industrial sectors highlight a future direction for
productive AI applications in industry.