Divergence and lifecycle offsets in product families with commonality
Divergence and lifecycle offsets in product families with commonality
复制标题
具有共性的产品系列中的分歧和生命周期抵消
作者：
R. Boas;B. Cameron;E. Crawley
通用性，或在产品系列的成员之间重用和共享组件、制造流程、架构、接口和基础设施，是一种旨在提高企业盈利能力的常用策略。共性策略在文献和工业实践中普遍存在，但存在明显的差距：文献对共性的好处有明显的积极倾向，而工业上的成功与共性是混合的。本文探讨了两种现象，即差异和生命周期偏移，它们可能会阻止公司正确评估和实现通用性的潜在好处。使用多案例研究方法，我们跟踪通用性水平，通过七个复杂的产品系列，跨越航空航天，汽车，半导体资本设备和印刷行业的生命周期。案例研究表明，共同性往往会随着时间的推移而下降，这种现象我们称之为分歧。与产品族中并行开发的流行概念相反，我们发现两个或多个产品的开发、制造、运营和/或退役阶段之间的生命周期偏移或时间分离在工业实践中很普遍。通过这项探索性研究，我们发现，生命周期偏移可能会减少潜在的好处的共性，使实现的好处更加困难，延迟实现的好处，并重新分配潜在的好处在个别产品。我们预测，生命周期偏移加剧了分歧。我们提出了一个框架，明确承认分歧的可能性，对零件级变更进行分类。我们的结论与产品系列经理的指导，即通用性在整个产品系列的生命周期中进行动态管理，而不是作为一个静态的属性。此外，我们还阐明了从产品系列的角度做出通用性决策的必要性，这种角度可能会导致一种变体产生短期成本的决策，但会为第二种变体和整个产品系列带来更大的长期节省。©2012 Wiley Periodicals，Inc.系统工程16
Commonality, or the reuse and sharing of components, manufacturing processes, architectures, interfaces, and infrastructure across the members of a product family, is an often leveraged strategy targeted at improving corporate profitability. Commonality strategies are widespread in the literature and in industrial practice, but a clear gap exists: The literature has a distinctly positive bias towards the benefits of commonality, whereas industrial success with commonality has been mixed. This article explores two phenomena, divergence and lifecycle offsets, that may prevent companies from properly assessing and realizing the potential benefits of commonality. Using a multiple case study approach, we trace commonality levels through the lifecycles of seven complex product families that span the aerospace, automotive, semiconductor capital equipment, and printing industries. The case studies indicate that commonality tends to decline over time, a phenomenon we title divergence. In contrast to the prevailing concept of parallel development in product families, we find that lifecycle offsets, or temporal separations between the development, manufacturing, operations, and/or retirement phases of two or more products, are prevalent in industrial practice. Through this exploratory study, we find that lifecycle offsets may reduce the potential benefits of commonality, make the realization of benefits much more difficult, delay the realization of benefits, and reallocate potential benefits across individual products. We predict that lifecycle offsets exacerbate divergence. We propose a framework for categorizing parts‐level changes that explicitly recognizes the potential for divergence. We conclude with guidance for product family managers, namely, that commonality be managed dynamically throughout the product family lifecycle, rather than as a static property. Additionally, we articulate the need to make commonality decisions from a product family perspective, a perspective that may lead to decisions that create near‐term costs for one variant but result in larger long‐term savings for a second variant and for the product family as a whole. ©2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng 16