Note: How Does Product Proliferation Affect Responsiveness?
用排队模型分析制造企业应对产品种类增加的策略，发现增加产品种类有时反而能同时改善单个产品和系统的响应速度，挑战了“专注才能快速响应”的常见看法。
In this note we consider some strategies that a manufacturing firm may use to deal with an increase in the variety of products it offers. We indicate how alternate strategies for dealing with product proliferation impact the firm's responsiveness, measured in terms of average production lead time and average work-in-process inventory. Focusing on the make-to-order environment and using queueing models, we derive conditions under which an increase in product variety can improve both individual product performance as well as system performance, thus contradicting a common belief that a greater degree of focus and greater responsiveness go hand in hand. These queueing models provide operations managers analytical tools for evaluating alternate strategies for coping with product proliferation.