Identification of profitable areas to apply product configuration systems in Engineering-To-Order companies

This article suggests a systematic framework for identifying potential areas, where Engineering-To-Order (ETO) companies may increase their profit-ability by implementing a Product Configuration System (PCS). In order to do so a three-step framework is proposed based on literature. The starting point is to conduct a profitability analysis to determine the accuracy of the cost estima-tions, and based on that the reason for the deviations across different projects is found. The next step is to generate the scope for different scenarios that aim to improve the current situation. Finally, it is suggested to make a cost-benefit analysis for different scenarios to determine where a PCS can provide the most benefits. This article is supplemented with a case study from an ETO company where potential areas for using PCS were found by applying the suggested framework.