Authors:
Mladen Velev
1
;
Ognyan Andreev
1
and
Tanya Panayotova
2
Affiliations:
1
Technical University of Sofia, Bulgaria
;
2
Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria
Keyword(s):
Customer order decoupling point, Analytical hierarchy process, Mass customization, Co-creation, Co-development.
Abstract:
The concept of Customer Order Decoupling Point/CODP is a popular approach to increasing the diversity of end items, while taking advantage of standardization/unifi¬ca¬tion due to increased repetitiveness of operations devoted to components and/or subassemblies manufacturing. CODP marks the place (the operation, the phase of the process etc.) where customer intervention occurs, in order to define, according to his/her wishes, the final mode of the end item (product or service). An underlying issue here is to make an economically motivated decision about the exact CODP position (1) among different end items of the company’s product mix, and (2) inside a particular product/service line. Inside the operations process, before CODP, forecasts are usually used (Make-To-Stock), and after it – Make-To-Order. Consequently, the opportunities to achieve economies of scale are different before and after CODP. Therefore, the opportunities for optimizing the total operating costs are different as w
ell. In the present paper, an approach is suggested for applying the Analytical Hierarchy Process/AHP in solving such a problem. Some examples of criteria are also presented to give reasons for the “pros” and “cons” during the decision making process about CODP position.
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