Product-process Platform: Variety Synchronization for Mass Customization

Recognizing the importance of variety synchronization in mass customization, this paper proposes to develop a product-process platform to address variety issues in design and production. A product-process platform consists of a generic product-process structure and the derivation of individual products and the corresponding processes. Two generic structures, including a generic product structure and a generic process structure, form the generic product-process structure through the material requirement links inherent in operations. The derivation of product and process variants exhibits an instantiation of the product-process platform with respect to particular variety parameters and their values. To synchronize variety effectively, variety parameters and their values are used to handle the coherence between product and process data. The paper discusses the principle and fundamental issues of a product-process platform. Also outlined are key techniques to address these issues.