TY - THES

T1 - Management of variant variety in the context of Industry 4.0

AU - Zhang, Aiping

N1 - no embargo

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - In recent years, customers increasingly demand products that are individually customized to their needs and in addition they want to have it in shortest time. Therefore, the variety of products has risen continuously in many companies. Industry 4.0 is the name of the fourth technology generation in manufacturing history, which is attributed to a technology revolution. Industry 4.0 allows a faster response to customers’ needs compared with the possibilities today. It will improve the Speed, flexibility and productivity of the production processes. This will enable a new level of mass customization as more industrial producers invest in Industry 4.0 technologies to improve and customize their products. This thesis is concerned with the management of variety in the context of Industry 4.0, in order to find out if it is possible that Industry 4.0 offers the opportunity to increase variant variety and whether there are restrictions to increase the variant variety within Industry 4.0. At the beginning of the thesis the general causes for a rising variant variety are described. These shows, that the increase of the product variants supports additional customers’ requirements and leads to new customers. In contrast to these benefits, a cost effect results from the variant variety. This thesis also shows many methods and strategies of variant management and various technologies in Industry 4.0. In the last two chapters of this thesis the benefits and restrictions of Industry 4.0 for variant variety are presented.

AB - In recent years, customers increasingly demand products that are individually customized to their needs and in addition they want to have it in shortest time. Therefore, the variety of products has risen continuously in many companies. Industry 4.0 is the name of the fourth technology generation in manufacturing history, which is attributed to a technology revolution. Industry 4.0 allows a faster response to customers’ needs compared with the possibilities today. It will improve the Speed, flexibility and productivity of the production processes. This will enable a new level of mass customization as more industrial producers invest in Industry 4.0 technologies to improve and customize their products. This thesis is concerned with the management of variety in the context of Industry 4.0, in order to find out if it is possible that Industry 4.0 offers the opportunity to increase variant variety and whether there are restrictions to increase the variant variety within Industry 4.0. At the beginning of the thesis the general causes for a rising variant variety are described. These shows, that the increase of the product variants supports additional customers’ requirements and leads to new customers. In contrast to these benefits, a cost effect results from the variant variety. This thesis also shows many methods and strategies of variant management and various technologies in Industry 4.0. In the last two chapters of this thesis the benefits and restrictions of Industry 4.0 for variant variety are presented.

KW - variant variety

KW - Industry 4.0

KW - variant management

KW - mass customization

KW - Technologies

KW - Variantenvielfalt

KW - Variantenmanagement

KW - Industrie 4.0

KW - kundenindividueller Massenproduktion

KW - Technologien

M3 - Master's Thesis

ER -