Modularization in the Car Production

The automotive industry faces substantial challenges: a difficult market environment, increasingly complex technologies and shorter product life cycles characterize the industry. Modularization has been considered a promising remedy to help solving some of these demanding problems. Rewards of the application of modular systems are expected from various different sides. So far, however, its implications for production have rarely been discussed. This paper presents three production concepts for modular pro-ducts and their respective advantages and disadvantages. The integration of the production perspective allows more prudent strategic decisions regarding modularization.