Modeling Concurrent Design Method for Product Variety

This study presents a systematic method for concurrently developing the product variety. The proposed method integrates three approaches successively. First, the quality function deployment approach identifies the external driven factors of design variation. Second, the quantified design structure matrix technique is proposed to identify the internal interactions and build the hierarchy of components interactions within a product. Third, the morphology analysis approach is applied to visualize the concepts of the developing product through creating design solutions for every component and module. This approach represents the design priority and related design constrains using a structural graph for helping designers to create design solutions in a product design for variety. A case study is employed to illustrate this method and the result validates the feasibility and effectiveness.