NOTE - HOW DOES PRODUCT PROLIFERATION AFFECT RESPONSIVENESS

In this note we consider some strategies that a manufacturing firm may use to deal with an increase in the variety of products it offers. We indicate how alternate strategies for dealing with product proliferat ion impact the firm's responsiveness, measured in terms of average pro duction lead time and average work-in-process inventory. Focusing on t he make-to-order environment and using queueing models, we derive cond itions under which an increase in product variety can improve both ind ividual product performance as well as system performance, thus contra dicting a common belief that a greater degree of focus and greater res ponsiveness go hand in hand. These queueing models provide operations managers analytical tools for evaluating alternate strategies for copi ng with product proliferation.