Procedure Phases for Configuration System Development

Abstract

One of the main characteristic trends of modern economic and production systems, no doubt, is the increase of product variety and the increase of different products offered by companies. At the same time, short delivery time or time to markets is a key factor for a company to win orders. More and more companies today rely on configuration systems in order to more efficiently and effectively meet customers' needs. The use of product configurators results in numerous benefits for manufacturing-oriented companies such as shorter lead time, less time for training new employees, fewer errors, etc. On the other hand, Group Technology (GT) is a manufacturing philosophy that identifies the similar attributes of product design and manufacturing processes. This paper aims to develop phases for product configurator development which is based on the principles of group technology. This procedure phases for configuration system development shows the stages that need to be completed by the company that wants to create its product configurator. Such companies can take advantage of the benefits offered by both, configuration system and group technology.