Analyzing the Accuracy of Calculations When Scoping Product Configuration Projects

Product configurators have increasingly been applied in industrial environments. With their help, companies providing customized products have managed to redesign their specification processes and to better handle the growing product variety. But despite the promising benefits, conducting configuration projects is still challenging. Assuming that configurators would naturally solve the existing flaws, both, researchers and professionals typically neglect the need for a making a precise scope for their implementation. Based on this theoretical and practical concern, the present study provides a detailed framework on how the highest potential and eventually the most benefits from using configuration systems can be identified. In particular, this paper investigates how the less explored domain of varying gross margins and calculations reveal a considerable potential for improvement by means of configuration.