Most companies know that long-term success does not hinge on any single product but on a continuous stream of value-rich products that target growth markets. Yet many firms inexplicably develop one product at a time, and by doing so fail to embrace commonality, compatibility, standardization, or modularization among different products and product lines. At last, in this timely book, Marc H. Meyer and Alvin P. Lehnerd provide a formula for turning products into profits, enabling companies to design technologically superior products more easily. Their solution is, in two words, PRODUCT PLATFORMS. They argue that firms must focus their energies on developing families of products simultaneously which share common components and technology. The authors describe how the champions of product development separate themselves from less sophisticated companies by building entire families of strong products from a single "platform" of common product structures, technologies, and automated product processes. These successful companies recognize and respond to new market opportunities by integrating core skills and technology in the form of new products. In this easy-to-read and practical book, the authors masterfully elucidate this dynamic and forward-thinking strategy which enables companies to develop innovative products faster, more cheaply, and with less effort. Drawing on in-depth case studies and personal experience with successful companies such as Hewlett-Packard, EMC, Black & Decker, and Boeing, Meyer and Lehnerd show managers how to create extraordinary products and thereby set the standard for combined value and cost leadership in their products. They argue that when a company's products are robust—highly functional, elegant in their design, reasonably priced, and a pleasure to use—the corporation will be equally robust. More importantly, The Power of Product Platforms reveals the methodology and organizational approach for designing, developing, and revitalizing strong products that enable the firm to make the transition from one generation of technology to the next. The authors also explain how well-designed product platforms can generate streams of derivative products through a continuous systematic process of renewal. Meyer and Lehnerd apply this methodology to a broad range of industries; manufacturing in both consumer and industrial markets, software firms, and Internet information services providers. This clear prescription for transforming the bottom line by aggressively managing product development and innovation will become required reading for large and small corporations alike, including entrepreneurs, all of whom depend on the excellence of their new products for growth.

The aIm of the first two German editions of our book Kon struktionslehre (Engineering Design) was to present a comprehensive, consistent and clear approach to systematic engineering design. The book has been translated into five languages, making it a standard international reference of equal importance for improving the design methods of practising designers in industry and for educating students of mechanical engineering design. Although the third German edition conveys essentially the same message, it contains additional knowledge based on further findings from design research and from the application of systematic design methods in practice. The latest references have also been included. With these additions the book achieves all our aims and represents the state of the art. Substantial sections remain identical to the previous editions. The main extensions include: - a discussion of cognitive psychology, which enhances the creativity of design work; - enhanced methods for product planning; - principles of design for recycling; - examples of well-known machine elements*; - special methods for quality assurance; and - an up-to-date treatment of CAD*.

It is the aim of this study to present a framework for the design of technical systems. This can be achieved through a general Design Science, a knowledge system in which products are seen as objects to be developed within engineering design processes. The authors have developed this design science from a division of the knowledge system along two axes. One deals with knowledge about technical systems and design processes while the other presents descriptive statements. Relationships among the various sections of the knowledge system are made clear. Well-known insights into engineering design, the process, its management and its products are placed into new contexts. Particular attention is given to various areas of applicability. Widespread use throughout is made of easily assimilated diagrams and models.

Product proliferation has become a common phenomenon. Most companies now offer hundreds, if not thousands, of stock keeping units (SKUs) in order to compete in the market place. Companies with expanding product and service varieties face with problems of obtaining accurate demand forecasts, controlling production and inventory costs, and providing high quality and good delivery performance for the customers. Marketing managers often advocate widening product lines for increasing revenue and market share. However, the breadth of product line can also decrease the efficiency of manufacturing processes and distribution systems. Thus firms must weigh the benefits of product variety against its cost in order to determine the optimal level of product variety to offer to their customers. Academics and practitioners are interested in several fundamental questions about product variety. For instance, why do companies extend their product lines? Do consumers care about product variety? Will a brand with more variety enjoy higher market share? How should product variety be measured? How can a company exploit its product and process design to deliver a higher level of product variety quickly and cheaply? What should the level of product variety be and what should the price of each of the product variants be? What kind of 'challenges would a company face in offering a high level of product variety and how can these obstacles be overcome? The solutions to these questions span multiple functions and disciplines.

This volume constitutes the edited proceedings of an interdisciplinary symposium on Methods of Heuristics, which was held at the University of Bern, Switzerland, from September 15 to 19, 1980. In organizing the symposium, the editors of the present volume were able to invite specialists from psychology, computer science, and mathematics. From their own perspective they made contributions to the central questions of the conference: What are heuristics, the methods and rules guiding discovery and problem solving in a variety of different fields? How did they develop in individual human beings and in the history of science? Is it possible to arrive at a commonly accepted definition of heuristics as the field unifying all these efforts, and, if yes, what are its basic characteristics?