Multiple-platform based product family design for mass customization using a modified genetic algorithm

A successful product family design method should achieve an optimal tradeoff among a set of conflicting objectives, which involves maximizing commonality across the family of products with the prerequisite of satisfying customers’ performance requirements. Optimization based methods are experiencing new found use in product family design to resolve the inherent tradeoff between commonality and distinctiveness that exists within a product family. This paper presents and develops a 2-level chromosome structured genetic algorithm (2LCGA) to simultaneously determine the optimal settings for the product platform and corresponding family of products, by automatically varying the amount of platform commonality within the product family during a single optimization process. The single-stage approach can yield improvements in the overall performance of the product family compared with two-stage approaches, in which the first stage involves determining the best settings for the platform variables and values of unique variables are found for each product in the second stage. The augmented scope of 2LCGA allows multiple platforms to be considered during product family optimization, offering opportunities for superior overall design by more efficacious tradeoffs between commonality and performance. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through the design of a family of universal electric motors and comparison against previous work.