Size Optimization Method for On-line Mass Customization of Product Family

Manufacturers are now offering product customization services to the end customer.Customer satisfaction becomes important for manufacturers to stay competitive.Satisfying customers with the product family is difficult for a company to achieve.To achieve competitive advantages,a company may need to consider potential influence of competitive product family.The product family is defined from the perspectives of engineering design and manufacturing.The concept can help people understand product features and component configuration elements.We use a survey to evaluate competitiveness of product family for known and unknown family structure of competitive products.Product family size optimization method and steps for on-line mass customization of industrial competitiveness-oriented is built. In the first part,this paper discusses the concept of product family.We use the concept to build topological structure of product family.The product family scale is defined from the perspectives of engineering design and manufacturing.In the second part,we discuss the use of product family scale optimization model to gain competitiveness.We evaluate the product family structure of competitors through the screening and identification of industry competitors,the comparison and evaluation of product family,and the optimization of product family structure and size.When the product family structure of competitors is unknown,we directly evaluate product family and optimize product family structure and size. In summary,increasing the size of product family does not necessarily improve industry competitiveness and customer satisfaction.When determining the scale of product family,online custom service providers need to not only consider the engineering design and manufacturing factors,but also consider customer satisfaction and industry competitiveness.These efforts will enable an online customer service provider to balance the conflict among complexity,high maintenance cost and customer satisfaction.