DTU Orbit (19/08/2019) Modelling Product Families for Product Configuration Systems with Product ... more DTU Orbit (19/08/2019) Modelling Product Families for Product Configuration Systems with Product Variant Master This article presents an evaluation of applying a suggested method for modelling product families for product configuration based on theory for modelling mechanical products,systems theory and object-oriented modelling. The modelling technique includes a so-called product variant master and CRC-cards for modelling and visualising the parts and properties of a complete product family. The modelling techniques include: Customer, engineering and part views on the product assortment to model the properties, functions and structure of the product family. This also makes it possible to map the links between the three views. Modelling of characteristics of the product variants in a product family Modelling of constraints between parts in the product family Visualisation of the entire product family on a poster e.g. 1x2 meters The product variant master and CRC-cards are means to ...
Product configurators are a subtype of software-based expert systems with a focus on the creation... more Product configurators are a subtype of software-based expert systems with a focus on the creation of product specifications. Product configurators are increasingly being applied by engineering-oriented companies, which has resulted in many positive effects, such as reduced lead times, fewer errors, shorter learning periods for new employees, etc. Unfortunately, also many configuration projects fail because the task of developing the configurator turns out to be much more difficult and time-consuming than anticipated. In order to minimize the chance of project failure, it is crucial to apply the right strategy. However, the literature does not discuss different strategic alternatives in a detailed manner, but only provides generalised recommendations of single strategies. To deal with this issue, this paper defines three main and four additional strategies for the development of product configurators. The strategies are defined based on literature, seven named case studies, and other case experiences of the authors. The paper deduces the advantages and disadvantages of the individual strategies, and gives a general recommendation of which type of strategy to pursue in different types of projects.
2020 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2020
Manufacturing companies are facing rising complexity due to customer demands for customized produ... more Manufacturing companies are facing rising complexity due to customer demands for customized products and additional support services. This complexity comes at a high cost, and the benefits to be gained from product variety reduction projects are therefore significant. Several methods for the reduction of product complexity have been proposed in the literature. Such methods, however, to a large extent fail to consider the role of "linked revenue", i.e., the revenue from the sales of product variants that is lost if other product variants bought by the same customers are eliminated. To address this gap in the literature, this paper develops a procedure for product variety reduction that considers linked revenue. The procedure supports managers in (1) identifying unprofitable products that can be pruned without risking the linked revenue of vital customers, (2) systematically evaluating the profitability and potential of these products, and (3) collecting feedback from affected account managers, before finally deciding which products to eliminate. The procedure is tested using a case study, which shows promising results.
1 Product Configuration Systems (PCSs) are automatic solutions to support and facilitate sales an... more 1 Product Configuration Systems (PCSs) are automatic solutions to support and facilitate sales and engineering processes. PCSs are among the most successful applications of expert system technology and one of the drivers in the digitalization era. Therefore, there are several studies on the benefits of PCS. Such studies are, however, often relatively undetailed or unspecific about the costs and benefits of such projects. To address this issue, this paper presents studies of four PCS projects, which quantify benefits in terms of reduced working hours, and the costs in terms of development, implementation, and maintenance costs. The studies of the PCS projects each concern a 3-year utilization period. Our results show that the gained benefits from PCS has a growing trend over the years in case of proper maintenance. We also demonstrate the opposite is the case if not properly maintaining the PCSs. Furthermore, the study reveals that PCSs with the constant maintenance grow increasingly...
In recent decades, a plethora of books and papers on socially responsible design has emerged. Thi... more In recent decades, a plethora of books and papers on socially responsible design has emerged. This literature, however, is far from having solved the environmental and social problems faced by the world today. This paper focuses on a major problem of socially responsible design initiatives, namely that, although they may have the best intentions, they often have minimal, if any, positive impact. A central reason for this is the uncertainties associated with the effects of such designs, which is also often used as an argument against initiating more ambitious projects. More specifically, sometimes we are unsure about what effects a socially responsible design will produce, and sometimes we are unsure or disagree about whether its effects are ethically sound, in particular, when they involve someone having to make sacrifices. To be able to choose a more ambitious path, we need to better understand the uncertainties associated with socially responsible designs and to reconsider the eth...
The current business environment presents challenges for companies, including increased pressure ... more The current business environment presents challenges for companies, including increased pressure on time to market, customer expectations, cost and increased competition. To overcome the challenges in the new business environment, the companies introduce common products components and variants in order to reduce complexity and improve the performance. Besides, the manufacturers attempt to increase the variety in products and services in response to the personalization demands; which leads to more complexity. However, the companies can improve the due-date setting and resource allocation to optimize internal process performance. This paper describes a design-time estimation model for planning engineering activities based on a quantification of the most important product complexity factors such as: 1) basic components variety, 2) functional requirements, 3) design interdependencies and 4) regulations and standards. Such factors can decrease or increase the expected time consumption fo...
Within the last three decades, we have witnessed development of many theories on design approache... more Within the last three decades, we have witnessed development of many theories on design approaches that render the process more solid and, thus, practiced by non-designer professionals. What is common for all of the design processes is that there is a moment of translation of research insights into design recommendations, and this point, however, has never been very explicit and it is rather seen as a fuzzy edge between switching between two activities. Within this article, we focus on this fuzzy edge reasoning to the extent this point can be demystified and explicit, or when it should remain fuzzy, reflecting on creativity and importance of engaging design professionals within the process. The discussion is based on a case study of students' works from the UX Design course taught by the authors, where we refer to design tools as tangible concrete support that renders the design process more solid.
Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2021
Information technology (IT) has been established as a major enabler for business performance. How... more Information technology (IT) has been established as a major enabler for business performance. However, studies of the effects of IT typically involve the implicit assumption that the effects reported by the companies studied adequately and accurately describe IT's effects. In this paper, we challenge this perspective by arguing that in many cases the perceived and actual effects of IT are different. Although most IT researchers likely recognize the discrepancy, this topic has not received much attention. Thus, through a case at a world-leading logistics company, we provide evidence that perceived and actual effects of IT can differ. On this basis, we develop a set of models that describe such discrepancies and use theories from the psychological literature to explain why the discrepancies occur. In this context, we use the term "midlife crisis" as a metaphor for what happens to decision makers' perception of IT systems after a period of use.
and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requi... more and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
DTU Orbit (19/08/2019) Modelling Product Families for Product Configuration Systems with Product ... more DTU Orbit (19/08/2019) Modelling Product Families for Product Configuration Systems with Product Variant Master This article presents an evaluation of applying a suggested method for modelling product families for product configuration based on theory for modelling mechanical products,systems theory and object-oriented modelling. The modelling technique includes a so-called product variant master and CRC-cards for modelling and visualising the parts and properties of a complete product family. The modelling techniques include: Customer, engineering and part views on the product assortment to model the properties, functions and structure of the product family. This also makes it possible to map the links between the three views. Modelling of characteristics of the product variants in a product family Modelling of constraints between parts in the product family Visualisation of the entire product family on a poster e.g. 1x2 meters The product variant master and CRC-cards are means to ...
Product configurators are a subtype of software-based expert systems with a focus on the creation... more Product configurators are a subtype of software-based expert systems with a focus on the creation of product specifications. Product configurators are increasingly being applied by engineering-oriented companies, which has resulted in many positive effects, such as reduced lead times, fewer errors, shorter learning periods for new employees, etc. Unfortunately, also many configuration projects fail because the task of developing the configurator turns out to be much more difficult and time-consuming than anticipated. In order to minimize the chance of project failure, it is crucial to apply the right strategy. However, the literature does not discuss different strategic alternatives in a detailed manner, but only provides generalised recommendations of single strategies. To deal with this issue, this paper defines three main and four additional strategies for the development of product configurators. The strategies are defined based on literature, seven named case studies, and other case experiences of the authors. The paper deduces the advantages and disadvantages of the individual strategies, and gives a general recommendation of which type of strategy to pursue in different types of projects.
2020 IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management (IEEM), 2020
Manufacturing companies are facing rising complexity due to customer demands for customized produ... more Manufacturing companies are facing rising complexity due to customer demands for customized products and additional support services. This complexity comes at a high cost, and the benefits to be gained from product variety reduction projects are therefore significant. Several methods for the reduction of product complexity have been proposed in the literature. Such methods, however, to a large extent fail to consider the role of "linked revenue", i.e., the revenue from the sales of product variants that is lost if other product variants bought by the same customers are eliminated. To address this gap in the literature, this paper develops a procedure for product variety reduction that considers linked revenue. The procedure supports managers in (1) identifying unprofitable products that can be pruned without risking the linked revenue of vital customers, (2) systematically evaluating the profitability and potential of these products, and (3) collecting feedback from affected account managers, before finally deciding which products to eliminate. The procedure is tested using a case study, which shows promising results.
1 Product Configuration Systems (PCSs) are automatic solutions to support and facilitate sales an... more 1 Product Configuration Systems (PCSs) are automatic solutions to support and facilitate sales and engineering processes. PCSs are among the most successful applications of expert system technology and one of the drivers in the digitalization era. Therefore, there are several studies on the benefits of PCS. Such studies are, however, often relatively undetailed or unspecific about the costs and benefits of such projects. To address this issue, this paper presents studies of four PCS projects, which quantify benefits in terms of reduced working hours, and the costs in terms of development, implementation, and maintenance costs. The studies of the PCS projects each concern a 3-year utilization period. Our results show that the gained benefits from PCS has a growing trend over the years in case of proper maintenance. We also demonstrate the opposite is the case if not properly maintaining the PCSs. Furthermore, the study reveals that PCSs with the constant maintenance grow increasingly...
In recent decades, a plethora of books and papers on socially responsible design has emerged. Thi... more In recent decades, a plethora of books and papers on socially responsible design has emerged. This literature, however, is far from having solved the environmental and social problems faced by the world today. This paper focuses on a major problem of socially responsible design initiatives, namely that, although they may have the best intentions, they often have minimal, if any, positive impact. A central reason for this is the uncertainties associated with the effects of such designs, which is also often used as an argument against initiating more ambitious projects. More specifically, sometimes we are unsure about what effects a socially responsible design will produce, and sometimes we are unsure or disagree about whether its effects are ethically sound, in particular, when they involve someone having to make sacrifices. To be able to choose a more ambitious path, we need to better understand the uncertainties associated with socially responsible designs and to reconsider the eth...
The current business environment presents challenges for companies, including increased pressure ... more The current business environment presents challenges for companies, including increased pressure on time to market, customer expectations, cost and increased competition. To overcome the challenges in the new business environment, the companies introduce common products components and variants in order to reduce complexity and improve the performance. Besides, the manufacturers attempt to increase the variety in products and services in response to the personalization demands; which leads to more complexity. However, the companies can improve the due-date setting and resource allocation to optimize internal process performance. This paper describes a design-time estimation model for planning engineering activities based on a quantification of the most important product complexity factors such as: 1) basic components variety, 2) functional requirements, 3) design interdependencies and 4) regulations and standards. Such factors can decrease or increase the expected time consumption fo...
Within the last three decades, we have witnessed development of many theories on design approache... more Within the last three decades, we have witnessed development of many theories on design approaches that render the process more solid and, thus, practiced by non-designer professionals. What is common for all of the design processes is that there is a moment of translation of research insights into design recommendations, and this point, however, has never been very explicit and it is rather seen as a fuzzy edge between switching between two activities. Within this article, we focus on this fuzzy edge reasoning to the extent this point can be demystified and explicit, or when it should remain fuzzy, reflecting on creativity and importance of engaging design professionals within the process. The discussion is based on a case study of students' works from the UX Design course taught by the authors, where we refer to design tools as tangible concrete support that renders the design process more solid.
Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2021
Information technology (IT) has been established as a major enabler for business performance. How... more Information technology (IT) has been established as a major enabler for business performance. However, studies of the effects of IT typically involve the implicit assumption that the effects reported by the companies studied adequately and accurately describe IT's effects. In this paper, we challenge this perspective by arguing that in many cases the perceived and actual effects of IT are different. Although most IT researchers likely recognize the discrepancy, this topic has not received much attention. Thus, through a case at a world-leading logistics company, we provide evidence that perceived and actual effects of IT can differ. On this basis, we develop a set of models that describe such discrepancies and use theories from the psychological literature to explain why the discrepancies occur. In this context, we use the term "midlife crisis" as a metaphor for what happens to decision makers' perception of IT systems after a period of use.
and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requi... more and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim.
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