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Complexity Cost Management

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Abstract

Complexity cost management refers to costs in industrial production processes that are directly or indirectly related to the handling, management or creation of different variants of a product. The current understanding and state of awareness of the influence of complexity on cost structures is reflected in the results of a survey carried out by the authors. The methodology used to analyse the complexity costs of existing processes is described and a case study from the automotive industry, which is highly affected by variant-driven complexity costs, is introduced. Furthermore, a model to calculate potential complexity costs, when changing product variety based on the number of variants, variant drivers and the characteristics of variant drivers, is shown. Finally, an easy-to-handle tool, which allows more detailed determination of complexity costs based on changing product variety parameters, is presented.

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© 2008 Springer London

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Schaffer, J., Schleich, H. (2008). Complexity Cost Management. In: Parry, G., Graves, A. (eds) Build To Order. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-225-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84800-225-8_9

  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-84800-224-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-84800-225-8

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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