PRODUCT STRUCTURING IN A SMALL MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISE

Contemporary CAD systems represent product information at a much lower level of abstraction than may be considered convenient for many desig n tasks and human communications. Many of the product structures and a ssociated coding systems which exist in organisations are specific to particular product families and a company-wide model rarely exists. Th is paper presents a product structuring methodology, developed as a ba sis for computer assisted Product Configuration, and its application i n an industrial environment. The use of the resulting Generic Product Structures as a formalism for the representation of the current produc t range provides the basis for a systematic product rationalisation me thodology outlined here. A prototype sales support/product configurati on system employing the structures is also described.