Knowledge based engineering as a condition of effective mass production of configurable products by design automation

The paper presents possibilities of improving design and manufacturing preparation processes of configurable (variant) products in scope of realization of mass customization strategy. Knowledge based engineering tools are presented as a base for building systems for automation of design and manufacturing preparation. Methodologies of building KBE systems are presented and described, authors’ own methodology is presented along with selected cases of its use. It is proven that reduction of time needed for design and manufacturing preparation can be vast, justifying use of KBE systems as a way of manufacturing optimization of configurable products.