A metric for evaluating design commonality in product families

Abstract

Many companies develop a market strategy built around a family of products. These companies regularly add new product variations to the family in order to meet changing market needs or to attract a broader customer base. Although the core functionality remains essentially unchanged across the products within a family, new functions, feature combinations and technologies are incorporated into each new product. If allowed to grow unchecked, these component variations, commonly referred to as “complexity”, can result in a loss of productivity or quality. The challenge lies in an effective management of product variations in the design studio and on the manufacturing floor. The key is to minimiz..