Research And Implementation Of Automobile Product Configuration Method Based On Feature

Customers’ demands on products become more and more diversified and personalized. Mass Customization(MC) combines the advantages of mass-production with those of customized products to satisfy the customers’ demands. In order to achieve the high efficiency of MC, product configuration, as a kind of rapid design method, can quickly assemble products with certain parts. The car industry is an important pillar industry of our country national economy. As complex structure, high personal requirements and large productivity and sales of automobile products, research on automobile product configuration is of great significance to implement MC.Based on the background of a large domestic automobile enterprises, a method of automobile product configuration based on feature is proposed, then a product family model based on Generic Bill of Materials(GBOM) is constructed, and then the configuration rules is constructed by feature, after that the model design knowledge about configuration is expressed, finally, process of automobile product configuration is designed.Firstly, the technology development of MC and product configuration is reviewed, and the shortcomings of existing configuration products are analyzed.Secondly, the method of product configuration and problems in the process of automobile production of a large domestic automobile enterprises are analyzed, then a product configuration method based on feature is proposed.Thirdly, a product family model based on GBOM is constructed, then the concept of feature which description product function, specifications and style meeting to customers or social constraints including the laws, regulations and environment is proposed. Feature constraint reflects the difference of different customer groups, configuration constraint describes usage conditions the product configuration units, and effective rules to ensure the validity of GBOM model. The design knowledge about configuration of model is expressed.Fourthly, the process of product configuration based on feature is designed, the instantiation process of components model is studied, and the problem of code generation of components instance is solved.Finally, the method of product configuration is implemented as software system, and has been applied in above automobile enterprises. The method is considered to have the advantage by comparison.