Developing Flexible Modules - A Pragmatic Way to Organize and Reuse Engineering Assets

Abstract

A common cause for delays in product development is a premature introduction of new technologies. This can be the case also when organizations have failed to use the existing knowledge of technologies and other engineering assets. One way to increase the reuse of existing engineering assets is to ensure that these assets are relevant, retrievable and renewed. This can be achieved by applying Flexible Modularization as a structured way to organize and reuse engineering assets. This paper presents the introduction of Flexible Modularization at two international product developing and manufacturing companies. It presents three different examples of Flexible Modules and a guideline for developing Flexible Modules in an industrial context.