Abstract

Collaborative products are created when physical components from two or more products are temporarily recombined to form another product capable of performing entirely new tasks. The method for designing collaborative products is useful in developing products with reduced cost, weight, and size. These reductions are valued in the developing world because collaborative products have a favorable task-per-cost ratio. In this paper, a method for designing collaborative products is introduced. The method identifies a set of products capable of being recombined into a collaborative product. These products are then designed to allow for this recombination. Three examples are provided to illustrate the method. These examples show that a collaborative block plane, apple peeler, and brick press, each created from a set of products, can increase the task-per-cost ratio of these products by 42%, 20%, and 30%, respectively. The author concludes that the method introduced herein provides a new and useful tool to design collaborative products and to engineer products that are valued in the developing world.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology; Mechanical Engineering

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2011-08-08

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd4729

Keywords

collaborative products, product decomposition, reconfigurable products, poverty alleviation

Language

English

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