CUSTOMER INVOLVEMENT AND PRODUCT CONFIGURATORS IN SMEs OKP WITH THE DOMINANT VARIATION OF THE TOPOLOGY

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the complexity of the configuration process in small-and medium-sized one-of-a-kind production (SMEs OKP) with the dominant variation of the topology from the aspect of the position of customer involvement decoupling point (CIDP), batch size and the complexity of the product configurations process. The issues of the level of the product adjustment to the customer, complexity of the product configuration process, the possibility for the client to be integrated in that early phase of the production and the way of using the data obtained in the product configuration process for generating the final product specification of the customised product in this type of production have been discussed. A special concern has been given to the product complexity paradox, i.e. a risk that a customer may decide not to purchase the product because of too many technical details they encounter while configuring the product, as well as an inevitable extension of the leading time induced by the position of CIDP in this type of production. The division of configurators in three interconnected parts is suggested as the solution for the aforementioned problems: the front-end, middle-end and back-end configurator. The paper emphasises the establishment of the necessary communication channel between the customer, i.e. the front-end configurator and the seller, i.e. the middle end configurator in order to alleviate the effects of the product complexity paradox. A positive effect of the automatic download of the generated data from the front-end and middle-end configurators by the back-end configurator on the leading time reduction has been also discussed.