Assessing impacts of modular product architectures on the firm: a case study

Abstract

Product modularization is difficult and has far-reaching impacts for the company. It requires a sound understanding of cause and effect chains, which start with product structure decisions, such as module boundary definitions or interface specifications, and lead to essential target values consisting of cost, quality and time categories for each product and the product portfolio. This paper investigates effects of modularity on product development and the challenges to assess them, and gives a further hint research on support for decision makers in the context of modular product definition.