Identification of variety management variables for product development and establishment of maturity levels

Abstract

The importance of expanding a company's variety of products is easily observed in competitive markets, where a greater variety means a greater chance of meeting specific consumer needs. On the other hand, a larger product list implies the need for better variety management. In this article, we study how two companies deal with variety management during product development, in order to identify the factors and variables linked to their success. Three axes are observed to be central to effective variety management: variety, flexibility and integration. Furthermore, technical variables were also identified that enable a company to manipulate such axes. For each variable, levels of maturity are established that enabled the identification of how those companies perform their variety management. As result, a tool is delivered that can evaluate an organization's maturity level regarding variety management. The proposed tool is also capable of performing competitive benchmarks between different organizations.

Exergy Cost Associated with Polymers Recycling in Vehicles: From Qualitative to Quantitative Indicators

“…Different polymeric materials are often incompatible at the time of recycling. Mixing of incompatible plastics leads to a recycled material with degraded properties, that cannot be re-used for the same noble application; the tolerance rarely exceeds 2% of contaminants in a mixture; compatibility can change according to the types of polymers [12]. Vehicle parts are practically always made of more than one plastic, but many times this is due to aesthetic reasons.…”