A Framework of Product Platform Design for Leverage Differentiation and Cost Benefits

This paper proposes an integrated framework of platform-based product family design within the scenario of market segmentation. It divides platform design into inter-platform leverage between platforms across market niches and intra-platform design between product variants within a market niche. A platform differentiation planning (PDP) is proposed to handle inter-platform leverage by balancing platform differentiation with commonality. A hierarchic component platform (HCP) with flexible components commonization is proposed to design intra-platform product variants for cost benefits. PDP and HCP are integrated to provide a systematic methodology for product platform design from early design stage to detailed realization stage.