The impact of complexity on manufacturing performance: A case study of the screwdriver product family
Year: 2013
Editor: Udo Lindemann, Srinivasan V, Yong Se Kim, Sang Won Lee, John Clarkson, Gaetano Cascini
Author: Park, Kijung; Kremer, Gul
Series: ICED
Institution: Penn State University, United States of America
Page(s): 141-150
ISBN: 978-1-904670-46-9
ISSN: 2220-4334
Abstract
Although many publications have addressed how to handle the increase of complexity in a modern manufacturing system, most researches have focused on complexity in either product design or production and the impact of complexity on manufacturing performance has not been clearly revealed. To complement the previous studies regarding complexity, this paper aims to investigate complexity in a manufacturing company from both product design and manufacturing perspectives and to elucidate the impact of complexity on manufacturing performance under various manufacturing conditions. Focusing on structural complexity, metrics for design and manufacturing complexity are proposed and applied to a screwdriver product family case. Then, single and multiple regression models are used to identify the impact of design and manufacturing complexity on lead time and total production cost under make-to-order and make-to-stock strategies and different demand levels. Results point to the fact that structural complexity negatively affects manufacturing performance only in the make-to-order system and the negative impact increases according to demand levels.
Keywords: Design complexity, manufacturing complexity, manufacturing performace