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SUPPORT FOR MANAGING PARTLY CONFIGURABLE MODULAR SYSTEMS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Jarkko Pakkanen*
Affiliation:
Tampere University;
Teuvo Heikkinen
Affiliation:
Konecranes Oyj;
Nillo Adlin
Affiliation:
Tampere University;
Timo Lehtonen
Affiliation:
Tampere University;
Janne Mämmelä
Affiliation:
University of Oulu
Tero Juuti
Affiliation:
Tampere University;
*
Pakkanen, Jarkko Tapani, Tampere University of Technology, Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Systems, Finland, jarkko.pakkanen@tut.fi

Abstract

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The paper studies what kind of support could be applied to the management of partly configurable modular systems. The main tasks of product management, product portfolio management and product variety management are defined. In addition, a partly configurable product structure and modular system are defined. Because the limited support in the literature for managing partly configurable modular systems, the article reviews previous product development cases in which authors have been involved on lessons learnt basis, i.e., if the methods and tools used in the cases could provide support for the research objective. As a result, the existing definition of the modular system should be extended by the concepts of non-module and design decision sequence description when dealing with partly configurable modular systems. This is because engineer-to-order should be made possible in cases where it brings clear added value to the customer compared to completely pre-defined solutions that may limit the customer's interest in the offering. Tools to assess the impact of changes to the product offering are required. These should be taken into account in frameworks that are used in method and tool development.

Type
Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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