Platform-based Development



Platform-based development and production is a widely adopted strategy for balancing reuse and customization. The aim of the research proposed within this theme is to significantly contribute to a new object oriented approachfor platform based development, in line with the German initiative “Industry 4.0”.

Theme Leader:

Associate Professor Dag Bergsjö (Chalmers)

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This new approach will provide a ground for reuse of assets in all product and production system development phases from early knowledge elicitation to detail system design and preparation for production of variants. This includes development of the platform itself as well as use of the platform to generate configured system variants. Supported activities include synthesis, modeling, configuration, analysis, simulation and optimization.


Examples of research areas in Stage 4 are:
  • Set-based design methods and models for configurable system platforms
  • Robust and configurable geometrical platform system interfaces
  • Knowledge management
  • Configurable integrated product and production platform models
  • Production process and system platform integration

This proposed approach builds on systems theory and object orientation, and it is similar to how SW systems are developed and described. The German vision Industry 4.0, has adopted the same basic ideas. This vision foresees that future complex multi-technological systems, as well as their containing sub-systems and parts, need to be designed and described in a way that they can carry all relevant knowledge about themselves across their life cycle.

They should thereby be able to communicate this knowledge to interacting systems, e.g. govern their own production or their use in supply chain development collaboration. Expected results are more effective and efficient ways for the industrial partners to reuse their knowledge about their core technologies, products, production facilities and processes in the realization of future products. 


​Research questions addressed during Stage 4:

  • RQ1:How can stakeholder values and system requirements be mapped in a configurable system platform?
  • RQ2: How can large non-geometrical data sets be defined and structured in order to facilitate downstream visualization automation in a platform context?
  • RQ3:How can knowledge be evaluated before reuse to minimize risk?
  • RQ4: How can lean methods be used to trigger knowledge creation, capture and reuse?
  • RQ5: How can knowledge be modeled and maintained for reusability?
  • RQ6: How can set-based design principles be applied in pre-embodiment architecture design, embodiment design and detail design of configurable system platforms?
  • RQ7: How can product and production system platforms be integrated in a PLM environment with CAX tools in order to enable efficient and effective platform synthesis, analysis, simulation and optimization?
  • RQ8: How can the geometry of configurable platform system interfaces be assured and optimized for member variants in a product family?
  • RQ9: How can interactions and interfaces between product and production systems be modelled and co-configured?
  • RQ10: How can manufacture process (e.g. assembly, spot-welding, welding) models be integrated in system platforms in order to support process configuration, simulation and optimization (cost, performance)?


During Stage 4 we offer free training courses in CCM software for object oriented platform modelling.​

Page manager Published: Thu 01 Sep 2016.