Commonality Strategies for Vehicle Platform Performance and Maintainability

Principal Investigators
Michael Kokkolaras, Panos Papalambros (U. of Michigan)

Industry
Trudy Weber (General Motors)

Government
Paul Decker, David Gorsich (TARDEC)

Commonality and modularity is the key to successful vehicle platform performance and maintainability. The objective of this research project is to extend previously developed commonality strategies to fit the Army’s vehicle platform needs. Specifically, commonality maximization problems will be formulated to consider maintainability and performance constraint bounds and solved using numerical optimization algorithms to determine the maximum number of shared components.

Increased commonality results in cost savings due to reduced manufacturing, inventory, and logistics needs, improved maintainability and supportability, and increased reliability. Determining the maximum amount of commonality without violating expectations on performance can be done in a rigorous mathematical way using the algorithms and methodologies we have developed and will extend/modify to fit the Army’s vehicle missions.