Title: Decision making and strategic management for product family design at a mass customisation manufacturing system

Authors: Hsing Hung Chen

Addresses: College of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, China

Abstract: It is difficult for firms to survive independently in a high-technology industry, and flexible strategies to collaborate or to compete with firms within a network are essential. The goal of this paper is to simultaneously consider 37 Critical Success Factors (CSFs) within three groups and ten subitems by principal component statistics analysis in a Mass Customisation (MC) manufacturing system and to select the most suitable items for New Product Development (NPD) under a manufacturing network. A model that adopts the methodology of the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to incorporate the opinions of the experts in the evaluation of NPD items is proposed. Our results suggest that by applying the structured model and steps, a firm should achieve a more satisfactory performance in NPD practices. From this research, we also conclude that technological migration sustains the network on leading technologies and results in continuous MC manufacturing systems. The effect of diversified migration happens when local diversification and differentiation occur, and diversified migration satisfies customers| individual needs.

Keywords: new product development; NPD; analytical network process; ANP; mass customisation; decision making; strategic management; product families; product design; critical success factors; CSF; manufacturing networks; diversified migration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPD.2009.025256

International Journal of Product Development, 2009 Vol.8 No.4, pp.431 - 450

Published online: 18 May 2009 *

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