Variant value management to optimize complexity and value of product families

Increasing requirements lead to an evolutionary increase in complexity. As a result, direct and indirect costs also increase significantly, while value propositions for customers often stagnate. Hence, there are many interdependencies between complexity, costs and values. We present Variant Value Management (VVM) that systematically uses DSM-based interdependency analysis in the product portfolio to visualize the optimum between resource usage, customer value and generated complexity for each requirement, function and component of a product variant by means of target/actual cost comparisons of different product variants. Based on this, value-enhancing and value-destroying effects can be more specifically identified in current and future variant decisions for competitive and attractive product portfolios. The VVM was developed based on existing scientific approaches and in close cooperation with the technology company Voith and has already been successfully validated. The application of the VVM is demonstrated on the industrial case study of the Voith-Schneider Propeller (VSP).