A Decomposition-Based Approach for the Integration

Using a structured approach to understand the interaction between product design decisions and manufacturing system design is critical to reflect manufacturing system issues early in the product development process. Early consideration of manufacturing system issues prevents product design iterations due to manufacturing system constraints or unnecessary manufacturing system design modification to accommodate new product designs. However, in academia and industry, few frameworks are available to capture the interaction between manufacturing system design and product design decisions. This thesis presents an approach to capture the interaction between manufacturing system design and product design decisions, which is called manufacturability evaluation process. The manufacturability evaluation process aims to guide product development teams to see the effects of their design decisions on manufacturing systems and thus, to make the right decision from the early stage of product development. The manufacturability evaluation process satisfies four objectives: 1) to describe the objectives of manufacturing systems clearly separated from the means of achievement, 2