Product variation
Product variation or product modification refers to a conscious change in technical or aesthetic product properties over time in order to adapt to changed customer expectations or to changed consumption and / or potential factor properties or to new legal requirements. Product variation can also be done by adding to a product services added or existing services are changed. In contrast to product differentiation , the product range does not change with product variation.
Examples
Automobile manufacturers bring out cars or trucks at regular intervals, primarily with a changed shape or changed dimensions, and secondarily with a changed engine power, changed chassis or changed equipment (so-called face-lifting). The production program remains constant. If new vehicle models are presented, such as the new VW Up !, this counts as product innovation, as the product range and thus the production program is expanded.
In contrast, there is product differentiation . There are many different versions of a product at the same time, e.g. B. an actually structurally identical vehicle in different colors, stronger and weaker engines or as gasoline and diesel vehicles .
The definition of all product variations, including product differentiations, should be as uniform as possible from the customer's point of view. The exact product description can sometimes be very time-consuming for the customer if the number of equipment and thus the theoretically possible variants is extremely high, as is the case in automotive engineering. Here, the definition of a motor vehicle is made up of a large number of different units and equipment or features . There are numerous dependencies and restrictions between these, which the customer must observe. In a car, for example, certain engine-gearbox combinations are 'forbidden' or very specific equipment combinations must be 'compulsorily' selected. In order to achieve a clear and correct product definition, it makes sense to use a product configurator that supports the customer in choosing the equipment. By defining the product variations that meet the requirements of an ideal Boolean algebra , a uniform and consistent product definition can be guaranteed. This also includes the definition of the vehicle classes, series and types that are to be assigned to the product differentiation.
Individual evidence
- ^ Herlyn: PPS im Automobilbau , Hanser Verlag, Munich, 2012, pp. 81–101
literature
- Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon - Volume 6; 13th edition; Wiesbaden: Business publishing house Dr. Th. Gabler, 1993, ISBN 3-409-30375-8
- Frank Thomas Piller: Mass Customization: A Competitive Strategic Concept in the Information Age . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2000, ISBN 3-8350-0355-0 .
- Ralf Reichwald, Frank Thomas Piller: Interactive added value: Open innovation, individualization and new forms of division of labor . Gabler, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 3-8349-0106-7 .
- Herlyn, Wilmjakob: PPS in automotive engineering - production program planning and control of vehicles and assemblies . Hanser Verlag, Munich 2012, ISBN 978-3-446-41370-2 .