Production leveling of multi-variant mass-products

Harmonization and leveling of production orders decrease negative implications of demand fluctuations in supply chains of manufacturing companies. The successful introduction of an order leveling system leads - in addition to an increased synchronization with external supply chain partners - also to advantages in internal distribution and production structures. The article at hand explains the simulation based assessment of leveling concepts using the example of mass-produced goods with a high number of variants. The article describes how to classify and systematize variants in product families and to calculate resulting time slots for each product family. Concluding, parameters with a high influence on production leveling systems for multi-variant mass-products are introduced. © Carl Hanser Verlag, München.