A Design Flow of Special Customization Based on Similarity Evaluation of Functional Design Schemes

A design flow of special customization is put forward with a view to meeting customers´ specific needs as well as reducing difficulties in subsequent design and manufacturing. As the basis of this design flow, a similarity evaluation method is put forward which includes the following steps: (a) establishing customization product families; (b) constructing product conceptional function matrix; (c) evaluating matrix elements for customer requirements importance value; (d) constructing benchmark product and figuring out the similarity indexes of various design schemes.