Web-based product platform development using graph theory

One of the key elements in enabling product variety is the product platform. Research done in the areas of mass customization, design for product variety, designing family of products, etc. has outlined different characteristics of such product variety and stressed the need for developing a common platform. But the current state of research does not address the issue of how to develop common platforms. This research is mainly concerned with the development of a web-based framework for establishing the platform for a family of products. One of the unique features of the proposed framework is the introduction of the concept of viewpoints. The products of the same family are described from multiple viewpoints in different forms. The assembly relationships in the form of graphs between components represent the structural configuration of the products. The product platform development (PPD) framework proposed in the paper is incremental in the sense that PPD takes place in one viewpoint at a time and another viewpoint is considered at the next time. This consideration repeats until all the desired viewpoints are considered. The platform becomes smaller when more viewpoints are considered. This paper focuses itself on PPD from the viewpoints of assembly (structural configuration). All the products are first represented in the form of graphs. The objective of PPD is then to find the maximum clique for the graph isomorphism. The product platform established from the structural viewpoint forms the basis for further elaboration from another viewpoint.