• In product design, modularity provides valuable options for easier redesign, upgrade, substitution, etc.

• Having more modules creates more options, but it also increases the interface and coordination costs among them.

  • Therefore, the optimum number of modules (M*) lies between the extremes of M =1 and M = N.

  • Too little and too much modularity are bad.

• M* maximizes a product’s architecture adaptability value (AAV).

  • Models help to estimate M* and AAV*.

• The value of modularity depends not only on M but also on how the product’s components are grouped into the modules.

  • Components exhibiting fast rates of technological change should be assigned to different modules than components exhibiting slow rates of technological change.

Key Publications:  P37, P16, C24