Parts Variance Analyser
Description
The constantly changing requirements in the markets lead to a constant adaptation and expansion of the own product range (external variance). In addition, the company's own engineering and production also contributes to changes in the parts used (internal variance). This external and internal variance often leads to a constant growth of the own parts base and can lead to increasing difficulties to configure the own products customer-specific and error-free.
Carefully constructed parts classes or other ontologies can help to keep an overview and order in the parts master, but they usually cannot prevent the parts master from growing per se. Also missing is the definition of a configuration logic for the own products.
By introducing sustainable variant management, the growth of the parts master can be slowed down sustainably, which automatically leads to an increased overview, improved order in the parts master and overall to improved efficiency in the production process. On the other hand, the necessary configuration logic for one's own product range results almost in parallel.
For this purpose, it is first necessary to find "similar" parts in the part master, i.e. to find and structure groups of parts in such a way that the individual members of a group can only be unambiguously described by different versions of one and the same set of characteristics. The attribute scale itself is determined by the group and is therefore valid for all members (parts) of the group.
For each group of parts, a so-called variant part with its specific characteristics is then created. The parts of the group are then assigned to the variant part as so-called sub-parts, whereby the characteristics list is defined for each of these sub-parts according to the characteristics of the sub-part. The sub-parts assigned to a variant part clearly show the differences between these sub-parts with regard to the characteristic values of the features.
Here it can often already be established that sub-parts have been defined unnecessarily, since their characteristics - clearly described by the characteristic bar - are quite comparable and even substitutable with other sub-parts of the same variant part.
The consistent introduction of product features, product feature strips and variant parts gives the entire parts master a clear structure. The focus is no longer on the individual parts, but rather on material features, i.e. characteristics that determine the parts to be used. The rules of configuration logic then only refer to characteristics - i.e. properties - and no longer directly to part numbers.
This separation of the configuration logic from part numbers also makes it possible to determine configurations with parts for which there is still "no part number": in this case, the configuration determines variant parts with those characteristics for which there is (still) no subpart in the variant part. This does not have to be the case, because the desired - non-existent - part is clearly specified by the variant part and the distinct attribute list. With this unambiguous specification, it can be processed throughout the entire logistics process even without a system in the part master.
Variant parts and their associated lower parts with a distinct list of characteristics can thus help to increase the diversity of the product range without creating an overflowing parts master: in this way, variance can be controlled.
Functionality
This app can be used to find groups of parts by analysing the words in the part descriptions. To evaluate the similarity of parts, their part descriptions are divided into the individual words and the TF-IDF value is calculated as a measure to determine the relevance of a word in a part description.
TF-IDF is the product of the two values TF and IDF. TF (Term Frequency) measures the frequency of a word in a document and is defined as follows: TF = (number of occurrences of a word in a document) / (number of all words in the document). The measure IDF (Inverse Document Frequency) describes the relevance of a word in the entire text corpus and is defined here as: IDF = log( (number of all documents in the text corpus) / (number of documents in the text corpus in which the word occurs) ).
By comparing the TF-IDF values and forming intersection or union sets of the parts in which individual words occur, it is possible to specifically compile groups of "similar" parts.
List window
In this window, the entire functionality for analysing the variance of a parts master is summarised. The following procedure is recommended when analysing the parts variance:
- Selection and listing of the parts to be examined in the parts list
- Creation of the word list from the part designations of all or only the selected parts of the parts list
- Possible editing/error correction of the words in the word list: the words are automatically replaced in the part designations
- Form groups of parts from the intersection or union of the parts assigned to the selected words
- Assign these parts as subparts to a new variant part to be created
- Maintain the attribute list and its characteristics
This procedure assigns more and more individual parts to variant parts, thus increasing the structure of the parts master.
| Menu item | Description |
|---|---|
| Edit | - |
| : Parts | - |
| : : Reset parts list | - |
| : : : complete list | The entire parts list is emptied. |
| : : : remove only selected parts | Only the selected parts are removed from the parts list. |
| : : : remove all but the selected parts | Only the parts NOT selected are removed from the parts list. |
| : : Select parts | - |
| : : : All (single) parts | All individual parts stored in the system, i.e. no variant parts and no sub-parts subordinate to the variant parts are listed. |
| : : : Search | The screen for searching for and selecting parts is opened. |
| : : : Advanced search | The screen for searching for and selecting parts - extended according to logistical aspects - is opened. |
| : : Edit part | The editing window of the part master opens. |
| : : : Create word list from part names | All words are extracted individually from the part names of all (if no parts are selected) or only the selected parts in the parts list and listed in the adjacent word list. For each word, its uniqueness in the context of the description of the selected parts is automatically calculated in the form of the inverse document frequency (IDF) and for the occurrence of a word in a part description, the word frequency (TF) and thus the overall relevance of a word in a part description is calculated using the TF-IDF value (multiplication of TF by IDF). The greater the value of the inverse document frequency (IDF) for a word, the more unique the word is in relation to all part descriptions; the greater the value for TF-IDF for a word from a part description, the more relevant the word is for the part. |
| : : List words of the selected parts | The individual words of the part descriptions of the selected parts are displayed as a separate list in the vocabulary. |
| : Words | |
| : : Reset word list | The entire list of words is emptied |
| : : Edit word | The selected word can be edited in the vocabulary |
| : : : Edit word in related parts | The text of the selected word can be changed and the changed word is automatically replaced in the parts assigned to the word |
| : : Select the parts of the selected words... | |
| : : : : ...as a union quantity | All (the union of) the parts assigned to the selected words are selected in the parts list |
| : : : ...as an intersection | The intersection of the parts assigned to the selected words is selected in the parts list. The intersection consists of the parts in whose part names all selected words occur |
| : Data exchange | - |
| : : Import parts | |
| : : : from Excel file | Parts of a foreign merchandise management system can be imported by means of an Excel file. The structure of the Excel file must first be defined in the data exchange specifications and in the data record descriptions |
| Options | Opens the options window |
| Symbol | Description |
|---|---|
 | Reset parts list |
 | Select |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Individual parts | - |
| Population | This submenu is available as a context menu in this list. |
| : : List | List of parts to be analysed. |
| : : Number of parts / selected | Number of all and the selected parts. |
| Words | This submenu is available as a context menu in this list. |
| : : search | Enter (partial) words for the search. Several words can be entered separated by spaces. |
| : : List | List of words that appear in the part descriptions. In each line, the number of parts (column "Occurrence in parts") in whose part description this word occurs is indicated next to the word. In addition, the inverse document frequency (IDF) for the word and - if the word is already permanently stored in the system - its database and the word type stored there. If a line is selected, the parts in which the word occurs are displayed in the list of part families below. |
| : : Number of words / selected | Number of all and the selected words. |
| Parts | List of parts from which the word list was created. The entirety of these parts and thus their part descriptions represent the text corpus for the calculation of the inverse document frequency (IDF). |
| : : Number of words / selected | Number of all and selected parts. |
| : Part families | Output of the parts whose part description contains a word previously selected in the word list. If the relevance (the IDF value) of the selected word is high, it can be assumed that the parts that have this word in their part description are "the same" or describe something similar, these parts could possibly be summarised in a "part family" - i.e. a variant part. |
| : : List | The word frequency (TF), the inverse document frequency (IDF) and the product of the two (TF-IDF) are output for each part in a line for the word from the part description of the part. These values are used to express the "similarity" of the part description - and thus of the parts themselves. |
| Variants | - |
| : variants | In this list, the editing window in the part master can be opened by double-clicking on a variant part. |
| : : List | List of variant parts already defined in the system. |
| : : Number of variants / selected | Number of all and the selected variant parts. |
| Button | Button description |
|---|---|
| Back button | The app is closed. |
| Remove | The parts selected in the list of part families are removed from the list. |
| Summarise | The parts selected in the list of part families are assigned as subparts to a newly created variant part. |
Option window
All settings for data exchange can be made here. Once set, options can be saved as the default option for the logged-in user. For this purpose, there is a context menu item on the "Preferences" tab in the "User Preferences" list, which can be used to save the current options.
| Menu item | Description |
|---|---|
| Edit | - |
| : Set default settings | All changed settings are reset to default. |
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Data exchange | |
| : File format | |
| : : File format | For data exchange with the leading host merchandise management system, the format of the parts master data import file as Excel *.xls or *.xslx can be specified here |
| : Import | |
| : : File directory | Optional specification of the directory in which the import file is located. If only a file directory is specified (i.e. no file name: see next field), the directory must be terminated with \*. |
| : : File name | Optional specification of the name of the import file. If both a file directory and a file name are specified, then the import process starts without additional query of the import file |
| : : Excel spreadsheet | If an Excel Import Format (*.xsl, or *.xslx) has been selected as file format (see above), the number of the spreadsheet must be entered here |
| : : Import from line * | Specifies from which line of the import file the data should be read in. This specification is valid for all import files, i.e. also for the files with counted actual quantities. In contrast, the export is always written from line 1 |
| Data record description | |
| Data field | The following is a list of data fields that can be specified for import (fields marked with an * are required fields) |
| : : Article number * | Position of the article number specification in the import file |
| : : Article description * | Position of the 1st line of the article description in the import file |
| : : Article description 2 | Position of the 2nd line of the article description in the import file |
| : : Article description 3 | Position of the 3rd line of the article description in the import file |
| : : Article description 4 | Position of the 4th line of the article description in the import file |
| : : Article description 5 | Position of the 5th line of the article description in the import file |
| : : Part class | Position of the specification of the part class. The imported parts are assigned to this part class. Part classes are created automatically during import |
| : : Unit of measure | Position of the specification of the (storage) unit of measure of the part in the import file. If a zero is entered here, "piece" is always used as the unit of measure |
| Presets | |
| : Global presets | Global presets can be saved for the client and account. These are displayed here as well as the current default options that each module has. To create a global preset, a user preset must first be saved. With a right click on this user setting and selection of the context menu item "Edit user-defined setting" an editing window for this setting is opened, where the assignment of the employee / user to a client or a cost centre can be changed. (Button "Level") |
| : User Presets | Each user can save any number of presets. It is only important to note that if several settings are found, the first one found is used as the default setting. The name of the setting can be changed with a double-click. |
| button | Description |
|---|---|
| OK | The settings are saved and the window is closed. |
Related topics
Technical documentation
Module
Module name
itemVarianceAnalyse.app
Classes
Security
In addition to restricting access rights via the class and its data fields, the module can be restricted in its use via some of the received messages.
| Message | Parameters | Function | Security |
|---|---|---|---|
| ANALYZE_ITEM_VARIANCE | |||
| Message | Parameters | Function | Receiver module |
|---|---|---|---|
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}
;){kind=link}