PB-GPCT: A Platform-Based Configuration Tool

In this paper, the platform-based generic product configuration tool (PB-GPCT) is presented which is developed by Institute of Design for Innovation, Hebei University of Technology. The PB-GPCT is designed to be used by sales engineers for the configuration of complex products, so that customers can get customized products in tolerable time. Comparing with other configurators, platform is introduced into PB-GPCT. Being a structure-based and domain independent system, the PB-GPCT can be used in different companies without doing any modification. In order to achieve this goal, knowledge-based configuration methods are employed. The configuration model, configuration knowledge and configuration constraints are discussed in this paper.