Identifying mapping relationships between functions and technologies with association rule mining

Abstract

It is common that manufacturers strive to develop a diverse range of customised products at low costs and on time. A key to achieving this objective lies in design technologies which provide solution principles to deliver various product functions and help achieve efficiency and effectiveness in component design and production. With the focus on design, most of the studies do not address the selection of appropriate technologies and the determination of corresponding details (e.g. technology attribute values). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to address this. In this work, we propose an approach based on association rule mining to identify mapping relationships between functions and technologies. These mapping relationships not only enable companies to reuse proven knowledge about functions and technologies but also help them to effectively decide on technologies and details. A case study using a family of microlithography machines is presented to demonstrate how the mapping relationships can be identified given large volumes of function- and technology-related data and how these relationships help select technologies and determine details.