Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Computers and Information - Department of Operations Research and Decision Support

Product family design is commonly used to provide higher product variety for satisfying diversified customer needs. To reduce development cost, time, and to improve quality of products, companies quite often consider outsourcing. Conventionally, product family design and supplier selection were dealt with separately. Few studies have attempted to consider product family design and supplier selection simultaneously but two shortcomings were noted. First, the qualified suppliers are selected according to the cost only. However, in practical applications, the process of supplier selection usually involves evaluation of many other aspects among which quality, durability, and lead-time. Therefore, it is necessary to consider these aspects as selection criteria and to explore the possible influence towards product family configuration in the joint optimization model. Second, bidding price discounts on component quantity is not considered. In practical scenarios, suppliers may provide special price discounts if the order size is large enough, or ordered components are similar in functions or structure. The behavior of the price discounts may influence the result of the supplier selection and even the product family configuration

Issued also as CD