Optimal adaptable design for creating the changeable product based on changeable requirements considering the whole product life-cycle

Compared with the traditional design to create multiple products for satisfying different requirements in different life-cycle time periods, adaptable design aims at creating a single product to satisfy these different requirements through adaptation of this product in its different life-cycle time periods. In this research, a method to identify the optimal adaptable product based on changeable requirements is introduced. The changeable requirements are described as functions of the life-cycle time parameter. The adaptable product, modeled by its configurations and parameters, is changed in different life-cycle time periods to satisfy the changeable requirements. An adaptable product is evaluated considering different time periods in its whole life-cycle. Among all possible design candidates, the optimal design is identified through optimization. A case study is conducted to show the effectiveness of the introduced method.