Improving product configurability in ETO companies
Year: 2017
Editor: Anja Maier, Stanko Škec, Harrison Kim, Michael Kokkolaras, Josef Oehmen, Georges Fadel, Filippo Salustri, Mike Van der Loos
Author: Markworth Johnsen, Sara Helene; Kristjansdottir, Katrin; Hvam, Lars
Series: ICED
Institution: Technical University of Denmark, Denmark
Section: Product, Services and Systems Design
Page(s): 221-230
ISBN: 978-1-904670-91-9
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
For engineer-to-order (ETO) companies, it is from a strategic perspective crucial to be able to supply highly customized solutions to customers, while at the same time improving re-usability across projects to increase efficiency. To address the challenges this study aims to support ETO companies by improving their product configurability without compromising the flexibility, by focusing on product modularization. For this purpose, a 5 step framework is proposed with the aim of creating a product overview with a post perspective on requirements to improve the modularity of the product platforms. The framework was based on a literature review and tested in a case company, where it proved to be beneficial as it provided a structured approach to identify improvements to the products platforms modularity.
Keywords: Product modelling / models, Product families, Requirements, Platform strategies