Managing Variety and New Product Introduction in Consumer Electronics Manufacturing Industry

This dissertation provides a comprehensive understanding of the efforts undertaken by different players in the consumer electronics manufacturing industry in managing variety. Different product design efforts (such as QFD, DFV, modularity etc) in the new product introduction process paves the way to company-led/internal variety creation. Furthermore, mass customization in association with build-to-order and postponement principles has been discussed as a way of creating customer-led/external variety. A framework has been developed which shows the functions of different players in the consumer electronics industry such as EMS (Electronics Manufacturing Service), OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and OBN (Original Brand Name) companies, and their relationship and collaborative effort in creating new product through different design initiatives in the NPI process. Links have been established between NPI and internal variety as well as, between mass customization and external variety. Three OBN companies (Samsung, Acer, and Dell) have been analysed to understand the overall scenario