| Because of the importance of customer satisfaction, there is an increasing need for the ability to produce product variants, and made-to-order products. This development has led to the growth of the application of mass customization.; This dissertation presents a rational approach to implementing mass customization in a large assembly environment. Instead of the traditional empirical approach, the research introduces a new theoretical framework for implementing a standard, exchangeable, assembly called the Common Generic Block (CGB).; By associating the definition of a common module as a key for achieving mass customization, the similarity coefficient is presented to give an estimate of similarity between interim products for CGB construction. The coefficient is based on a numerical taxonomy of euclidean distance and grouped by single clustering. The technique includes formulating and evaluating an assembly module in each of the stages of interim product on the basis of design and production attributes. Four groups of attributes, flow index/work in process, product structure, work content, and design features, are proposed. A scheme for threshold value is proposed as a stopping criterion based on cost of production.; Feedback to the design team during transition and work instruction design is required to evaluate the fit between an ongoing design and a CGB design. Hence, the concept of Block Complexity Matrix is proposed as a method for providing this feedback loop; this will enable the design team to code block information. Block Complexity Matrix separates stage difficulty from the component and assembly characteristics.; A hypothetical case was developed to demonstrate the application. An industry project at National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) was used as a practical example to evaluate the framework. Hypotheses are also investigated concerning the performance implications versus mass customization strategies, and the impact of modularity based on the CGB lessons on block design and cost. Implementing Common Generic Block prove to reduce the effect of cost by product variety and decrease the inefficient implementations of the producibility concept. |
