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Optimizing The Order Processing of Customized Products Using Product Configuration

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Optimizing The Order Processing of Customized Products Using Product Configuration

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Optimizing the order processing of customized products using product configuration

Hvam, Lars; Bonev, Martin; Denkena, B.; Schürmeyer, J.; Dengler, B.

Published in:
Production Engineering

Link to article, DOI:


10.1007/s11740-011-0334-x

Publication date:
2011

Link back to DTU Orbit

Citation (APA):
Hvam, L., Bonev, M., Denkena, B., Schürmeyer, J., & Dengler, B. (2011). Optimizing the order processing of
customized products using product configuration. Production Engineering, 5(6), 595-604.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11740-011-0334-x

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Optimizing the Order Processing of Customized Products Using Product Configuration
L. Hvam 1, M. Bonev1, B. Denkena 2, J. Schürmeyer 2, B. Dengler 2*
1
Department of Management Engineering and Operations Management, Technical University of Denmark,
Produktionstorvet, Building 426, room 41, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
2
Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools, Leibniz Universität Hannover, An der Universität 2,
D-30823 Garbsen, Germany
*corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract
For the b etter part of the 20 th century many large companies have b een focussed on optimizing their mass
production process as a way of maximizing their profits. Nowadays, in the existing environment of glob al
competitiveness, enhancing the production process remains a significant issue as well.
Product configuration b ased on integrated modular product structure and product family architecture has
b een recognized as an effective means for implementing mass customization. In order to evaluate the
effects of product configuration on order processing, a study has b een conducted b y the Department of
Management Engineering and Operations Management of the Technical University of Denmark in
cooperation with the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools of the Leib niz Universität
Hannover. Thereb y, a product configuration system has b een modelled for a manufacturer of mass
customized products and its b enefits for the order processing have b een evaluated.

Keywords
Product management, Product configuration, Order processing

To evaluate the effects of product configuration on the


1 INTRODUCTION order processing, a study has been conducted by the
Optimizing the mass production of their goods, thus Department of Management Engineering and Operations
maximizing their profits, has been a major focal point for Management of the Technical University of Denmark.
many large enterprises for the better part of the 20 th Thereby, a product configuration system for a
century and it remains a significant issue nowadays as manufacturer of mass customized products has been
well. In the past, the main concern of companies’ modelled and the benefits for the order processing have
executives was capacity, i.e. the ability to keep up with the been evaluated. Chapter 2 describes fundamental
increasing consumer demands. After several decades of information regarding modular engineering and product
continuous economic growth, by the 1950s many mass configuration. After that the case study presents the
markets were saturated. Companies followed the strategy procedure of developing exemplary configuration systems
of diversification dividing the market into smaller and evaluates the impact of product configuration on the
segments. Consequently, the boundaries between the order processing (chapter 3).
different markets started to blur. This enabled companies
to produce even more of the same product and to utilize 2 MODULARIZATION AND CONFIGURATION
the advantages of mass production to an even greater
2.1 Modular Engineering
extent. However, as companies moved into new markets ,
other competitors entered their earlier markets thus In engineering design approach a module is often defined
increasing the competition. This led to an intense global as a standardized unit and a combinable, changeable part
competitive environm ent, where companies had to be or component. A module is a limited part of a product
able to compete on prices, quality, delivery times , etc. In family with well-defined functions and pre-defined
order to ensure their ability to competitiveness, companies interfaces to the other modules in the product family [2, 3].
started to differentiate their products even further. Furthermore modules can be combined into a customized
Moreover, they recognised that products sold in different product according to a set of rules and constraints that
regulations needed to fulfil country specific designs. As a regulate the validity of combinations of modules.
result, customers received more options which led to their Modularity in engineering design is not limited to
being more demanding: It was no longer enough to get structuring a product only, but also an important basis for
the product, now it needed to satisfy certain ideas of implementing lean and robust businesses in e.g. sales,
design, quality and price. The product variety extended design, production and installation. Modular engineering
and the competition on the market grew. may be seen as a means for a business rationalization
Product configuration with the integration of modular which helps balancing the challenges companies are
product structure and product family architecture has facing nowadays. In fact, modular architectures can be
been recognized as an effective means for implementing considered as a way of securing a coordinated
mass customization. Therefore, in order to achieve development of the product assortment and the business
functional similarities among products that share common processes. In this context, modular engineering
technology and production process, enterprises should corresponds to the business strategy of systemic
begin with organizing manufacturing at the level of the customization.
product family [1]. However, there are various factors which have an effect
on a modular approach, which companies have to be
concerned with (e.g. market conditions , stability of  All the technical parameters associated with such needs
surroundings , design capability, maturity of architectural and functions have been clearly defined [1].
knowledge, technology maturity, initial investment) [4, 5]. Furthermore, a configurable product family requires that
For example, ERICSSON and ERIXON show in a model the company has defined what it will offer and has created
how activities towards lower complexity affect the different a limited solution space that will satisfy the customer’s
levels of the product architecture exponentially. Product needs. Additionally, it needs to establish a link between
architecture can be basically classified into three levels: the commercial and the technical model of the products.
the product range level, the product level and the
component level. Each level has a different effect on A configuration system is a special kind of expert system ,
reducing complexity. The model explains why product which differs from a traditional software system. It
modularity mainly effects the product range level and represents human knowledge and uses expert problem-
brings advantages like higher flexibility in changing solving methods, rather than methods that are based on
products for example [2]. VICTOR et al. apply a more mathematical modelling [3, 12]. Configuration systems are
detailed approach to modular engineering and divide software systems that create, use and maintain product
modular systems into single- and multiple-systems. Single models which allow a complete definition of all possible
Systems contain the decoupling of a system (product) into product outcomes and variations with a minimum of
subsystems (modules), in order to reduce the complexity entries [3, 13]. A well maintained configuration system
and organize activities and resources. Multiple-systems, ensures a clear description of the products and
on the other hand, focus more on providing customization communicates these to the sales person. In order to build
and variety through combinations of modules [6]. MILLER, a configuration system , it is necessary to model all
for example, uses single systems in order to structure relevant knowledge about the products in a form that can
business with modular architecture of artefacts, activities be incorporated into a configuration system.
and knowledge [5]. ZHANG simultaneously configures Analysis and design models are often created w hen
platform products and manufacturing supply chains. His developing a product configurator. However, both models
approach poses the important challenge to find the require an analysis language. To avoid the use of different
optimum amount of modules [7]. modelling techniques, HAUG et al. propose the layout
ULRICH and TUNG distinguish between five different technique `Vertical Aligned Class Diagrams´ (VACD),
kinds of modularity [8]: which incorporate the us e of `Product Variant Masters´
(PVM) into class diagrams. Investigations strongly
 In component sharing modularity same components are indicate that the use of VACDs in configurator projects
used in different product variants. has the potential to increase efficiency, improve
 In component swapping modularity different types of communication and reduce errors [14]. LIU et al. focus on
modules can be combined with the same basic module the integration of reliability analysis and configuration at
creating different product variants. the component level. Possible failure causes obtained
with a fault tree analysis (FTA) are mapped onto the
 The cut-to-fit modularity can be compared to the
production of tailor made clothing where standard product configuration network model via a functional
model and a limitation matrix [15]. LI et al. created input
patterns are used to cut and fit the clothes to individual
and output matrices based on a positive reasoning rule
customers [9].
model in order to resolve match conflicts between rule -
 A typical example for b us modularity is the computer based reasoning mechanisms and product manufacturing
industry where different components, such as graphic logic. Using a data-driven control strategy and conflict
cards, are fixed on a motherboard. resolution methods, a product configuration-reasoning
 The selectional modularity possesses the highest algorithm supporting the conflict resolution is given and
degree of variety and customization. Here, the exemplarily demonstrated [16]. In HELO’s et al. opinion,
components are connected trough standard interfaces existing product configurators are mainly used as sales
[8]. tools, and fail to account for the requirements of the entire
customer order fulfilment process. In this regard HELO et
Modular construction systems can provide advantages in
al. propose an Integrated Vehicle Configuration System
various areas along the product life-cycle. Modular
systems reduce costs (economies of scale) and
processing time of an order. In addition, changing the
function of modules , as well as an extension of the
product range, is possible. Modular design allows for
increasing reuse and remanufacturing, as well as lowering
separation costs for recycling. A disadvantage of modular
engineering is that the modules are made general for any
customer tailored product and thus not always optimal for
the specific customer tailored product. E.g. a module may
be larger and/or heavier than an individual designed part
would have been. This means that working with modular
products requires balancing the requirements for the
overall performance and costs of the total product family
and the sub-optimization of each product parts.
2.2 Product Configuration
No matter whether the product is modular or not, it is
configurable if it is possible to eliminate any kind of
uncertainty in the configuration activities. The product can
be defined as configurable if:
 All needs and functions that can be satisfied by variants Figure 1: Procedure for developing configuration
of a product family have been comprehensibly defined. systems [3]
Figure 2: Information and material flow

(IVCS) to facilitate customer and order processing based object-oriented project life cycle (analysis, design,
on information from multiple domains in a mass implementation and maintenance), the introduced
customization environment. IVCS is based on approach further contains methods for analyzing the
combinations of selective and generative rules and business processes to be supported by the configuration
supported by a comprehensive ontology framework [17]. systems and proceedings for analysing and modelling the
Like product configuration systems , Product Data product range [3]. By following the defined steps, the
Management (PDM) systems handle the documentation, methodology facilitates the development of product
availability and the updating of data originated from the configurations. As shown in figure 1, first the specification
technical office, such as designs, BOM and simulations. In process has to be defined (phase 1), after that the product
particular, PDM systems were created in order to support range needs to be analyzed (phase 2), then an object-
interfaces between different departments of a company. oriented analysis (OOA) model of the product
While the PDM is mainly meant to manage engineering configuration should be constructed (phase 3) and a
product data, the product configuration system supports configuration system has to be chosen, in order to adapt
sales processes and connects them to the engineering the OOA-model (phase 4). After the requirement
and the production [1, 18, 19]. specifications have been specified, the next steps consist
of programming and testing (phase 5) and implementing
For example, JIANG et al. propose a new approach to (phase 6 the configuration system in the future
inventory shortage driven optimization for product specification process). Finally, the performance of the new
configuration variation based on genetic algorithms. The specification process should be measured and the
approach adds impact costs, lead times and inventory configuration system needs to be adjusted accordingly
factors to the traditional configuration optimization model (phase 7).
and considers the effects on other orders when a
component changes [20]. ELMARAGHY et al. study the The following subchapters describe the developing
effect of product modules structure on the corresponding process of a product configuration system for a
globally distributed supply chain configuration. An integer manufacturer of mass customized products. This case
linear decision support model is developed to determine study has been conducted according to HVAM´s
the optimal location of global supply chain nodes by framework and shows how product configuration could be
simultaneously considering the current exchange rate at used for optimizing order processing. Moreover, the
various sites and the optimal modular product structure to impact of product configuration on order processing has
be used in order to minimize the total cost [21]. been evaluated.
OVERMEYER et al. use data mining in order to predict 3.1 Phase 1: Development of specification process
performance figures of alternative system configurations
of manufacturing technologies. Using the performance In phase 1 the most important specification process es
need to be identified, correspondingly, the requirements
figures different configurations of a system could be
for the individual specification process es have to be
assessed and compared during the bidding phase [22].
formulated as well and compared to the present
performance. Furthermore, a new specification process
3 EFFECTS OF PRODUCT CONFIGURATION ON
ORDER PROCESSING has to be designed.
Present processes, aims and requirements
HVAM defines a comprehensive seven phase procedure
for developing configuration systems. Based on the The analysis of the specification process es aims at
defining the specifications necessary to ensure that the process starts when the customer accepts the quotation
ordered products are delivered in the right place at right offer, which means that it begins with the ordering activity
time and in the right condition. A good starting point when and ends with the customer receiving the product. The
analyzing the process is to identify necessary shipment of the product is therefore included in the
specifications in the product life-cycle and then to process. However, the shipping service is bought from an
investigate activities used to generate each of them. external company. Becaus e of difficulties in estimating the
This study was done in a close cooperation with a value adding time of the shipment, it was decided that the
company that manufactures mass customized goods. value adding time would be the shortest amount of time
Being a leading global provider of equipment and needed for the product to be shipped. Any time which
industrial systems, the company possesses advanced exceeds that is estimated as non-value adding.
technological know-how, but struggles with the handling of The most important VSM measurements are illustrated in
some of his business processes. The product chosen for table 1. The measurements show that an expected order
evaluation is sold through Sales Support Units (SSU) fulfilment time is 22,83 days. However, the standard
located worldwide. The customer orders the product deviation in the order fulfilment process is 23,20 days,
through sales people working for the SSU (figure 2). The which means that the order fulfilment can take up to more
sales process most often begins with the customer calling than twice as long. The measurements of the specification
the salesperson and asking for products or with the process show that 18,54 days pass from the moment
salesperson contacting the customer and adverting new when the salesmen make a quotation to the customer
ones. until the production can start. Approximately 9,77 of these
The salesperson typically uses product brochures and days are due to time waiting for the customer to respond
manuals to educate the customer on the solutions the to the quotation offer, however, 8,35 days are explained
manufacturing company has to offer. Since product by waiting time in the manufacturer´s processes. The
variants have already been defined in the pricing result is that only a 0,45% of the specification process
spreadsheet, the order decoupling line is customized to time is value adding. The standard deviation of the
delivery, i.e. the customer selects between predefined specification process is 24,92 days. The time that has
alternatives of the product and can then define passed before the production starts is therefore
customized delivery options and payment agreements. If unpredictable.
the customer is interested in buying a particular product,
the salesperson consults the pricing list and makes an Total time Order fulfillment Specification process
unofficial offer. If the customer feels that the offer is
T [h] 32,85 22,83 18,54
reasonable, they reach an agreement.
The Value Stream Mapping (VSM) technique was used in VT [h] 2,74 2,68 0,08

order to investigate the value adding time of the Std [h] 36,50 23,20 24,92
specification processes, production and delivery (figure 3). WT [h] 28,62 18,85 18,12
There, the VSM is divided between activities, presented
VT [%] 8,34 11,73 0,45
by arrows and waiting times that separate the activities,
presented by triangles. The measurements shown in the T: Time duration; VT: Value adding time; Std: Standard deviation; WT: Waiting time
VSM are the average time the activity/waiting takes (T),
the value adding time (VT) and the standard deviation of Table 1: Results of VSM measurements
the duration (Std.). The time at the waiting station is never The time measurements of the product specification and
calculated as a value adding activity. The specification the order fulfilment give a good idea of which non-value
process begins with the specification activity and lasts adding activities the process contains in a relative
until the production start is arranged, i.e. the right bill of perspective to the value adding activities , pointing out
material (BOM) has been found and adjusted and the where improvements would be most effective. The largest
order is ready to be processed. The order fulfilment

Figure 4: Design of new specification process


amount of non-value adding time in the process is found
in the waiting time, when the order is waiting to be
processed. To shorten the lead time, the manufacturing
company should therefore look into combining and
automating some manufacturing activities. That should
enable them to shorten or eliminate some of the waiting
time between the activities, increase the value adding
portion of the process and shorten the delivery time.
Design of a new specification process
In order to evaluate the effect of the product configuration
on order processing, a new specification process has
been designed. In the scenario, the salesperson is
equipped with a configuration system that helps him to
communicate the product range and supports the
customer in her choice. The configuration system should
automatically create a quotation letter. In addition, the
configuration system interacts with the ERP-System
receiving real time information regarding parts, prices and
delivery times (figure 4).
The configuration system is accessed through a website. Figure 5: Principal notation and a small subset of a
The customer tells the salesperson his needs and the PVM [13]
salesperson uses the configuration system to find a
solution which fulfils the customer’s requirement. As The product family of the company chosen for evaluation
product variants are selected, the configuration system has, compared with other product families of the
rules out options that become invalid. The product company´s product range, a simple product variation. To
variants will be expressed with figures and descriptions . structure the product family, information regarding the
When a product that fulfils the customer´s wishes has products was gathered by interviewing employees that
been configured, the configuration system creates a possess the necessary knowledge of the product structure
quotation letter automatically. and by studying the available product documentation.
The configuration system interacts with the ERP-System Finally, a complete PVM representing the product family
to get current information regarding products and delivery has been structured according to the structure of the
times. When a customer has accepted an offer, an order PVM-model. The PVM-model contains two parts (figure
is automatically registered to the ERP-system. The 5). The “part-of” model consists of those parts that appear
technical information, such as BOM lists and lists of in the entire product family. In that way, the model can
operations, can be transferred to the ERP manufacturing also assign quantities to the parts that can further be
and planning modules. The BOM lists are not pre-defined, characterized by a set of attributes describing their
but are created as the products are configured. Changes properties. The “kind-of” structure distinguishes further the
made to product models are reflected in BOMs created parts in different variants. The most important connections
from that point on. This avoids the need for changing between the parts can be shown by adding lines between
hundreds of BOMs manually when adjustments to a them and writing the rules characterizing their
product specification are made. The change is only made relationship. Figure 6 displays the notation and an extract
once in the product model. of the PVM.
In order to determine the cost of a product, data regarding 3.3 Phase 3: Object-oriented modelling
the cost of each part are stored in the database. Prices
Having developed the PVM, an object-oriented analysis
are automatically calculated from the aggregated cost of
has to be created in phase 3. The purpose is to develop
all the items which the configured BOM contains and from
the cost of the resources required to produce the product the PVM further to an object oriented model to be
applying some specific, additional rules defined by the implemented in the configuration system. Object-oriented
marketing side. This enables the company to calculate a modelling is a method for presenting knowledge. One of
the most well known modelling methods is the unified
more exact cost price.
modelling language notation (UML). UML describes object
3.2 Phase 2: Analysis of product range classes and their relationships with class diagrams.
A necessary condition for developing a configuration Based on the structure of the PVM, classes have been
system is that the company has an overall view of the subsequently grouped into subjects, which contain
product family and that the product assortment can be functions and/or procedures that use a common set of
structured in a configurable way. The Product Variant data. This approach enables structuring a complex
Master (PVM), introduced by HVAM, is an important system so that complex models can be handled easier. As
prerequisite for facilitating the modelling process and can products and processes are analyzed, the necessary
act as a platform of communication of the product range . product and system knowledge is documented for
Each functional area of the company may have different developing and maintaining the configuration system.
ways of describing the product assortment in relation to As the developed class diagram in figure 6 shows, the
different aspects of the product life-cycle. future configuration system contains a product model and
In phase 2, a PVM has to be developed, evaluated and classes that have been created to calculate the price and
placed in relation to the prim ary objectives and the to create a quotation letter (sales model, part model, order
process of developing a configuration system. At the end handling model, routes model).
of this phase, the product variant master serves as a The class “customer”, contains information regarding the
basis for the subsequent object-oriented analysis and customer and the payment agreements (sale model).
modelling. Moreover, the “customer” class interacts with the product
model to ensure that the right products are offered at
different markets. The class “price” calculates the price of As more products are added to the configuration system,
the product configured by accumulating the prices o f all it becomes necessary to include several product models.
the components chosen. This class furthermore creates a Some classes are then used in more than one product
product code and a description based on the chosen model, which increases the complexity. Therefore, the
attributes. The quotation class then creates a standard product models need to be clustered and set up in such a
quotation letter presenting the information from the way that it helps the sales person to easily find the
customer and the price classes. product she is looking for. As can be seen from the class
In addition, the order needs to be registered, whereby a diagram, there are a number of interactions between the
production order needs to be sent to the right factory and subjects within the product model. The structure of the
a special order is to be made for the parts that are class diagram should decrease the complexity of these
produced by a local supplier (order handling model). The connections. It is furthermore necessary to design and
class “product order” therefore has to “know” where each describe the interfaces between the systems and the
product is produced. When the orders have been classes, both for the programmers to follow and in order
registered, the product order collaborates with the class to determine whether all the interactions are technically
“order confirmation” that creates an order confirmation. possible.
The class “product order” contains both a BOM list and a 3.4 Phase 4: Object-oriented design
list of operations. In phase 4 the analysis model obtained from the previous
The manufacturing of each product has been described in steps is converted into an implementation oriented design
terms of operations (part model). The operations for the model. While in the phases before the focus was on how
individual components of the product are standardized. to make a model that provides the best representation of
However, the routes for the assembly are special for each the product assortment, the viewpoint has now changed
order (assembly routes model). When the order arrives, into how to implement the model into a configuration
the necessary resources are assigned to the product from system.
the available resources class. The production sequence is Thus, the scope of this phase was to find configuration
then used to calculate the production time. software that meets the demands of the company
The class “BOM list” interacts with the class “availability of efficiently. Considering all relevant requirements, instead
parts” (part model). If the parts are not all available in the of developing a new configuration system from the ground
inventory, the class interacts with the assembly routs up, a standard solution was chosen. It was decided to use
model to see how long it will likely take to produce the software called Product Modeller® from Configit. The
part. The production of that part is then included in the software allows a fast programmed prototype version of
production sequence and the production time as well. The the product, it can easily be maintained and supports the
BOM lists are divided both by products and by operations integration to other systems of the company. With the
so that the different departments can have the BOM list chosen software, first versions of the configuration system
relevant for their work. were developed. After making the first prototype of the
system, meetings with some of the relevant employees
were held to receive feedback on the system and discuss

Figure 6: Class diagram of the configuration system


further requirements. the VSM for the process might look like illustrated in figure
3.5 Phase 5 and 6: Programming and 7. As the figure shows, the duration of the process , i.e.
Implementation from the moment of creating the specification and making
the customer a quotation until the moment the customer
The programming phase (phase 5) aims at entering the receives the offer, has decreased from 4,2 days to 3,7
expert-knowledge into the configuration system. In days and the portion of the value adding activities has
consideration with the previous requirement specification, increased from 8,34% to 13,1%. The value stream of the
the object-oriented model is transformed into an operating process has improved and the specifications are
system which is capable of interacting with the other transferred to production without interruptions.
systems of the company. The objective of the
implementation phase (phase 6) is to implement a A gap map is made for the VSM of the order fulfilment
configuration system that is accepted and used by all process and the specification process. As can be seen
involved parties. from the gap map presented in table 2, the duration of the
processes shortens significantly when using the product
Based on the given documentation of the product model configuration system. The duration of the order fulfilment
with the PVM, the configuration system was programmed
process can be kept below 14 days, which means that the
by using the standard software Configit Product customer receives the product in time. The value adding
Modeller®. This software supports the fundamental time increases both for the order fulfilment process and
principles of object-oriented technology and is therefore for the specification process. Except for the waiting time
capable of handling class object relationships, inheritance involved in waiting for the customer’s decision, the order
and encapsulation. After the PVM had been integrated can be transferred directly to the production.
into the configuration system , the model was further
developed. Prices, pictures and comments were added to
provide further description of the product. Afterwards the Current Target performance Value adding gap
model was compiled, launched and tested. performance

3.6 Phase 7: Evaluation and suggestions for further Order fulfilment


developments T [h] 22.83 13,93 8,90
In order to identify the possibilities offered by product VT [h] 2,68 2,68 0,00
configuration, a gap analysis has been conducted in
Std [h] 23,20 11,26 11,93
phase 7, measuring the gap between the value adding
time of the current processes using product configuration WT [h] 18,85 10,25 8,60
and those that do not. The results of the gap analysis are VT [% ] 11,73 19,22 7,5
based on interviews with employees and analys es of the
Specification process
process.
T [h] 18,54 7,08 11,45
Several sources of non-value adding activities and waste
in the process es have been identified in phase 1. By VT [h] 0,08 0,08 0,00
implementing a configuration system and automating Std [h] 24,92 8,60 16,32
some of the manual paperwork, the objective is to
WT [h] 18,12 7,00 11,12
increase the performance of the specification processes .
It has been recognized that many of the activities in the VT [% ] 0,45 9,41 8,96

office involve various non-value adding elements. The T: Time duration; VT: Value adding time; Std: Standard deviation; WT: Waiting time
productivity of employees can be improved by automating
activities in the specification processes . Furthermore, the Table 2: Results of VSM measurements
standard deviation of the duration of the processes can be
reduced further by avoiding errors thus ensuring better 4 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
quality of information and documents. However, it is In order to evaluate the effects of product configuration on
recognized that the waiting time in the process, i.e. time order processing, a study has been conducted. Thereby,
when the order is waiting to be handled between a product configuration system has been modelled for a
activities, is usually significantly more time-consuming manufacturer of mass customized products and its
than the non-value adding time during the activities. benefits for the order processing have been evaluated.
Therefore, by either combining processes or by
The case product family and the interdependences
eliminating processes with automation, some of the
between the components have been modelled and
waiting stations could be eliminated.
programmed in a standard configuration system.
It is an objective of the product configuration to decrease Additionally, data regarding price and product
the non-value adding activities and to shorten the duration identification have been added to the components
of the process. Having reached the target performances , enabling the creation of a quotation letter which

Figure 7: Target performance from the value stream


automatically calculates prices. This configuration system [6] Victor, B.; Boynton, A. C.: Invented here: Maximizing
enables the salesperson to present the product to the your organization's internal growth and profitability.
customer, to choose between attributes and to get an Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 1998
overview of the entire product range, all in one place. [7] Zhang, X.: Simultaneous configuration of platform
Furthermore, it makes it possible to determine invalid products and manufacturing supply chains.
specifications and to enforce a specification of the International Journal of Production Research,
mandatory required attributes. Hence, this configuration 46(21), 2008, pp. 6137
system supports the specification process by enabling
[8] Ulrich, K. T.; Tung, K.: Fundamentals of product
better product representation, automating the process of
modularity. Cambridge, Mass.: Sloan School of
making quotations, reducing errors, as well as decreasing
Management, Massachusetts Institute of
resource consumption and lead time of making
quotations. Technology, 1991
[9] Hansen, B. L.: Development of industrial variant
As the case study shows, m aking the product configurable
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