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In this paper we appraise the ways in which use of closed-system proprietary product architectures versus open-system modular product architectures is likely to influence the dynamics and trajectory of new product market formation. We compare the evolutions of new markets in China for gas-powered two-wheeled vehicles (G2WVs) based (initially) on closed-system proprietary architectures and for electric-powered two-wheeled vehicles (E2WVs) based on open-system modular architectures. We draw on this comparison to suggest ways in which the use of the two different kinds of architectures as the basis for new kinds of products may result in very different patterns and speeds of new market formation. We then suggest some key implications of the different dynamics of market formation associated with open-system modular architectures for both the competence-based strategic management (CBSM) of firms and for technology and economic development policies of governments.

Specifically, we suggest how the use of open-system modular product architectures as the basis for new products is likely to result in dynamics of new market formation that call for new approaches to the strategic management of innovation and product creation. We also suggest technology and economic development policies favoring use of open-system modular architectures may stimulate new market formation and related economic development by providing platforms for accelerating technology development and dissemination, facilitating the formation of an industrial base of assemblers and component suppliers, assisting new firms in building customer relationships, enabling more geographically diffused economic development within countries, and facilitating development of export markets. We also suggest directions for further research into the potential for open-system modular product architectures to enable bottom-of-the-pyramid innovation processes, frugal engineering in developing economies, and development of low-cost product variations more generally.

Modularization and level of repair analysis for fleet system influences every phase of the system life cycle. Modular based fleet system design raises new issues since the maintenance/repair services introduces further requirements than traditional product engineering. The decision of modular system and level of repair plays an important role to reduce the Life Cycle Costs (LCC) of fleet maintenance system. The concept of modularity has been extended to services in maintenance for the varieties of fleet systems such as wind turbines, gas turbines, advance machine tools and aircrafts etc. System modularity allows the designers to use of different design alternatives and ease of fault diagnosis, repair and services. The purpose of this paper to develop a joint optimization approach for optimal selection of modular design and level of repair decisions. Usually these two decisions are taken separately.

In the proposed joint approach, level of repair analysis is used to obtain the optimal modular design decisions with reduced life cycle cost. In the existing research, the effect of system modularity on the level of repair decisions is investigated. The simulation-based approach is used to solve this joint problem. Which is rarely seen in the existing literature. A genetic algorithm-based simulation is used to investigate the joint problem. The proposed approach also evaluates all the possible configurations of modular design to justify the integrated effect of modularity and maintenance decisions, that is Level of Repair (LOR).

This paper highlights interactive effect of system modularity and level of repair decisions for the system operated in multi-echelon maintenance network. A comparative study is provided on effect of system modularity and level of repair decisions considering the time dependent failure rate and constant failure rate of the system components. A simulation based joint approach is used to solve this problem. The results obtained from the investigation are shown that modularity plays an important role to allocate modularity and level of repair decisions for the fleet system. The novelty of this research work is to identify the role of modularization to optimizing the level of repair decisions. The models, that is time-dependent failure rate and constant failure rate presented in this study provides more practical approach to deal the modularity and level of repair analysis.

The proposed joint approach illustrates using a numerical case of a mechanical system operated at fleet level. More modular structure in terms of number of modules in the machine may be presented for an industrial case. Additionally, the joint approach can also be extended for the any other consumer product and system. But, the prime motive of the paper is to highlights the importance of the modular design while selecting the level of repair decisions.

This is the first work which consider the joint optimization of modular design and level of repair analysis to the best of authors knowledge. Present paper is a more practical approach for identifying the modular design and level of repair decisions for the system operated at fleet level.

The objective of this work is to empirically investigate the design of a service delivery system that supports the provision of modular service logistics offerings.

An in-depth single-case study relying on interview data and extensive documentary evidence is carried out in the business-to-business (B2B) logistics sector. Three main analytical techniques are used to make sense of the qualitative data: thematic analysis, process mapping and the application of modular operators.

A modular service delivery system comprises three types of processes that collectively deliver modular offerings. The platform consists of core processes that enable the collection, transport and delivery of physical items for all offerings (modular and non-modular). Dedicated modular processes are mandatory and exclusive to individual modular offerings. Optional modular processes are shared across several modular offerings. Interfaces regulate physical (e.g. parcels or parts) and information (e.g. booking data) inputs provided by the customer in order to control the interdependencies within these different process types.

The identification of three process types and their interdependencies provides detailed insights into how managers can design modular logistics services that benefit from economies of scale and meet increasingly variable customer requirements. The importance of well-designed interfaces among the customers, the service offering and the service delivery system is highlighted.

This study extends previous modularity studies in service logistics. It is the first study to apply modular operators to determine the presence of modularity in the service delivery system and to establish the role of different process types in enabling modularity in the service delivery system.

Modular fixture configuration design is a complicated task requiring both intensive knowledge and experience. Automated or semi‐automated computer‐aided modular fixture systems based on computer‐aided design packages do not appear to have made a significant impact within the manufacturing industry. Modular fixture designers still prefer traditional systems such as paper or physical model; as such models provide a more intuitive interaction and immediate feedback. The objective of the paper is to present an application of the desktop virtual reality (VR) to develop an interactive modular fixture assembly design system.

Desktop‐based friendly interface is designed and the low‐system requirement key techniques, namely assembly modeling and collision detection approach, to make proposed system run smoothly on a desktop PC, are presented.

The paper finds that the proposed system is an efficient tool for modular fixture configuration design.

The proposed system is a portable and affordable solution for modular fixture design.

A low‐cost VR application for modular fixture configuration design is presented.

Like most industries that adopt a reactive manufacturing strategy, the clothing industry changes only when external forces dictate that the current approach or strategy will no longer satisfy the prevailing business environment. This paper presents a case study of the modular manufacturing system and discusses the underlying premises that support the success of modular manufacturing both in the formative stages and during sustained operation. A review of the known origins of modular manufacturing illustrates how this production system can be used to advantage for clothing manufacture. Modular is the apparel industry's attempt to optimise the social and technical components of a Sociotechnical System (STS). No single solution fits all products/tasks in fully optimising STS, given different technologies, environment and people, etc. Consistent with the requirements for STS, the authors have formed five conclusive statements regarding the characteristics of modular manufacturing for apparel.

The purpose of this paper is to identify integrated solutions business as the first generation of servitized offerings and modular solution offerings as the second development phase in servitization of original equipment manufacturers. This study examines how the servitized manufacturer, Kone, moves from integrated solutions to modular solutions business and develops the requisite capabilities to design, produce and implement modular solution offerings.

The paper reports a longitudinal case study of a provider of integrated solutions installed in buildings. During the ten years studied, the manufacturer implemented a strategic initiative to modularize its integrated solutions offering.

The firm’s transition to modular solutions progressed through three major capability development phases: solutions based on ad hoc integration, smart solutions based on modular design and through-chain modularity. The modular structure aims at fostering the efficiency of the solution offering and the associated production system.

Leveraging the benefits of modularity calls for an aligned combination of strategic, operational and technical capabilities contributing to the integration of resources in a modular production system for the solution providers’ competitive performance.

The study reports how a solution provider can develop the operational capabilities to integrate the core and peripheral components into the solution, and orchestrate the modular production system.

This study is a rare longitudinal analysis of how a manufacturer builds a modular offering, the solution platform and the required competitive capabilities to provide the solution.

This paper describes the development and implementation of a modular school building design prototype to support “build back better” after the disaster. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap between the two standard practices of post-disaster reconstruction: the quickly temporary construction and the permanent solution with longer time to complete.

The modular school design prototype was developed based on three design criteria established to achieve a relatively quick construction with good quality as a post-disaster permanent solution. The prototype was implemented in Kerandangan Village, Lombok and evaluated to review its compliance with the design criteria.

Three design strategies were proposed to respond to the main design criteria: the use of modular units and components, the material durability and availability, and the “plug-and-play” configuration system. Through these strategies, the prototype demonstrated the ability to perform as a permanent solution to be implemented in a short time. The prototype evaluation suggests some possible improvement to ensure a more efficient process and further replicability.

The development of the modular design bridges the gap between temporary and permanent approach for post-disaster school reconstruction. The highlighted criteria and the proposed design strategies contribute to the “build back better” attempt by providing better learning experiences for children through a replicable modular design that could be flexibly adapted to various local contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel and accurate coordination control method of dual‐arm modular robot based on position feedback using 3D motion measurement system – Optotrak3020. The end‐position accuracy of dual‐arm modular robot can be improved obviously.

By means of Optotrak3020, the actual end‐position of dual‐arm modular robot is acquired and then returned to the robotic controllers, so the corresponding position error compensation is implemented. Through a 3D simulation and experiment of dual‐arm modular robot for tracking a trajectory of plane right triangle, the feasibility and validity of this control strategy are verified.

The coordination control of dual‐arm modular robot based on position feedback can be accomplished by means of Optotrak3020. The dual‐arm modular robot can accurately accomplish the task of positioning or tracking a reference trajectory.

This real‐time position feedback control method with high control accuracy can be implemented on a PowerCube dual‐arm modular robot system. This method also can be applied to other dual‐arm robot systems, such as mobile robot with dual‐arm, humanoid robot.

The coordination control method of dual‐arm modular robot is presented based on end‐position feedback using Optotrak3020 motion measurement system. The platforms of simulation, communication and experiment are developed, respectively.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the economic viability of a new and innovative seismic damage resisting system (SDRS) device by conducting a feasibility study. The SDRS device has been patented and specifically designed to be implemented in multi-storey modular buildings in seismic regions such as New Zealand.

Using a case study approach, two sample modular multi-storey buildings were purposively selected for the study. A cost-comparison analysis was conducted using the SDRS device in the two buildings, by carrying out a measure and price exercise of the construction elements.

The research results showed that the SDRS device is an economically viable option for mitigating seismic damage in modular multi-storey buildings in New Zealand. There is an average of 7.34 per cent of cost reduction when SDRS is used in modular multi-storey buildings when compared to other seismic resistance systems such as base isolation, moment resisting frames and friction damper systems.

The economic viability of the SDRS presents an opportunity for its usage in modular design and construction of multi-storey buildings. SDRS system is also applicable to other building typologies and construction methods. The use of SDRS also aligns with the current national objective to provide more affordable and resilient housing within a limited time; the opportunity is considered significant in New Zealand, including for export and manufacturing.

The confirmation of the SDRS device’s economic feasibility is the original contribution of the authors.

To find the system with minimum investment and best quality performance that is capable of producing all of the product variants, assessing the complexity of designing assembly system at the early concept stage is an essential step, which helps and instructs a designer to create a product- and system-oriented assembly solution with the least complexity. The purpose of this paper is to propose a quantifying measurement of complexity in the design of a modular automated assembly system.

The configurable assembly system is becoming a trend, which enables companies to quickly respond to changes caused by different product variants but without a large investment. One of the enabling factors is the availability of modular solutions of assembly modules that can be configured according to different technical requirements. This paper develops a methodology using fuzzy evaluation to calculate the design complexity in the design phase for a modular automatic assembly system. Fuzzy linguistic variables are used to measure the interaction among the influence factors, to deal with the uncertainty of the judgement. The proposed method investigates three matrices to present how the function-based assembly modules, design complexity factors, part attributes and product components, which are regarded as the main influence factors, complicate the construction of a modular assembly system. The design complexity is derived and quantified based on these assessments.

The proposed approach presents a formal quantification to evaluate the design complexity with regard to a modular assembly system from beginning, which can be identified and used as criteria to indicate the quality of performance and investment cost in advance. A mathematical model based on the fuzzy logic is established to provide both theoretical and practical guidance for the paper. To validate the predictive model, the statistic relationships between the assessed system design complexity, real assembly defect rate and investment cost are estimated based on regression analysis. The application of the presented methodology is demonstrated with regard to a traditional rear drive unit in the automotive industry.

This paper presents a developed method, which addresses the measures of complexity found in the design of a modular assembly system. It would help to run the design process with better resource allocation and cost estimation in a quantitative approach.