Product modularity and its effects on the production process: an analysis in a bus manufacturer

Improvements to efficiency and productivity have attracted growing interest from companies, and modularity is considered a strategic alternative to achieve these goals. However, empirical evidence to support the expected benefits of modularity is scarce in the literature. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of modularity on the efficiency of, for example, an area or production system. The present work takes a case study approach to analyze the effects of the implementation of product modularity on the production process efficiency of a bus manufacturer. The effects of modularity are evaluated longitudinally using a combination of data envelopment analysis (DEA), analysis of variance (ANOVA), and causal impact assessment in time series (CausalImpact). The results show that the effects of modularity on efficiency are positive and significant. In addition, there are significant differences between modularized and non-modularized products. Finally, the research establishes causality between modularity and production process efficiency improvements in the examined company.