Question 5.2: Table 5.8 shows the code scheme of Nissan passenger car fami...
Table 5.8 shows the code scheme of Nissan passenger car family, write out the polycode for the car shown in Fig. 5.23 (Kirby 2019).
Table 5.8 Code scheme of Nissan passenger cars
| Size
(Digit 1) |
Package
(Digit 2) |
Color
(Digit 3) |
Interior
(Digit 4) |
Radio
(Digit 5) |
Tire size
(Digit 6) |
| 1 for “Maxima” | 1 for “GXE” | 1 for “White” | 1 for “Black” | 1 for “AM/FM” | 1 for 15” |
| 2 for “Altima” | 2 for “XE” | 2 for “Black” | 2 for “Gray” | 2 for “CD” | 2 for “17” |
| 3 for “Sentra” | 3 for “SE” | 3 for “Gold” | 3 for “Brown” | 3 for “CD changer” | |
| 4 for “GLE” | 4 for “Blue” | 4 for “Leather” | 4 for “Premium” | ||
| 5 for “Red” | |||||
| 4 for “Dark Gray” |
The code scheme in Table 5.8 includes six digits, which are used to represent type, package, color, interior finish, radio, and tire size. Based on the description of the car model in Fig. 5.23, the digits assigned to this car model are ‘1 1 3 4 1 1’.
Different code schemes may be used for the same product families. However, the capacities to represent product variants may be quite different. To compare the differences of monocode and polycode, it is assumed that both code schemes include six digits (i = 6), and each digit has a set of possible values from 0 to 9. The capacity of a monocode is found as \sum\limits_{i=1}^{6}{10^{i} } = 1,111,110; while the capacity of a polycode is found as the number of product variants in a polycode is 10 × (i) = 60.