Abstract
Matching requirements for diverse products in the market with standardization/commonality is a critical issue for designing an efficient production system. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relative difference in the manufacturing performance obtained through a series of standardization activities, between products, sub-assembly, component parts and processing, for component parts as elements of commonality, presupposing that a hierarchical structure exists among these elements. We first analyze, through numerical experiments, how commonality will affect manufacturing performance by standardizing a single element. Second, we clarify the relative relationship among these elements with regard to effects of commonality. The unfilled-rate of products for market demand and the buffer inventory levels which can maintain the unfilled-rate within an acceptable upper limit are adopted as the manufacturing performance measures. The experimental results provide management with better guidelines for prioritizing or determining the scope or scale of such activities as standardization in design, process/operation improvement, and investment in equipment.
