AN INITIAL EMPIRICAL STUDY OF USING A PRODUCT CONFIGURATOR AS A SUPPORT TOOL FOR DEVELOPING PRODUCT FAMILIES

DS 32: Proceedings of DESIGN 2004, the 8th International Design Conference, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Year: 2004
Editor: Marjanovic D.
Author: Sarinko, K.; Martio, A.; Huuskonen, T.
Section: DESIGN INFORMATION SYSTEMS & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Page(s): 903 - 910

Abstract

Configurable products are one way to carry out mass-customisation. A configurable product is described with a configuration model. A product configurator is an information system for creating a configuration model and generating product instances. We present potential benefits and challenges of using a product configurator to manage the product variety related information during the development phase. The results are derived from a focus group study in a case company. We modelled a real product and found that a product configurator seems to be a feasible tool for creating and maintaining overall and complete description of the product variety, it provides up-to-date information for everyone and helps the communication in the development phase.

Keywords: configurable products, product configurators, product development, product families

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