Product Variety Management
Every manufacturer wants to serve its customers by providing them with new products that they want. At the same time, new products allow companies to enter new markets. Manufacturers often consider even the most exotic customer requests when developing new products. Consequently, the product diversity in a company’s traditional business segments increases steadily and eventually becomes almost unmanageable. The tendency towards more frequent
design changes and shorter life cycles
makes the situation worse.
When taking a look at the history of business ventures, most often a picture of a healthy company with stable growth and balanced product portfolio will emerge. On closer examination of the more recent history and the current state of the company, it becomes obvious that growth slowed and eventually came to a halt. Company management then tried to penetrate niche markets with new products in order to generate more revenues. In addition, the product portfolio was expanded (new products, additional services, etc.). In the past the number of production facilities and sales organizations increased through mergers and acquisitions, as well as through sales growth. Furthermore, rising quality requirements induced complicated technical solutions. Ultimately the complexity increased without apparent consideration for the implications such changes would have on the overall performance of the company.
Time and again attempts are made to minimize the increased product complexity with classical approaches such as ABC-analyses of individual product lines, standardization and modularization approaches, product profitability analyses (which do not normally account for the true costs of product variants), etc.
We repeatedly notice that the classical approaches are neither profound enough, nor do they generate permanent results. To stick with the analogy: after receiving a haircut, the hair is shorter but the styling is still not right. Both, the client and the stylist are not entirely satisfied.
Areas of Application
When taking a look at the history of business ventures, most often a picture of a healthy company with stable growth and balanced product portfolio will emerge. On closer examination of the more recent history and the current state of the company, it becomes obvious that growth slowed and eventually came to a halt. Company management then tried to penetrate niche markets with new products in order to generate more revenues. In addition, the product portfolio was expanded (new products, additional services, etc.). In the past the number of production facilities and sales organizations increased through mergers and acquisitions, as well as through sales growth. Furthermore, rising quality requirements induced complicated technical solutions. Ultimately the complexity increased without apparent consideration for the implications such changes would have on the overall performance of the company.
Time and again attempts are made to minimize the increased product complexity with classical approaches such as ABC-analyses of individual product lines, standardization and modularization approaches, product profitability analyses (which do not normally account for the true costs of product variants), etc.
We repeatedly notice that the classical approaches are neither profound enough, nor do they generate permanent results. To stick with the analogy: after receiving a haircut, the hair is shorter but the styling is still not right. Both, the client and the stylist are not entirely satisfied.
- Definition of the performance and client system
- Planning of variance and product program planning
- Mass customization
- Product structuring
- Platform development
- Modularization and standardization
- Strategic disposition
- Release planning and change management
- Bill of materials analysis and reorganization
- Interface analysis and optimization
- Order configuration
- eEDM (electronic Engineering Data Management)
Methodical Fundamentals and Tools
- Complexity Manager (software, supports all complexity management processes) Brochure Complexity Manager
- Variant Mode and Effects Analysis (VMEA)
- Product Function Deployment (PFD)
- Performance system design