Lean Development and Innovation

Appendix: Modularity: The Way to Reduce the Total Product Costs While Drastically Increasing the Industrial Flexibility

Gianluigi Bielli¹

Modular Development

Over the course of time, modularity has had different meanings and been applied in various ways. For example, the notion of the module was first employed widely in classical architecture. Just think of the ancient temples, based on reconfigurable modules assembled in different ways in order to produce very different end results. Or take the works of many Renaissance artists: their proportionate construction of forms was achieved through an art based on a scientific knowledge of standard, modular components.

In the 20th century, with the phenomenon of industrialization, modularity became ...