Validation of the complexity index method at three manufacturing companies

In order to manage increasing numbers of product variants, tools that can reduce or manage production complexity are vital. The paper describes CompleXity Index (CXI), an index-based method and tool that assess the complexity at an industrial workstation. CXI was validated at three Swedish manufacturing companies investigating how different roles affect the index calculation and if the method measures what was intended. In all three cases, CXI was seen as a useful tool that provided a holistic view of the problems seen at a station. In addition it was indicated that complexity and unbalanced work was connected and that the method could be used to predict problem areas on new stations.