Optimization methodologies for product variety design (2nd report, optimization method for module commonalization)

This research discusses and develops the optimization methodologies for product variety design, which means the challenge to simultaneously design multiple products. Following the definition of three classes of optimization problem in the first report, this paper develops an optimization methodology for module combination under predefined module candidates for multiple products, which is the second class of product variety optimization. The situation of this design problem is widely recognized as commonalization in industrial practices. In this paper, by investigating the mapping structure among customer's, functional, and manufacturing viewpoints, module commonalization is recognized as module diversion, and the feasible conditions for diversion is modeled as diversion feasibility, diversion simultaneity, and capacity constraints. This leads the optimization formulation as a 0-1 integer programming problem in a systematically abstract form. Based on the pivot structure among 0-1 variables, an optimization technique is configured based on the simulated annealing technique. Finally it is applied to the simultaneous design problem of electronic circuits for television sets in order to ascertain the validity and effectiveness of the proposed modeling and optimization methodology.