Interaction between product design and global production and logistics

This project is concerned with the relationships between product design and global production and logistics. This project area is primarily related with the first application area “The impact of global trends of innovation and product development”, with some aspects related to “Product development methods to manage changing and competing requirements”. The purpose of the project is to study the relationship – in both direction – between product design and global production and logistics; i.e. how product designs affect the design of the global production and logistics setup, and how global trends concerning competition, production and logistics affect product design. In particular, we investigate differences between modular and integral product designs. We will also study product platforms, product delivery strategies, and postponement, and how these relate to production and logistics. We consider the development stage (design, production, logistics, and services), the demand stage (requirements for short delivery lead times, high customization levels, and low costs) as well as key concepts such as leanness and agility in global production and logistics. The research questions include:  Which global factors have an influential role for product design? Which product design factors have an influential role for design of global operations networks? To what extent can you design products for efficient and effective global production and logistics, i.e. “Design for global production and logistics”? This research is relevant for all manufacturing companies that consider the link between product design, production and logistics to be of strategic importance.