Encapsulation architecture for modular productization process: An embedded single-case study
Vauhkonen, Henri (2025)
2025
Konetekniikan DI-ohjelma - Master's Programme in Mechanical Engineering
Tekniikan ja luonnontieteiden tiedekunta - Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2025-11-25
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025112510883
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-2025112510883
Tiivistelmä
A company's business ultimately culminates in profitable business. In order to provide a product or service to customers as profitably as possible, it should be productized. Productization is the process of developing, defining, and documenting a product or service so that its manufacture, delivery, and use can be repeated efficiently and with high quality. It is significant for because it enables scalability, reduces errors, and improves customer satisfaction. Productization brings clarity to product development, supports internal collaboration, and speeds up the onboarding of new employees.
The phases of the productization process vary from company to company and are sometimes insufficient and sometimes even too laborious; depending on what has already been done to the product or service. Therefore, it would be useful to perform only the necessary steps based on the preliminary information of the solution being designed. In theory, this would require studying the modularity of the productization process.
In modularity, a system is divided into independent, clearly defined parts, or modules, which each perform their own task and communicate with each other through defined interfaces. This enables flexible development, maintenance, expansion, and configurability with pre-designed entities of the system, as individual parts can be changed or replaced without affecting others. Modularity promotes reuse, improves error management and supports teamwork, as different parts can be designed and implemented in parallel. From the perspective of a product or service, modularity increases its variability and the possibilities for customer-specific customization, which is particularly valuable in Engineer-To-Order environment, for example.
The case company at the center of this thesis work has developed its productization and modular thinking even before the research began. However, the application of these two philosophies to each other in a process sense is not already familiar there. The topic has already been studied at Tampere University where research results achieved in the form of Brownfield Hybrid process can be utilized in the research problem of this thesis.
The study has been conducted as an embedded single-case study, in which the context is limited to studying a single case, which in turn may contain multiple units of analysis; in practice, example products. These are used to test the functionality of a new process being developed. The theory used in the master's thesis has been collected as a systematic literature review on productization and Brownfield Hybrid method. The encapsulation architecture of the modular productization process presented as a solution to the research problem helps to visualize the mandatory and optional tasks to be performed during productization within appropriate generic elements. This utilizes GEMS application, which was developed based on Brownfield Process that preceded Brownfield Hybrid method.
The phases of the productization process vary from company to company and are sometimes insufficient and sometimes even too laborious; depending on what has already been done to the product or service. Therefore, it would be useful to perform only the necessary steps based on the preliminary information of the solution being designed. In theory, this would require studying the modularity of the productization process.
In modularity, a system is divided into independent, clearly defined parts, or modules, which each perform their own task and communicate with each other through defined interfaces. This enables flexible development, maintenance, expansion, and configurability with pre-designed entities of the system, as individual parts can be changed or replaced without affecting others. Modularity promotes reuse, improves error management and supports teamwork, as different parts can be designed and implemented in parallel. From the perspective of a product or service, modularity increases its variability and the possibilities for customer-specific customization, which is particularly valuable in Engineer-To-Order environment, for example.
The case company at the center of this thesis work has developed its productization and modular thinking even before the research began. However, the application of these two philosophies to each other in a process sense is not already familiar there. The topic has already been studied at Tampere University where research results achieved in the form of Brownfield Hybrid process can be utilized in the research problem of this thesis.
The study has been conducted as an embedded single-case study, in which the context is limited to studying a single case, which in turn may contain multiple units of analysis; in practice, example products. These are used to test the functionality of a new process being developed. The theory used in the master's thesis has been collected as a systematic literature review on productization and Brownfield Hybrid method. The encapsulation architecture of the modular productization process presented as a solution to the research problem helps to visualize the mandatory and optional tasks to be performed during productization within appropriate generic elements. This utilizes GEMS application, which was developed based on Brownfield Process that preceded Brownfield Hybrid method.