Multi-period additive/subtractive product platform design and inventory management

Abstract

Forming product platforms is an effective strategy to offer products variety economically. The short products life span and new variants pose a challenge to designing platforms, which satisfy the changing customer demands. There is a need to design platforms that can adapt to changes. In addition, it is important to account for the partially completed platforms inventory held in each production period which could be utilised in subsequent production periods. An important contribution of this work is the use of combined additive and subtractive manufacturing in customising the product platform by adding and/or removing features to suit the changing product features and demands for different product variants. In this paper, a holistic non-linear model is presented for designing optimal multi-period additive/subtractive product platforms and managing their inventory. The model provides the optimal product platform design for each production period, macro process plans for customisation, the number of each platform stored as inventory, and the product variant platform assignment. The initial model is subsequently linearised to reduce computation time. A gear shaft family of products is used as a demonstration example. The model redesigns the product platform as needed to meet the changing demand of each product variant while minimising the costs.

KEYWORDS:

• Product platform
• additive manufacturing
• variety management
• inventory management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Mostafa Moussa

Mostafa Moussa received the B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree in mechanical and industrial engineering from Ain Shams University, Egypt, and a Ph.D. degree in Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering from the University of Windsor, Canada. He currently works as a post-doctoral fellow at the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Center, Canada. His current research interests include manufacturing systems, variety management, Industry 4.0 and digital twin. He has also worked on several projects to apply innovative concepts and techniques for a number of reputed organisations in Canada and Egypt since 2008. His research and expertise have been recognised and he has been the recipient of EEDSA by the Production and Operations Management Society, USA in 2013, Ontario Government Scholarship (OGS), Canada in 2016 and Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST), Canada in 2018.

Hoda ElMaraghy

Hoda ElMaraghy is a Distinguished University Professor and founding Director of the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems (IMS) Center at the University of Windsor where she became the first woman Dean of Engineering in Canada. She is member of the Order of Canada (C.M) and the Order of Ontario (O.ONT.) for outstanding achievements and pioneering contributions to knowledge and industrial advancement. Professor ElMaraghy is a renowned scholar and research innovator, an inspiring educator, leader and role model, whose seminal contributions have been recognised nationally and internationally with numerous prestigious awards and accolades. Dr. ElMaraghy held Tier I Canada Research Chair in Manufacturing Systems for 14 years. She received Honorary Doctorates from Chalmers University in Sweden and Aalborg University in Denmark. Her current research includes manufacturing systems paradigms, Digitalisation and AI applications in manufacturing, evolution and co -evolution / co-development of products and manufacturing systems. She supervised more than 100 researchers and has more than 500 publications. She delivered numerous keynote papers and serves on several scientific journals’ editorial boards. Dr. ElMaraghy is Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) in Ontario, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (IVA), International Academy of Production Engineering (CIRP), Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers (CSME) and Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME).