Research on the Product Platform Life Cycle and its Management Strategies

As Mass Customization has become the main production mode of company, a growing number of companies begin to accept and implement product platform strategy. For the better understanding of product platform innovation and management, the Product Platform Life Cycle (PPLC) theory and its corresponding management strategies are proposed. Firstly, based on the theory of product platform, this paper proposes mathematical model for PPLC and the stages of Planning, Development, Application and Recession in PPLC are divided qualitatively. Then characteristics of the four stages of PPLC are pointed out. According to the characteristics of various stage and disturbance factors, the management strategies in various stages of PPLC are put forward.