Identification of complexity cost factors in manufacturing companies

Complexity tends to be arguably the biggest challenge of manufacturing companies. As the demand from the customers increases in volume and diversity, the number of finished products and components increases as well. This increasing product complexity has a direct effect on the production processes. This research focuses on the relation between product and process complexity.

Complexity cost factors are identified and categorized under the industrial standard APQC for process classification. Then, this categorization is used as a tool for identification of complexity cost factors in seven companies. The results from this research are evaluated and future work is discussed.