Multi-objective optimization and evaluation method of modular product configuration design scheme

Product configuration is one of the key technologies for mass customization. Traditional product configuration optimization targets are mostly single. In this paper, an approach based on multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm and fuzzy-based select mechanism is proposed to solve the multi-objective configuration optimization problem. Firstly, the multi-objective optimization mathematical model of product configuration is constructed, the objective functions are performance, cost, and time. Then, a method based on improved non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is proposed to solve the configuration design optimization problem. As a result, the Pareto-optimal set is acquired by NSGA-II. Due to the imprecise nature of human decision, a fuzzy-based configuration scheme evaluation and select mechanism is proposed consequently, which helps extract the best compromise solution from the Pareto-optimal set. The proposed multi-objective genetic algorithm is compared with two other established multi-objective optimization algorithms, and the results reveal that the proposed genetic algorithm outperforms the others in terms of product configuration optimization problem. At last, an example of air compressor multi-objective configuration optimization is used to demonstrate the feasibility and validity of the proposed method.