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中，近年来已经观察到产品种类的增加。鉴于市场的多样性和分散性，我们推出了新的产品变体，以尽可能精确地满足各个客户群体的需求。出于这个原因，越来越多的公司将其产品结构化为模块化设计，以便生产几乎可单独配置的产品变体，而不会造成规模经济的巨大损失。然而，产品订单的不同配置导致不同的直接和间接成本，因为例如需要对现有产品变体进行调整。特别是，向战略客户销售无利可图的产品变型导致了品种的不经济的增加，尽管在配置过程的早期阶段，优选变型（这意味着产品的预定义默认配置）应该理想地提供给客户。然而，企业缺乏一个生动的，连续的和跨部门的分析和可视化的品种，特别是在配置过程中。建议的研究项目的目的是开发一种方法，用于确定现有的产品变体的相似性分析的最佳产品配置，以优化规模经济沿着订单履行过程中的一家公司在该领域的机械工程公司。同时，为客户提供成本效益最佳的产品配置。通过相似性分析，可以评估产品订单的战略效益和所造成的直接和间接成本，以确定产品订单的最佳配置。首先，从不同的角度描述产品订单和确定相似性的描述模型。解释模型提供了客户的战略重要性，满足客户需求和诱导成本沿着订单履行过程的相互作用。在设计模型中，基于算法方法开发了一种方法，可以对产品配置进行迭代优化。该方法的适用性通过在工业公司的验证来保证。

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.