Product family size optimization method for on-line mass customization

In order to balance the conflicts among customer satisfaction,product maintenance complexity and maintenance costs,it was pointed out that not only engineering design and manufacturing economy but also customers preferences and needs strength should be considered in order to determine the size of product family.Accordingly,product family size was defined from engineering design and manufacturing economy perspectives.Analysis model of customer needs and preferences was constructed based on Function Configuration Elements(FCE) and Parts Configuration Elements(PCE).And based on this model,optimization methods and steps of product family for on-line mass customization based on customer satisfaction were proposed.Finally,by an example,the method was proved to be effective in balancing the conflicts among customer satisfaction,product maintenance complexity and costs of on-line mass customization.