A customer‐focus methodology for the manufacture of ready‐to‐assemble products

Ready‐to‐assemble products such as exercise bicycles and furniture have successfully been marketed to customers as a low‐cost alternative to fully assembled ones. Due to the difficulty of assembling the newer and complex products that are currently in demand, recent surveys suggest that a low‐cost strategy alone is inadequate to satisfy, let alone exceed, customer expectations. Research has shown that assembly time could be reduced if parts are grouped appropriately. Providing a grouping methodology for simplifying the assembly process for customers, without hampering the low‐cost manufacturing objective, is the aim of the research. Methodology, which is easy to implement on a computer, is significant due to the practicality of the problem in a fast‐growing industry.