Two-stage product platform development for mass customisation

Designing new products based on those features (platforms) that have proven successful or 'fit' is generally termed as 'platform product development (PPD)'. This approach provides a basis for mass customisation (MC) which largely enhances an enterprise's competitiveness in terms of the speed, quality and cost. Currently, however, the PPD approach is heavily dependent on the experience and skills of individual designers and managers. Researchers have been working on platform leveraging strategies at the strategic level, and guidelines for better structuring the approach to facilitate its adoption and implementation. This research project recognises an equal need for scientific decision supports at the tactical level for design practitioners and managers to address fundamental questions such as: (A) how a platform should be established for a family of products in a given industrial and market context; and (B) how a product development team chooses and then customises the most appropriate product platform to meet the customer requirements from a specific market segment with particular manufacturing resources and supply bases. This paper describes a scientific and effective decision - genetic algorithm to assist product development practitioners and managers with major decision activities in the process of platform product development under several focus areas.