Product Family Research Articles

M-ARM: An automated systematic approach for generating new variant design options from an existing product family

Companies with established product families can meet emerging market needs by extending their product families over time, that is, by introducing new product variants sequentially. Starting points for each new design can be generated by integrating design solutions from existing products in the same family. This article introduces an automated systematic approach to derive all possible ways of combining existing designs to produce a new variant with a desired new combination of functionality, based on algorithmic analysis of product models. The approach considers the functions in existing products and how they are realised in specific CAD parts and the geometric features defining them. By automatically generating and evaluating all the options, the new approach helps identify the most efficient way to combine existing parts and features from a product family to generate a new product variant with distinct functionality. The approach has been applied to product families of mechanical and mechatronic consumer products. It was evaluated by manually implementing the automatically-generated redesign instructions in CAD for several product variants, which built confidence in the approach’s accuracy and performance. From the evaluation, opportunities for further work are suggested.

Anodic Cyclization Reactions and an Approach to the Chrysosporazine Family of Natural Products

Electrochemistry has long offered new opportunities for the construction of biologically relevant molecules. Many of these opportunities are based on the ability that electrochemistry provides for reversing the polarity of known functional groups. For example, consider the brief retrosynthetic analysis shown in the Scheme below. The analysis proposes a route to the Chrysosporazine family of natural products (specifically Chrysosporazine D in this case) from readily available amino acid and lignin derived starting materials. The Chrysosporazines are efflux inhibitors that improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy agents.1 The plan calls for a coupling of the two starting materials to afford a cyclization substrate. However, the proposed cyclization reaction would combine a nucleophilic amide nitrogen with a nucleophile electron rich styrene derivative. In principle, an anodic oxidation reaction can solve this issue by either converting the amide nitrogen into a radical or oxidizing the styrene derivative to form a radical cation. Either mode would effectively reverse the polarity of one of the nucleophilic groups and allow for the cyclization. Previous efforts examining these cyclizations have focused on the generation of a N-radical intermediate.2 Yet while these efforts have been very successful, they require the presence of a phenyl ring on the amide nitrogen in order to lower its pKa. This is essential for the formation of an amide anion that is in turn oxidized to the desired N-radical. Such a plan is not compatible with the synthesis of the Chrysosporazines that simply do not have a phenyl ring on the nitrogen of the amide. Placing one there would prevent the intramolecular cyclization. So, how can this problem be resolved? There are two possible answers to this question. One involves a change in the overall strategy that converts the amide into an electron-rich olefin equivalent that can be oxidized to from a radical cation. The second involves finding an alternative method for dropping the pKa of the amide so that the anion and subsequent N-radical can still be made. In the chemistry to be discussed, both strategies will be examined and the propensity for the cyclic product to undergo over-oxidation shown to be the determining factor for which pathway is preferred; a preference that has led to a new approach to N-based radical cyclizations. 1. Elbanna, A. H., Khalil, Z. G., Bernhardt, P., V., Capon, R. J. Org. Lett. 2019, 21, 8097–8100. 2. Xiong, P.; Xu, H-C. Acc. Chem. Res. 2019, 52, 3339-3350. Figure 1

Development of Next Generation Membranes for PEM Water Electrolysis in AGC

AGC’s FORBLUETM product family has over 70 years of experience in ion-exchange membranes (IEMs). S-SERIES, a FORBLUETM member, is a per-fluorinated sulfonic acid polymer (PFSA) membrane utilized in various electrochemical devices and industrial electrolysis. AGC’s IEM technology had a lot of experience in the chlor-alkali application and was further developed for the PEM water electrolysis industry.AGC R&D has developed S-SERIES membranes with a smaller thickness, improved reinforcement, and high ion exchange capacity (IEC) that enhanced not only an electrochemical performance but also dimensional stability.A membrane electrode assembly (MEA) was fabricated using a developed membrane with high IEC polymer (IEC 1.25 meq/g). As a result, IV characterization of a single cell with 25 cm2 electrode area at 80°C showed a significant voltage reduction compared to a commercial membrane in the PEM water electrolysis market. In addition, H2 crossover during the electrolysis was evaluated in a single cell with a 25 cm2 electrode area at 80°C and ambient pressure, and the H2 concentration in O2 at the anode side was compared at a current density of 1.0 A/cm2. The developed membrane showed 0.3 vol% H2 crossover, whereas the commercial membrane showed 0.5 vol%.Furthermore, next-generation membranes with gas recombination catalysts (GRC) and radical scavengers leading to lower gas crossover and higher chemical stability are under development. Recently, high-pressure electrolyzers have been getting more attention and the increase of H2 crossover is a concern against the lower explosive limit (LEL) for hydrogen in oxygen. In general, PFSA membranes are considered to have high chemical durability, however, F ion release is observed, that indicate that this PFSA polymer is attacked by OH radicals generated in the PEM water electrolysis system. AGC has been investigating the application of GRC and radical scavengers to the newly developed membranes. It was evaluated in a single cell with 25 cm2 electrode area at 80°C and 2.0 A/cm2. As a result, the H2 crossover and F ions release rate (FRR) were reduced compared to the membrane without both additives. The data will be presented on these improved performances.

Systematic Route to Construct the 5-5-6 Tricyclic Core of Furanobutenolide-Derived Cembranoids and Norcembranoids.

Herein, we present a highly efficient method for constructing the intricate 5-5-6 fused ring system commonly found in the polycyclic furanobutenolide-derived cembranoid and norcembranoid natural product family with remarkable diastereoselectivity, utilizing an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction as the cornerstone. Notably, employing a propargyl ether tether as the dienophile yields significant enhancements in the transformation process compared to its propargyl ester counterpart, as demonstrated in our previous total synthesis of havellockate. This advancement holds promising implications for future investigations, offering a streamlined pathway for rapidly assembling the tricyclic core characteristic of this diverse family of natural products.

Research on Gene Extraction and Design of Age-appropriate Service Robot Product Family

Research on Gene Extraction and Design of Age-appropriate Service Robot Product Family

A developed products’ families commonality Index based on variants’ similarity.

Abstract Commonality indices used to assess the shared features of product families are crucial tools for benchmarking and redesigning these families. They also play a significant role in optimizing manufacturing systems by adding or removing components/modules to product platforms during delayed customization stages. Although several indices have been developed by researchers to measure commonality across product family variants, these indices are often only suitable for specific applications with specific configurations. In the present research, a new commonality index has been developed based on the similarity features of each pair of variants within a product family. The developed index is useful for clustering family variants into subfamilies, each with high components’ sharing ratio, facilitating the design of necessary product platform/s for delayed customization manufacturing systems. The results of applying this developed index to determine commonality across product family variants were compared with those obtained from several known commonality indices. The new index proved to be effective and sensitive in distinguishing between the commonalities of different product families. Additionally, the index was found to be effective in categorizing products into homogeneous families, grouping variants that share certain similarities and commonality features.

Product platform design for minimum cost in mass customization manufacturing environment

Abstract Nowadays manufacturers are facing several challenges to compete in the marketplace. One of the main challenges can be described by the need to offer a range of products and categories in addition to shortening the time during which the product is brought to the customer while maintaining low costs to achieve maximum profitability. Several approaches emerged during the past couple of decades that enabled designers and manufacturers to offer the product variety within a product family on one hand and allowing flexibility and responsiveness at the manufacturer’s side on the other hand. This study addressed the problem of product platform design with the objective of minimizing the manufacturing costs incurred in the platform manufacturing phase and the mass customization phase. A genetic algorithm model that minimizes the total manufacturing cost is developed where optimum product platform design is determined. The developed model is used to study the effect of demand proportion of different product variants within a product family on the platform design and the total manufacturing cost.

Product family design optimization considering manufacturing and assembly process costs

Product family design optimization considering manufacturing and assembly process costs

Biosimilar underutilization alone does not foretell a broken biologics market.

Biosimilars offer the potential for cost savings and expanded access to biologic products; however, there are concerns regarding the rate of biosimilar uptake. We assessed the relationship between biosimilar and originator pricing, coverage, and market share by describing four case studies that fall into two categories: (1) sole preferred coverage strategy (ie, aim is to have originator product preferred; biosimilar(s) non-preferred), defined as steep average sales price (ASP) reductions for originator products (decline in net prices by at least 50% following the introduction of biosimilar competition by 2022) and (2) non-sole preferred coverage strategy (ie, aim is to have originator product preferred alongside biosimilar products), defined as moderate ASP reductions for originator products with (net prices did not decline by at least 50% of its pre-biosimilar competition value). We found that originators with sole preferred coverage strategies maintained formulary preference and market share relative to originators with non-sole preferred coverage strategies. Regardless of strategy, the market-weighted ASP for all four product families (originator and biosimilars) declined significantly in the years following the introduction of biosimilars, suggesting that biosimilar uptake alone may not be a complete measure of whether the biosimilar market is facilitating competition and lowering prices.

Guided optimization: a fast model-based nested cost optimization technique for existing product family designs

Guided optimization: a fast model-based nested cost optimization technique for existing product family designs

Supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics on a noncommutative plane through the lens of deformation quantization

A gauge invariant mathematical formalism based on deformation quantization is outlined to model an N=2 supersymmetric system of a spin 1/2 charged particle placed in a nocommutative plane under the influence of a vertical uniform magnetic field. The noncommutative involutive algebra (C∞(R2)[[ϑ]],∗r) of formal power series in ϑ with coefficients in the commutative ring C∞(R2) was employed to construct the relevant observables, viz., SUSY Hamiltonian H, supercharge operator Q and its adjoint Q† all belonging to the 2 × 2 matrix algebra M2(C∞(R2)[[ϑ]],∗r) with the help of a family of gauge-equivalent star products ∗r. The energy eigenvalues of the SUSY Hamiltonian all turned out to be independent of not only the gauge parameter r but also the noncommutativity parameter ϑ. The nontrivial Fermionic ground state was subsequently computed associated with the zero energy which indicates that supersymmetry remains unbroken in all orders of ϑ. The Witten index for the noncommutative SUSY Landau problem turns out to be −1 corroborating the fact that there is no broken supersymmetry for the model we are considering.

Optimisation method of product family supplier selection based on data mining under carbon neutral policy

The carbon neutral policy restrains the carbon emissions of product family manufacturers, which incurs additional costs for manufacturers. In previous studies of product family supplier selection, the dilemma of carbon neutrality faced by manufacturers was rarely researched. Therefore, this study puts forward an intelligent optimisation method for product family supplier selection under carbon neutral constraints, which assists manufacturers in satisfying carbon neutrality constraints while minimising total production costs. Firstly, the data representation models of product family are constructed by using information ontology technology, and then the candidate suppliers that meet the manufacturer’s performance requirements are mined by semantic similarity. Secondly, by calculating the configuration cost and carbon footprint of the product family, the configuration cost-carbon neutral cost model (CC-CNC model) of the manufacturer is established with the goal of minimising the manufacturer’s total cost, and then the genetic algorithm is employed to solve the model, thus the optimal supplier selection scheme is mined. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated by supplier selection for water-cooled fan product family, which guides the manufacturer to minimise the cost by selecting the best supplier scheme and taking reasonable carbon neutral measures, contributing to the manufacturer’s low-carbon production and economic benefits.

The Role of N-Substitution in Regio- and Stereoselective Vinylogous Imidonaphthoquinone (VINAquinone) [2 + 2] Photocycloadditions.

Described in this manuscript are intramolecular [2 + 2] photocycloadditions of readily available vinylogous imidonaphthoquinones whose regio- and diastereoselectivity is dependent on the substitution on the vinylogous imide. When exposed to 419 nm light, 2° vinylogous imidonaphthoquinones give novel bridged tetracyclic aza-anthraquinones from a rare crossed [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction. In contrast, exposure of the corresponding 3° substrates to white light leads to linear adducts. Also outlined here are auxiliary controlled diastereoselective reactions and cyclobutane fragmentations as a means of generating the spirofused γ-lactam moiety present in the ansalactam family of natural product.

Long-baseline multistatic and bistatic SAR products: Application to the RODiO mission

In-Orbit Demonstration (IOD) missions represent flight opportunities to acquire data on spacecraft and space environment and to demonstrate new techniques at system, subsystem, and payload level. Realizing this type of mission means accepting a greater level of risk. However, when very compact and relatively simple platforms like CubeSats are adopted, this becomes admissible since costs can be kept low. Distributed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a novel Earth Observation (EO) technique for microwave imaging. It uses multiple cooperating receivers and suitable processing to enable performance and products that exceed those of the single components of the system. RODiO (Radar for earth Observation by synthetic aperture Distributed on a cluster of CubeSats equipped with high-technology micro-propellers for new Operative services) is an IOD of the distributed SAR concept. The mission is based on four, 16 U, CubeSats, that embark a receiving-only X-band SAR instrument able to collect bistatic echoes exploiting a monostatic SAR as an opportunity illuminator, i.e PLATiNO-1 mission. Distributed SAR demonstration is thus pursued in RODiO combining the principles of both multistatic and bistatic SAR. The paper, moving from mission goals, individuates different families of EO products that RODiO can demonstrate, e.g. in the contest of ground motion, digital elevation models, and ship detection. The main result is the definition of the RODiO system requirements for product generation that drive satellites and payload design.

Cellulamides: A New Family of Marine-Sourced Linear Peptides from the Underexplored Cellulosimicrobium Genus.

Bioprospecting the secondary metabolism of underexplored Actinomycetota taxa is a prolific route to uncover novel chemistry. In this work, we report the isolation, structure elucidation, and bioactivity screening of cellulamides A and B (1 and 2), two novel linear peptides obtained from the culture of the macroalga-associated Cellulosimicrobium funkei CT-R177. The host of this microorganism, the Chlorophyta Codium tomentosum, was collected in the northern Portuguese coast and, in the scope of a bioprospecting study focused on its associated actinobacterial community, strain CT-R177 was isolated, taxonomically identified, and screened for the production of antimicrobial and anticancer compounds. Dereplication of a crude extract of this strain using LC-HRMS(/MS) analysis unveiled a putative novel natural product, cellulamide A (1), that was isolated following mass spectrometry-guided fractionation. An additional analog, cellulamide B (2) was obtained during the chromatographic process and chemically characterized. The chemical structures of the novel linear peptides, including their absolute configurations, were elucidated using a combination of HRMS, 1D/2D NMR spectroscopy, and Marfey's analysis. Cellulamide A (1) was subjected to a set of bioactivity screenings, but no significant biological activity was observed. The cellulamides represent the first family of natural products reported from the Actinomycetota genus Cellulosimicrobium, showcasing not only the potential of less-explored taxa but also of host-associated marine strains for novel chemistry discovery.

A general strategy for the synthesis of taxane diterpenes.

The carbon skeleton of any organic molecule serves as the foundation for its three-dimensional structure, playing a pivotal role in determining its physical and biological properties1. As such, taxane diterpenes are one of the most well-known natural product families, primarily owing to the success of their most prominent compound, paclitaxel, an effective anticancer therapeutic for more than 25 years2-6. In contrast to classical taxanes, the bioactivity of cyclotaxanes (also referred to as complex taxanes) remains significantly underexplored. The carbon skeletons of these two groups of taxanes differ significantly, and so would typically their own distinct synthetic approaches. Here we report a versatile synthetic strategy based on the interconversion of complex molecular frameworks, providing general access to the wider taxane diterpene family. A range of classical and cyclotaxane frameworks was prepared including, among others, the total syntheses of taxinine K (2), canataxapropellane (5) and dipropellane C from a single advanced intermediate. The synthetic approach deliberately eschews biomimicry, emphasizing instead the power of stereoelectronic control in orchestrating the interconversion of polycyclic frameworks.

Investigation Into Novel Mukanadin B, Mukanadin D and Mukanadin F Derivatives as Antagonists of 5-HT1A Signalling.

Marine bromopyrrole alkaloids are a diverse family of natural products with a large array of biological applications. The mukanadin family is a group of molecules consisting of seven members (mukanadin A-G) that possess a range of biological activities. Inhibition of serotonergic signaling has been demonstrated by mukanadin B derivatives, presenting this chemical scaffold as a candidate for further SAR exploration. A library of thirteen novel mukanadin B and D derivatives with structural variation targeted at the pyrrole ring, central linker and hydantoin ring, were synthesized. These analogues were subsequently assessed for serotonergic antagonism, in addition to natural products, mukanadin B, D, F and 9-hydroxy mukanadin B. A collection of compounds exhibited significant 5-HT1A signaling, including five of the novel derivatives and two of the naturally occurring bromopyrroles, mukanadin B and F. Particular SAR information could be determined from these results, such as modification of the pyrrole ring being a well-tolerated strategy for improving serotonergic inhibition. Other changes to the pharmacophore led to significant reduction in activity such as saturation of the linker region, or no conclusive improvement in inhibitory activity such as a 9-OH group or replacement of the hydantoin ring with a triazole moiety.

Improving the Economics of Productive Families as an Approach to Renewing Urban Deteriorating Neighborhoods. Case study: Al-Oud Neighborhood in Riyadh

Improving the Economics of Productive Families as an Approach to Renewing Urban Deteriorating Neighborhoods. Case study: Al-Oud Neighborhood in Riyadh

An integrated optimization model for procurement and production lot sizing and scheduling problems

Abstract Lot sizing is a prevalent issue within manufacturing companies, where determining the optimal procurement and production lot sizes is crucial for maximizing profits. This problem has become more complex, given that numerous suppliers can provide the same raw materials with different prices and quantity discount schemes. A company should also determine optimal carriers to deliver materials to the company’s warehouse. In a manufacturing process, the company should determine the optimal production lot size and its schedules. In this paper, a model was developed to solve simultaneously procurement and production lot sizing, as well as production scheduling problems. The model encompasses multiple suppliers offering quantity discounts, aiming to maximize company profit by accounting for various costs, including procurement, production, inventory, and quality costs. A case study is taken from a company producing noodles and its related derivative products to illustrate the application of the model. Based on the optimization results, the company obtained a total profit of IDR. 14,656,550,000 or $950,921.30 (the exchange rate of $1 at IDR. 15,413). The sensitivity analysis results show that the objective function is sensitive to changes in the purchase cost, sale revenue, and discount rate parameters. The decision variables for accepted product demand, product quantity, and the starting and completion time of product family are only sensitive to changes in certain parameters. Meanwhile, the decision variables for product inventory, product backlog, raw material inventory, and purchased raw material quantity are sensitive to the changes in all the analyzed parameters.

Productive Competence, Internship, and Family Support on Student Work Readiness Mediated by Self-Efficacy

The current problem is that many vocational school graduate students still need more skills. Students' skills and readiness are influenced by many factors including productive competence, internship, and family support. This research aims to analyze the influence of perceptions of productive competence, industrial work, and family support on vocational school students' work readiness, partially or simultaneously mediated by self-efficacy. This research is causal associative research with a quantitative approach. The total population in this study was 1132 students. The sample for this research was 296 respondents. The method used to collect data is a questionnaire. The instrument used to collect data was a questionnaire. The data analysis method used is descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The data analysis technique used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The research results show that students' perceptions of productive competence, industrial work practices, family support, and self-efficacy have a positive and significant effect on students' work readiness. Based on the results of the Sobel test, Self-Efficacy can mediate the influence of productive competence, industrial work practices, and family support on vocational school students' work readiness. It was concluded that perceptions of productive competence, industrial work, and family support influenced vocational school students' work readiness. The implication of this research is that family and school support is very necessary for students so that students have good work readiness.