1 Copyright © 2009 by ASME Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2009 August 30 – September 02, 2009, San Diego, California, USA DETC2009/CIE-86798 MODELING THE EFFECT OF PRODUCT ARCHITECTURE ON MASS COLLABORATIVE PROCESSES – AN AGENT-BASED APPROACH Qize Le and Jitesh H. Panchal 1 School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering Washington State University, Pullman, WA 1 Corresponding Author. E-mail: panchal@wsu.edu ABSTRACT Traditional product development efforts are based on well-structured and hierarchical product development teams. The products are systematically decomposed into subsystems that are designed by dedicated teams with well-defined information flows. Recently, a new product development approach called Mass Collaborative Product Development (MCPD) has emerged. The fundamental difference between a traditional product development process and a MCPD process is that the former is based on top-down decomposition while the latter is based on evolution and self-organization. The paradigm of MCPD has resulted in highly successful products such as Wikipedia, Linux and Apache. Despite the success of various projects using MCPD, it is not well understood how the product architecture affects the evolution of products developed using such processes. To address this gap, an agent-based model to study MCPD processes is presented in this paper. Through this model, the effect of product architectures on the product evolution is studied. The model is executed for different architectures ranging from slot architecture to bus architecture and the rates of product evolution are determined. The simulation-based approach allows us to study how the degree of modularity of products affects the evolution time of products and different modules in the MCPD processes. The methodology is demonstrated using an illustrative example of mobile phones. This approach provides a simple and intuitive way to study the effects of product architecture on the MCPD processes. It is helpful in determining the best strategies for product decomposition and identifying the product architectures that are suitable for the MCPD processes. Keywords: Mass Collaboration, Product Development, Agent-based Modeling, Product Architectures 1. INTRODUCTION TO MASS COLLABORATIVE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Mass collaborative product development (MCPD) is an emerging paradigm of community led innovation where masses of individuals work together in the form of loose networks of peers to produce goods and services [1]. In this emerging paradigm, masses of individuals who have different backgrounds, knowledge and experience join the product development processes. MCPD processes are not driven by top-down flow of control. Instead, individuals choose their tasks based on their own goals and interests. MCPD processes have various successful examples in the information-based products, particularly open-source software (e.g., Linux and Apache). MCPD processes have recently been applied to physical product development also. In physical products, the attempts to mass collaborative product development are still in the early stages, one example being Open Source Car (Oscar) project [2]. The objective in this product is to develop a car using open source principles. Another example is the Open Prosthetics project [3]. The differences between MCPD processes and traditional processes are discussed in detail by Panchal and Fathianathan [4, 5]. Traditional design processes are described as top-down processes where the information flows logically from the desired functionality of a product to a design that satisfies the functionality. These processes are based on the assumption that a product can be decomposed into sub-systems which usually contain specified sub-systems. The subsystems are generally developed by different teams and are integrated into a complete system. In contrast, MCPD processes are characterized by massively decentralized activities and decision-making. The products are developed without systematic hierarchical decomposition and assignment of tasks to different teams. Instead, large independent groups of participants participate in the MCPD process entirely based on their individual interests. Their decisions are totally based on their individual benefits and costs. A key difference between