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Published in:
2011 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
The Platform Formation Problem
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Today’s globally competitive world of manufacturing requires participating firms to introduce an increasing number of products with shorter life span, at a lower cost, in an environment where demands are uncertain and with shorter lead times to fulfill those demands. One approach towards meeting these demands is the use of mass customization, specifically the platform based design and production strategy. This chapter presents the platform design problem in which a platform is created with the objective of producing a family of products at a minimum cost. By using the platform every product variant in the family is assembled either directly from its components or from the platform. Three methods for developing such a platform-based strategy are described: design of a single platform, design of multiple platforms, and design of a single platform while considering demand uncertainty.