Mass customization in mechatronical engineering requires a profound planning of the product structure as it is the basis for individual adaptation. Conventional systematics for product structuring do not meet the new requirements concerning product development, since they are mainly production-oriented. A more promising way are adopted elements of the Unified Modeling Language, combined with other systematics such as functional structuring. The basic objects that are to regard are degrees of freedom in customer wishes, basic requirements, concrete product components and the possibilities of realization in concrete specifications. These are structured in three representations: graphically, in matrices and in a database. A major point is the evaluation of product properties especially in early phases of the design process, which is answered by the matrices, i. e. an enhanced Quality Function Deployment. The whole topic, in contrast to existing variant or complexity management, has to be regarded from another, a more comprehensive point of view, by shifting paradigms, which in fact we want to perform in a collaborative research project.     «

Mass customization in mechatronical engineering requires a profound planning of the product structure as it is the basis for individual adaptation. Conventional systematics for product structuring do not meet the new requirements concerning product development, since they are mainly production-oriented. A more promising way are adopted elements of the Unified Modeling Language, combined with other systematics such as functional structuring. The basic objects that are to regard are degrees of fre...     »