Managing product variety under operational constraints: A process-industrial outlook

Using a newly developed conceptual framework on “platform-based design of non-assembled products,” the process-industrial applicability of the framework in production and product design was investigated. In a survey of Nordic process industries the research instrument included a comprehensive questionnaire designed to stimulate respondents to act as “multiple informants”. The results indicate that the presented framework challenged company paradigms and working practices, but acknowledged the applicability of many components in the new framework. Moreover, the new findings suggest that the framework additionally can be deployed as an instrument in an assessment of corporate strategic production capabilities. The framework can already serve as a “theoretical coat hanger” for analyzing current company practices, but moreover as a point of departure for company introduction of platform-based production philosophy and a platform-based design of non-assembled products. Apart from the framework used in this study, publications in this area are scarce. The findings fulfill the criteria for a theoretical contribution since the results have both originality and high utility for academics as well as practitioners