Module-based release management for technical changes

Abstract

Making systematically use of synergies by product platforms and thus creating “volume bundling”-effects enables the producing companies to cope with increasing international competition and the need to focus on individualization of customer segments. Whilst in the literature the initial setup of a modular product architecture is covered with numerous modularization approaches, the lifecycle has not been focused in scientific literature. Meanwhile the importance of the act of planning and executing changes is emphasized with relevant studies outlining that the majority of changes to a product occur during serial production. This paper aims at showing how to enable an efficient release management process, starting in the early stages of the development of a product architecture. Furthermore the approach introduces a method which addresses the lifecycle of a product architecture, aiming at systematically analyzing the possibility for bundling of changes and when to synchronize the changes with the product portfolio.