Three Perspectives on Modularity – A Literature Review of a Product Concept for Assembled Hardware Products

Abstract

In recent years, modularity as a design strategy has received renewed interest. The term modularity, however, is often used to describe phenomena that are similar yet slightly different, for different products, and in different industries and contexts. Therefore, it is unclear whether there is a way to operationalize the concept of modularity across these different uses. This paper reviews the concepts of modularity used in the literature representing different thought worlds (engineering and management) and different occupations (academia and industry).