Comparative Modular Product Development Using TRIZ, AI, and VA++

The study explores the cost implications of different product designs: modular, adaptive, and uniform, focusing on ideality metrics across three products with the same primary function. Through a systematic innovation toolkit that utilizes TRIZ and AI in the concept generation phase, this research conducts a comparative analysis of workshop cranes, assessing material use, assembly time, and reconfiguration time. Considering further input parameters, namely cost factors specific to the workshop and job distributions representing the overall market, allows us to determine the design of the highest ideality for the constellation. Each design has its domain of being the most ideal solution. The results offer insights into the practical applications of AI tools in modular product design and provide a systematic framework for optimizing cost-effectiveness and sustainability in product development. Moreover, exploring ideality and resource consumption being different among the designs contributes to developing more sustainable and adaptable manufacturing practices.