Knowledge-based risk evaluation during the offer calculation of customised products

The individualisation of products is a hybrid business strategy, which increases the competitiveness of production enterprises. But the inherent risks of order processing for customised products jeopardises the successful and economical implementation of this strategy: A potential risk exists within the calculation of the total costs due to incomplete information about the product and the production processes during the offer specification process as well as due to the temporal fluctuations of the prices and costs after the offer specification. This paper analyses the risks and existing methods regarding risks in offer calculation processes. The approach developed here proposes a knowledge-based system for the evaluation and configuration of risks during the order processing of individualised products. Based on a classification of the immanent risks, an evaluation method is introduced which is implemented in a knowledge-based system. The methods developed for calculation and interpretation allow for a good analysis of the risk situation of individualised products.