Complexity assessment in production: linking complexity drivers and effects

Despite complexity management efforts in product development, manufacturing worldwide is challenged by high and increasing complexity. Measuring complexity in production is crucial for its management, for that a practicable measurement tool covering complexity drivers and resulting complexity effects is proposed in this paper. The outcome of a pilot study conducted in four production plants of different companies is presented. The findings confirm strong correlations between drivers and negative effects of complexity, indicating that the complexity measures presented are good predictors for the impact of inadequate complexity. Furthermore, the tool allows identifying relevant complexity drivers.