Assessment and Configuration of a Product Production System

The insight that manufacturing companies nowadays have to compete in an increasingly dynamic and differentiated market environment with increased competition is not new. Nevertheless, it is still difficult for many companies, particularly in high wage countries, to cope with the dilemma of simultaneously increasing cost pressure and differentiation. The following paper introduces a model to address this challenge. The model attempts to give support in finding the right fit between the production system set up and the product portfolio offered to the market. The core element is a navigator for an integrative assessment and configuration of product production systems in the domains “Customer Value Management”, “Product Architecture and Technology Design”, “Integrated Product and Production Design” and “Production Process Design”.