A structural component-based approach for designing product family

This study presents a novel approach for establishing an intelligent support system in order to design a product family through managing variety. Two approaches are applied successively. First, the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) approach identifies the exterior drivers of design variation. Second, the Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) technique is applied to visualize the hierarchy of component interactions within a product. This approach represents the design priority and related design constraints within a product using a structural graph, helping designers to create variant design solutions in a product family for different market requests. The methodology proposed here is illustrated via the example of the design of a family of automatic drip coffee makers.