Consideration of Legacy Structures Enabling a Double Helix Development of Production Systems and Products

Abstract

Based on an increasing need of life cycle perspectives in product and production development, there is a call for more effective working methods for the reconfiguration, rearrangement, retro-fit and reuse of current equipment, systems and processes within production systems. This chapter discusses the need and character of such methods based on current research and industrial practice in production system design and development. A concluded development process is illustrated by a double helix development cycle for the production system and the product. The traditional life cycle illustration of product and production system design is in this case altered to a double helix where the same design phases of requirement analysis, alternative synthesis and alternative analysis reoccur for each project phase of conceptual design, detailed design, validation and industrialization/running-in, but for each development cycle on an elaborated level.