Product Platform Representation: a Graph Grammar Approach

The rationale of product platform-based product development has been well recognized for the implementation of mass customization. A product platform refers to the conceptual structure and logical organization of product families from both customer and technical viewpoints. This paper introduces graph grammar formalisms to the representation of product platform. The concepts of multi-pointed hyper-graph, node nesting and graph class are developed for modeling platform modules, multilevel variety origins and generic product instantiation, respectively. A graph grammar is used to transform customer requirements in the customer view to product family design in the technical view. Customer-perceived variety is embodied in optional features and/or value-variable functional features. Mapping relationships from the customer view to the technical view are represented in the form of production rules for graph transformation. The application condition of production in cooperate with the control diagram determine how a suitable product variant can be derived from the base product of the platform. A case study of power supply platform representation is also reported.