Managing design of assembly sequences for product lines that delay product differentiation
- 1 November 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Informa UK Limited in IIE Transactions
- Vol. 31 (11), 1015-1026
- https://doi.org/10.1080/07408179908969903
Abstract
The integration of product design and operations could potentially enhance the ability of manufacturers to provide large variety in the product line while keeping their operations competitive. At the plant level, an improved assembly sequence can lead to superior operational response to customer demands. While this has been intuitively accepted, there is a scarcity of models that can adequately reflect the operational benefits of a costlier yet better design. In this paper, we present integrated models applicable at a plant level that can provide quantification of certain operational benefits. Further, through a computational study, we also provide qualitative insights on several issues such as the effect of: (i) features in the product line; (ii) variance of demand for the different features on the optimal assembly design; (Hi) set-up times; and (iv) life cycle of the product line.Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Integrated design of product families and assembly systemsPublished by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) ,2002
- Managing Broader Product Lines through Delayed Differentiation Using Vanilla BoxesManagement Science, 1998
- Variability Reduction Through Operations ReversalManagement Science, 1998
- Managing Product VarietyPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1998
- Designing Task Assembly and Using Vanilla Boxes to Delay Product Differentiation: An Approach for Managing Product VarietyPublished by Springer Science and Business Media LLC ,1998
- Effective Inventory and Service Management Through Product and Process RedesignOperations Research, 1996
- Representations of mechanical assembly sequencesIEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 1991
- Simplified generation of all mechanical assembly sequencesIEEE Journal on Robotics and Automation, 1987
- A Cutting Plane Algorithm for the Linear Ordering ProblemOperations Research, 1984