Abstract
While the literature has paid significant attention to product variety management, only sparse consideration has been given to its relationship with supply chain processes. To address this gap in the literature, this paper describes a procedure for stock–keeping unit (SKU) reduction that provides a transparent link between internal variety (component and module level) and external variety (finished goods level) and relates this to supply chain processes. When applied at a large international company that manufactures hearing aids, the procedure achieved a 33% reduction in SKU variants at the module/component level while maintaining the end–product variety offered to customers.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology |
| Volume | 37 |
| Pages (from-to) | 344-358 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| ISSN | 1755-5817 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The present study has some limitations. First, as the procedure was tested in one company only, this obviously limits generalizability, and further research will be needed to clarify its potential and limitations. Nevertheless, product data and performance measures retrieved from multiple sources provided a good foundation for applying the procedure, and the findings were supported by stakeholder inputs. It is also worth noting that implementation resulted in a 33% reduction in SKU variants without reducing the variety of end–user offerings.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 CIRP
Keywords
- Process complexity
- Product complexity
- Product variety management
- SKU rationalization
- SKU reduction
- Supply chain complexity
