Modular Product Optimization to Alleviate Poverty: an Irrigation Pump Case Study

Modular products have the potential to significantly reduce the financial risks associated with purchasing an income generating product in the developing world. Their modular nature allows a product to adapt to the changing needs of the customer (changing views of affordability due to increase in income potential). In a previous work by the authors, an optimization-based modular product design method was developed and implemented in the design of a modular irrigation pump for poverty alleviation. This paper revisits this modular pump example with the purpose of physically validating the ability of the method to identify theoretical progressively affordable modular products. This paper gives a summary of the method, presents the theoretical pump design, and compares the performance of the theoretical design to a physical prototype of the pump. Based on observations from this comparison, the authors conclude that the method is a feasible approach to engineering-based poverty alleviation