Title: Integrative decision on new product development in configurable product family

Authors: Mazaher Ziaei; Saeedeh Ketabi; Mahsa Ghandehari

Addresses: Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib, Isfahan, Iran ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib, Isfahan, Iran ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezarjerib, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract: Intensified competition leads companies to integrate decision-making on design, supply, and marketing policies for the new product development (NPD). This integration is more substantial for the manufacturers of configurable product families (CPF) such as cars. This study aims to develop a profit-maximisation model to concurrently optimise all main variables of configuration selection, components' supply policy, price, modules' warranty length, and launch time for NPD in CPF. The proposed model is a mixed-integer nonlinear program and is solved through an adapted differential evolution (DE) algorithm. Different numerical cases extracted from one automobile company are studied, and sensitivity analysis on the main parameters is performed. The results approve the significant effects of integrative decision-making based on new variables on the profit. Due to the diversity of the decision variables, the model can be applied in a wide range of situations. Furthermore, considering more realistic assumptions helps to achieve more practical solutions and applicable results. [Received: 10 February 2021, Accepted: 30 December 2022]

Keywords: configurable product family; modules' warranty length; launch time; mixed-integer nonlinear programming; differential evolution; DE; algorithm.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2024.137050

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2024 Vol.18 No.2, pp.191 - 224

Accepted: 30 Dec 2022
Published online: 01 Mar 2024 *

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