specification of product assortments based on modular product platforms present new product assortment specification procedure identify necessary steps in the specification procedure identify the input that is relevant to specify a product assortment develop modelling tools to support the specification procedure develop modelling and visualization methods to support modelling and documentation of the specified product assortment expected result design process life-cycle Dfx competition analysis road-mapping micro- economics PDM classification methods buyer/ customer behaviour business unit strategy interface modularization platforms multi-product development decision-making product planning mass- customization product assortment analysis trade-off analysis marketing market segmentation product specification product platform specification Design process Product assortment analysis Product specification area of contribution major theoretical topic minor theoretical topic tfc - theoretical foundation and contribution model department of mechanical engineering technical university of denmark morten kvist engineering design and product development criteria formulation descriptive study 1 prescriptive study descriptive study 2 reviewdetailed initial critical rationalism and inductivism in depth study of state-of-the-art literature within the research area secure against conflicts with the theoretical basis implementation and testing of results at case study partners research approach it is possible to support and improve product assortment specification by assessing market-product relations modelling hypothesis 1 it is possible to support and improve product assortment specification by assessing market segmentation modelling hypothesis 2 to increase multi-product development performance through assessment of product assortment specification and hereby improve product architecture quality by introducing new market modelling methods and tools assessing market- product relations modelling and market segmentation modelling goal market calls for customized products at competitive price-level a history of single-product development has burdened companies with complex product assortments modular product architectures/platforms is one means of obtaining cost-competitive product customization reality show that companies find it difficult set up target specification for entire product assortments background the modular product market demands the initial product reference/impact model quality of road- mappin g success criteria measurable criteria supporting market- product relations modelling tool influencing factor success criteria (goal) measurable criteria research contribution quality of product architecture quality of product assortment specification quality of road-mapping ease of identifying generic/variabl e characteristics understanding of market quality of market modelling ease of prioritizing product characteristics quality of market segmentation ease of identifying product family structure success criteria measurable criteria supporting market segmentation modelling multi-product development performance understanding of market- product relations supporting market- product relations modelling