Management of variant variety in the context of Industry 4.0

Research output: ThesisMaster's Thesis

Authors

Abstract

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.

Details

Translated title of the contributionManagement der Variantenvielfalt in Industrie 4.0
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDipl.-Ing.
Awarding Institution
Supervisors/Advisors
Award date28 Jun 2019
Publication statusPublished - 2019