Product Variety Management in Design and Manufacturing: Challenges and Strategies

Firms moved from economy of scale to economy of scope in the last few decades. Most products, particularly consumer goods, are no longer produced as “one variant fits all needs”. Customer‟s needs heterogeneity caused a huge proliferation of product variety. Variation also propagates from products to the level of components and parts, which increases the complexity of the managing, planning and manufacturing of these products. Strategies and methods to manage product varieties in design and manufacturing, to the point of mass customization and personalization, are reviewed and discussed; showing guidelines and best practices to deal with the increased product variety in research and industry.