Design for Variety: Development of Complexity Indices and Design Charts

Abstract

This paper describes methods to help project leaders and engineers manage the costs of providing variety to the market. As companies look for ways to stay competitive in the global marketplace, the concept of mass customization has appeared as a potential advantage. Armed with new manufacturing and information technologies, companies are trying to determine the amount of variety that they should offer to optimize profits. Our Design for Variety (DFV) research focuses on methodologies which will help companies quantify the costs of providing variety and will qualitatively guide designers in developing products that incur minimum variety costs. The proposed tools incorporate quantitative indices and qualitative design charts. Examples from electronics and automotive industries illustrate the utility of the tools.

Ürün çeşitliliğinin tasarım, tedarik ve üretim süreçlerine etkisinin sistem dinamiği yaklaşımı ile incelenmesi

“…Şirketin bu stratejisi, mühendislik tasarım kapasitesi için zorlayıcı bir güç olmakta ve kaynakların sınırlı olduğu bir durumda tasarım ekibinin üzerinde gerilim oluşturmaktadır. Mevcut tasarım kapasitesi ile müşterilerin artan çeşitlilik taleplerine cevap vermek ve yenilikçi uygulamalar geliştirmek, özellikle de zaman kısıtı nedeniyle, ürün geliştirme sürecinde sık sık gecikmelere neden olmaktadır [47,48]. Vaka Şirketinde ürün çeşitliliği, karar verme aşamasında önemli bir unsur olarak görülmemektedir.…”

Optimal replicates for designed experiments under the online framework

“…Their process of sampling the space was based on A optimal and D optimal designs with no replication (as is common in computer experiments) whereas the current paper employs full and fractional factorial design with replication since the on-line setting will exhibit variation across replicates. Martin and Ishii (1997) used empirical data from industry to guide development of quantitative tools. They developed indices for commonality, differentiation, and set-up and proposed to combine them in a regression based decision procedure.…”

Addressing the impact of high levels of product variety on complexity in design and manufacture

“…The literature shows a number of approaches to understanding the problem of variety induced complexity, primarily focusing on commonality/modularity. The work of Martin and Ishii [6,30] is arguably the most developed since they presented product-and process-related indices and considered cost implications; cost analysis was, however, limited to using the indices as proxies. The indices and charts take a system-wide view, and do not focus attention on the contribution of individual product and part variants to complexity.…”

“…The indices and charts take a system-wide view, and do not focus attention on the contribution of individual product and part variants to complexity. Martin and Ishii [6,30] do not consider demand for variants that affects their unit costs, revenue, and, hence, profitability; this requires individual treatment of the variants. In this paper, which has a similar motivation as the work of Martin and Ishii [6,30], a wider and more detailed set of views are presented to assist a multifunctional, concurrent engineering team in high-level DFV sessions, as part of a top-down process that sets out the product offers and design briefs.…”

“…As the product development programme progresses, the product assumptions may also need to be revisited. Martin and Ishii [30] considered a number of different approaches (e.g. quality function deployment, utility theory) for estimating the importance to the market of variety.…”