Methodology for Developing Modular and Flexible Designs

(Sponsored by the Campus Research Board of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Ford Motor Company): This project is aimed for investigating the underlying principles for the design of products that can be readily adapted in response to changes at different degrees of magnitude. The proposed research will offer an integrated systems design approach which will allow the development of modular designs that have one-to-one correspondence between the functional and design parameter structures and for which the unintended interactions between modules or disciplines are minimized. The method will enable the development of flexible designs that are allowed to vary within a range or to be a set (a family of products) in satisfying a range of design specifications. This provides additional freedom in making design changes and resolving the conflicts between the interests of multiple disciplines. The following research project has been conducted:

Parametric Modeling Approaches for Designing Product Families