Clustering Analysis for Planning Product Families Supported by Common Platform

bstract A framework of layered constructing platform architecture to facilitate mass customization is presented.Subsequently‚an approach to capturing platform elements‚viz.graph theory-based clustering analysis （GTBCA）‚is proposed‚which illustrates the construction of platform through analyzing the commonality and standardization on a set of existing similar products of a company.The method can be used to help designers plan and design platform rationally and develop a product family effectively for mass customization.In the end‚a case study of a pumping unit product family is presented to illustrate the feasibility and validity of the approach.