Optimizing the order processing of customized products using product configuration.

For the better part of the 20th century many large companies have been focussed on optimizing their mass production process as a way of maximizing their profits. Nowadays, in the existing environment of global competitiveness, enhancing the production process remains a significant issue as well. Product configuration based on integrated modular product structure and product family architecture has been recognized as an effective means for implementing mass customization. In order to evaluate the effects of product configuration on order processing, a study has been conducted by the Department of Management Engineering and Operations Management of the Technical University of Denmark in cooperation with the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools of the Leibniz Universita¨t Hannover. Thereby, a product configuration system has been modelled for a manufacturer of mass customized products and its benefits for the order processing have been evaluated.