SimDataSim - Development of a methodology for similarity-based product configuration in order to increase economies of scale

特别是在机械和设备工程公司，近年来观察到产品种类的增加。鉴于市场的异质性和支离破碎，推出新的产品变种，以尽可能准确地满足个别客户群体的需求。出于这个原因，越来越多的公司以模块化设计来组织他们的产品，以便生产几乎可单独配置的产品变体，而不会在规模经济方面造成巨大损失。然而，产品订单的各种配置会导致不同的直接和间接成本，因为例如，需要对现有的产品变体进行调整。特别是，向战略客户销售无利可图的产品变体会导致不经济的品种增加，尽管在配置过程的早期阶段，理想情况下应该向客户提供首选变体，这意味着产品的预定义默认配置。然而，公司缺乏生动、连续和跨部门的多样性分析和可视化，特别是在配置过程中。研究项目的目标是开发一种方法，通过对现有产品变体的相似性分析来确定最优的产品配置，以便在机械工程公司领域中优化公司订单履行过程中的规模经济。同时，为客户提供成本效益最优的产品配置。通过应用相似性分析，可以根据产品订单的战略效益以及由此产生的直接和间接成本来评估产品订单，以确定产品订单的最优配置。首先，建立了从不同角度对产品订单进行描述和相似性判定的描述模型。解释性模型根据客户的战略重要性、客户需求的满足以及订单履行过程中的诱导成本来提供交互作用。在设计模型中，基于算法方法开发了一种方法，使得能够对产品配置进行迭代优化。通过在工业企业中的验证，证明了该方法的适用性。

Especially in machinery and plant engineering companies an increase in the product variety has been observed in recent years. Given the heterogeneous and fragmented markets, new product variants are introduced in order to meet the needs of individual customer groups as precisely as possible. For this reason, more and more companies structure their products in a modular design in order to produce almost individually configurable product variants, without a huge loss in economies of scale. However, various configurations of product orders cause different direct and indirect costs, since, for example, adaptations to existing product variants need to be made. Especially the sale of unprofitable product variants to strategic customers leads to an uneconomical increase in variety, although at an early stage in the configuration process a preferred variant, that means a predefined default configuration of the product, should be offered to a customer ideally. However, companies lack a vivid, continuous and cross-departmental analysis and visualization of the variety in particular in the configuration process. The objective of the proposed research project is to develop a methodology for determining the optimum product configuration by the similarity analysis of existing product variants, in order to optimize the economies of scale along the order fulfillment process of a company in the field of mechanical engineering companies. Simultaneously, a cost-benefit-optimum product configuration is offered to the customer. By applying similarity analysis, a product order can be assessed with respect to its strategic benefit and the caused direct and indirect costs in order to determine the optimum configuration of the product order. Firstly, description models for the description of product orders from different perspectives and for the determination of similarities are developed. Explanatory models deliver the interactions in terms of the strategic importance of customers, the meeting of customer requirements and the induced costs along the order fulfillment process. In the design model, a methodology is developed based on an algorithmic method that enables the iterative optimization of the product configuration. The applicability of the method is ensured by the validation in industrial companies.