Model Counting in Product Configuration

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel propositional model counting method for analyzing product configuration data, providing insights into configuration diversity and documentation quality, demonstrated on Mercedes-Benz vehicle data.

Contribution

It presents a new model counter capable of handling large, non-CNF formulas, enabling analysis of complex product configuration models.

Findings

Successfully applied to Mercedes-Benz product data

Processed formulas previously unsolvable by existing counters

Provided metrics for configuration diversity and documentation quality

Abstract

We describe how to use propositional model counting for a quantitative analysis of product configuration data. Our approach computes valuable meta information such as the total number of valid configurations or the relative frequency of components. This information can be used to assess the severity of documentation errors or to measure documentation quality. As an application example we show how we apply these methods to product documentation formulas of the Mercedes-Benz line of vehicles. In order to process these large formulas we developed and implemented a new model counter for non-CNF formulas. Our model counter can process formulas, whose CNF representations could not be processed up till now.