C o n f i g u r i n g P r o d u c t V a r i a n t s I n C u s t o m i s a t i o n S t r a t e g i e s
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that the client can have an overview of the scope of the customisation offered and also
go back and forth in defining the customisation units until reaching the desired product
variant. Nonetheless, this process can be time consuming and perceived as difficult by
the client. Finally, type 4 would be a combination of the types 2 and 3 in which there are
several levels, each one with several customisation units to be considered. It might be
challenging to configure a product variant in this tree since there are several horizontal
levels to be considered with several customisation units in each of those levels.
Figure 3: Four types of configuration sequences (Rocha, 2011)
Case study 1
In case study 1, there are five customisation units:
C5 – shapes, C4 – colours, C3 –
package size
(different package size will be offered to different market segments),
C2 –
promotion modes
(tiles will be advertised differently depending on the market segments),
and
C1 – off-the shelf mixes
(each mix will have a particular shape of tile and colour).
Company 1 plans to offer the floor tiles to two different market segments: contractors
and homeowners performing renovations or constructing their own homes. Different
packages sizes and promotion modes will be used for each segment.
The configuration process involves only one tree that has one branch in the first level
and two branches in the second level
. The decision in the first horizontal level
involves
C3 – package sizes
and
C2 – promotion modes
. The decision in the first level is
carried out by Company 2 which decides how the items in these two customisation units
should be combined before proceeding to the second level: (i) large package size and
promotion mode 1 will be used for contractors; and (ii) small package size and promotion
mode 2 will be used for homeowners. Branch 2.1, entailing
C4 – colour
and
C5 –
shapes
, will be offered to contractors, and branch 2.2, involving
C1 – off-the-shelf mixes
,
