Standardization, modularization and platform approaches in the engineer-to-order business — Review and outlook

Abstract

Standardization, modularization and platforms (S/M/P) are approaches used by industrial companies to cope with complexity of technical products and systems. Despite a long history in product business S/M/P are considered as a fairly recent idea in engineer-to-order (ETO) business. They are applied with varying degrees of success in this business due to a number of challenges. This contribution describes the development of S/M/P from their beginnings in product business to their application in the ETO business. It provides a selection of relevant literature and studies on S/M/P that reflects the current state of research in the ETO business. The contribution also identifies challenges regarding the implementation of S/M/P among ETO companies. The evaluation of cost and benefit of S/M/P approaches, the integration of modules to systems, the definition of module design criteria, the definition of S/M/P specific key performance indicators as well as the scarce methodological support for implementing S/M/P have been identified as main hurdles in the ETO business.

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