Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 January 2005
Platform product development is a contemporary approach to agile product development for mass customization. Distinctive product variants are derived or customized from a platform that is defined as components and subsystems commonly shared across a product family. A well-organized platform is essential to connect different parties of an enterprise including soliciting customer needs through order fulfillment to field service. Hence, it is also critical to achieve the economy of scale by identifying repetitive applications of share tooling, knowledge, and other resources. In this Special Issue, we attempt to cover the different aspects of platform product development. The topics span a wider range of artificial intelligence (AI) disciplines, from knowledge representation to knowledge support systems. It identifies a fertile area not only for applying AI to contemporary issues of design and manufacturing systems but also for enriching the methodology for developing AI systems in manufacturing enterprises. Indeed, we consider that numerous successful applications in the industrial sectors highlight a future direction for productive AI applications in industry.