The challenge for manufacturers who wish to remain competitive
today is to conceive, develop, design and produce innovative new
products that drive future revenues and mesh perfectly with the
needs of users. What makes this even more challenging is they
must do so quickly and cost-effectively. After all, coming out
with innovative products works only if those products meet the
cost/price expectations of their intended users. Adding even
more complexity is the fact that customers are demanding
increased customization in products. As a result of these
complexities, manufacturers are constantly looking for ways to
optimize the product development process in order to cut excess
costs out of the process while also speeding development. One
way to do so is through modular product design, which involves
sets of common modules that are shared among a product family.
Though the deployment of modular design varies across companies
and industries, the principals remain the same. Products are
broken down into systems of