Focussing product innovation and fostering economies of scale based on adaptive product platforms

Current concepts to achieve product commonality follow static approaches. To achieve economies of scale, standards are defined across the product program. However, these standards typically need to be compromised at new product introductions due to unforeseen innovations and economies of scale decrease over time. Accordingly platform standards need to be re-defined. aper presents an approach for adaptive product platforms. Degrees of freedom in product and process design are managed pro-actively based on functional and technological models. This way adaptivity towards product innovation can be ensured. The concept of adaptive modular platforms is explained based on a practical application.