Abstract: Product platform is a powerful product development strategy for mass customization (MC) manufacturers to maximize product individual demands and cut costs and developing cycle. As product lifecycle management (PLM) becoming key information management integration framework for product engineering, building product platform under PLM is proposed. Based on the review of exited work on product platform, new features of product platform in PLM is analyzed, which high-lights its profound concept, that is manufacturing customization of new product under information integration. From this point of view, product platform modeling method based on configu-ration and muti-layer abstraction is worked out, and its basic build cell model and its modeling processes is fully discussed. This method organizes all product definition assets in such a pattern that it facilitates the derivation of new product. Besides, how to plan and appraise PLM-based product platform, and how to derive a new variant product is also discussed system-atically.

Key words: Mass customization, Product development strategy, Product lifecycle management, Product platform, Variant design