Course syllabus

(For more details see 'TEK020-Course PM')

TEK020 Platform development and modularization management lp2 HT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics

Contact details

• Examiner
  • Magnus Persson, Associate Professor, Division of Innovation and R&D Management, Chalmers
• Teachers

  • Siri Jagstedt, Senior lecturer, Karlstad University

  • Fredrik von Corswant, Consultant, former Volvo Trucks

  • Joachim Sjölander, Product Development Manager, Tetra Pak

Course purpose

This course aims at giving the student a good understanding of platform development and modularization management. Platforms and modularization are two strategies used among companies in order to deal with the increasing complexity in their operations. These strategies have during the last couple of years become very commonly used among large parts of the firms in the manufacturing industry. The aim of this course is to increase students’ awareness and meaning of platform development and modularization management (called P&M in the following). The P&M strategies will be explained and discussed from different perspective all of equal importance when implementing a platform and/or modularization strategy. The goal is that, when having completed the course, the student should have developed his/her knowledge about how platform development and modularization should be managed in order to develop new products and a large variety of different products in a more efficient way.

Schedule

For course schedule, see course-PM and Time Edit.

Course literature

There is actually no good book covering all of the important topics in the P&M area, hence the literature for this course instead consists of a number of different articles, mainly from scientific journals. The articles will be possible to find through Chalmers Library, other places on the Internet or distributed separately. These central articles will be discussed in two literature seminars during the course. The topic reports that you will write will also form a good literature base for the course.

Learning objectives

- Understand the meaning of platform development and modularization.

- Explain the benefits of implementing these two strategies in a company.

- Explain, and use, different concepts, models and tools that can be used to analyze a manufacturing company's product assortment, RD organization and product development process.

- Give suggestions about how a specific company should implement and further develop a platform and modularization strategy.

Study plan

Examination form

The examination is based on three different parts, the topic report (a written report, oral presentation and reflection), the literature and case seminars (hand-in of answers to questions before the seminar and active participation during the seminar), and an individual reflection (hand-in) concerning two of the guest lectures. It is possible to have a maximum of 50 points on the topic report (45 points on the report and 5 points on the presentation of it), 30 points on the literature and case seminars, 10 points on the individual reflection concerning the guest lectures and 10 points on the individual reflection concerning the topic reports. In addition to this, attendance at the mandatory activities (the guest lectures and the different group presentations) is needed to pass the course.

The points from the topic report, the literature seminars and the individual reflections will be summarized into a total number of points for the course (maximum 100 points). Please, observe that to pass the course you need to have at least 20 points on the topic report and 12 points on the literature and case seminars. Having passed all of the requirements (and having 40-59 points), a grade of “3” will be awarded. A result of 60-79 points will result in the grade “4”. The highest grade “5” will be awarded for 80 points and over.

Topic reports

To deepen the knowledge, and increase the learning, course participants will write a report about one specific topic in the area of P&M. This task will be done in teams with about 5 students in each. Your task will be to write a report summarizing the current state-of-the-science.