Defining modular product for productization: Change management of a module system

Abstract

This thesis studies the productization process and change management of modular products. Modular way to operate can add variety of product offering and take advantage of design reuse when implemented well.

The goal of the work was to find out best practices for the management of product properties and change process of a module system. More specifically, what processes and people need to be involved when making changes or adding new product variations to an existing modular product family.

The study consists of literature review, empirical study, and analysis. In literature review, modularization methods and theory are reviewed in addition to product development and change management literature. Modularization methods, especially Modular Function Deployment, are important to understand thoroughly because it’s the basis of the module system and its architecture needs to be well understood in order to make changes. The empirical research consists of observations during a modularization project and interviews with employees involved in the modularity project. Based on the interviews and the observation, suggestions on how to manage product properties, productization and change situations were made.

The number of product properties in a large module system is inevitable going to be high. To manage them, it is suggested to categorize the properties into Assortment, Commercial, Configurator and Engineering properties. This helps different people getting a view of only the product properties related to their work. When making changes, there needs to be analysis of the scale of the change and which modules and module variants are affected. A technical feasibility analysis of the module system needs to be conducted to figure out the amount design work needed. This includes the list of new modules and module variants needed. Service, supply chain and manufacturing impacts also need to be analyzed. After this, a business case for the can be drafted and a go/no-go decision on the change can be made. This process includes a cross functional change board that has representatives from at least product management, module system architecture, system configurator, after sales / service and head of portfolio and roadmaps.