Modular Function Deployment, Expanded
Integrating Design for Assembly into the modularisation process for effective product architecture development
Time: Tue 2025-12-16 10.30
Location: F3 (Flodis), Lindstedtsvägen 26-28, Sweden
Video link: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/62398403498
Language: English
Subject area: Production Engineering
Doctoral student: MSc Fabio Marco Monetti , Produktionsutveckling
Opponent: Assoc. Prof. Ann-Louise Andersen,
Supervisor: Docent Antonio Maffei, Industriella produktionssystem; Universitets lektor Daniel Semere,
Abstract
How early should assembly considerations shape modular product architecture?
This thesis addresses the question by reframing Design for Assembly (DfA) from a downstream optimisation task into a design logic embedded at the start of modular product development. In many industrial settings, modularisation is shaped by customer values and market variety, while production and assembly remain implicit or postponed. When these factors are left until later, the chance to create automation-ready, lifecycle-resilient architectures and to enable reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) creation is often lost.
The research develops an expanded Modular Function Deployment (MFD) method that integrates DfA into the earliest stages of decision-making. MFD is well established as a way to structure architectures around customer needs, but it has usually treated assembly as a concern for later. This has led to DfA being applied reactively, once architectural choices are already locked, which limits its ability to influence strategic or system-level design.
To change this, the thesis introduces a new dual framing: module-level DfA (mDfA) for guiding the early selection and grouping of technical solutions, and architecture-level DfA (aDfA) for evaluating spatial layout, sequencing logic, and assembly complexity once a candidate architecture exists.
This framing is made practical through a set of lightweight, prescriptive tools designed to fit within the standard MFD process.
- DfA-based internal evaluation criteria for concept selection.
- Assembly-oriented module drivers within the Module Indication Matrix.
- A coded interface taxonomy to structure and retain assembly knowledge.
- The Assembly Directions and Connections Draft (ADCD) for improving the planning of spatial logic and insertion directions.
- The Module Set Assembly Strategy Matrix (MSASM) for the evaluation of module-set complexity and automation potential.
These supports allow teams to analyse assembly implications before geometries are fixed, making it easier to align modularity with production realities.
The research follows a design research methodology (DRM), combining literature synthesis, industrial case studies, expert workshops, and applications in graduate-level engineering education. The tools were tested in both greenfield and brownfield contexts, in sectors ranging from professional equipment to consumer products. Results show that they help bring assembly consequences into view earlier, improve interface considerations, and strengthen cross-functional alignment.
The contribution is twofold. Theoretically, it introduces the dual framing of module-level and architecture-level DfA, extending assembly reasoning from part-level simplification to architectural planning. Practically, it delivers a workflow that supports production-aware modularisation without requiring high digital maturity or large resource investments. By enabling adaptable, automation-ready architectures that align with lifecycle goals, the work contributes to long term manufacturing resilience and as a consequence connects to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 7, 9, and 12.