The development of a component commonality metric for mass customization

In this paper, we review the commonality indices that have been developed thus far and demonstrate their possible limitations in evaluating component commonality for mass customization. Therefore, we develop a commonality index that considers generic bills-of-materials for mass customization instead of material-requirements-planning-like product structures. The construction of the index is carried out stepwise. At first, the intermediate commonality metrics with respect to common components, must-generic items, and options are defined. Then, we introduce the total commonality index, which enables the evaluation of the overall commonality of a product family. The index suggests a significant increase of commonality as the number of must-generic items and common components increases. However, product options have a minor contribution to the improvement of commonality. On the basis of a sensitivity analysis, the managerial implications that would result from using the index in practice are derived. We also explore the interdependencies between component commonality and variety-induced complexity on the shop floor. Finally, we discuss the application requirements that should be satisfied in order to effectively use the index.