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In a rapidly evolving automotive landscape, with quick technological advancements and
shifting customer demands, the ability to design flexible product platforms has become a
critical competitive advantage. This thesis aims to develop design supports for the
iterative design and analysis of the incorporation of new technology into automotive
product platforms, by investigating how these platforms can adapt to rapid technological
changes and diverse customer demands, i.e., expand their external variety. The intense
competitive landscape and minimal profit margins in the automotive industry have
necessitated its platform development to focus on cost efficiency and standardization, i.e.,
limiting the internal variety. However, with the increasing pressures of sustainability and
the need for quicker market responses, traditional approaches have shown that the
rigidity of the constraints they impose limits their ability to adapt swiftly.
This thesis proposes a model-based framework that emphasizes the early integration of
flexibility, value-based decision-making, resilient design strategies, and proactive risk
management to address these challenges. A new method using the concept of platform
margins was introduced to assess platform flexibility over time. Further, the concept of
resilient objects was developed, which are platform components that can easily adapt to
or absorb changes. The research also addressed change propagation, especially
considering Field Effects (FE). These methods were validated through real-world tests
involving experienced practitioners from Swedish automotive OEMs.
This thesis highlights the importance of prioritizing flexibility from the initial stages of
platform design when the impact of architectural decisions is greater. By employing
value-based decision-making techniques, the framework balances short-term and longterm goals, aligning the control of current costs with the necessary buffers to address
future needs. Proactive risk management techniques are employed to predict and
mitigate potential risks from the higher-order effects of technology changes. This
framework, with its focus on platform design margins, provides a strategic approach to
optimizing the trade-off between both internal and external variety, ensuring platforms
are not only efficient today but also ready for the innovations of tomorrow.

Keywords:

Flexibility, Model-Based Design, Product Development, Product Platforms, Technology Integration, Systems Engineering, Platform Margins, Resilient Objects