Build To Order Mass Customization

Gardner explains how to bring a company into alignment with mass customization (also known as build to order, assemble to order, configure to order, make to order, and engineer to order). He also reviews why mass customization must be viewed as an enterprise-wide business strategy, not merely a departmental initiative.

Mass Customization examines the business opportunities, considerations, and challenges manufacturers in various industries must weigh before committing to the significant investment in machinery and software needed to go to mass customization. For manufacturers who decide that it’s time to take the plunge, the author describes the proven methods and latest technologies for making mass customization work seamlessly and profitably on the factory floor. Mass customization—the automated manufacturing bespoke products, profitably combining the low unit costs of mass production with the flexibility of building custom products to order—has been touted as the next big thing for more than a quarter of a century. Until recently, however, mass customization made only modest inroads in a few industries. Now, the convergence of new ICT and manufacturing technologies with traditional CNC technologies means that mass customization’s moment has arrived for breaking out into a wide range of industries. Hans Kull is an engineer and mathematician who applies his expertise in combinatorial optimization, programming, and engineering to devising end-to-end automated solutions for mass customization, automating and optimizing all processes—from bespoke parts supply, order processing, production, and waste minimization to packing and delivery. He shares with his readers practical lessons for making mass customization succeed, case studies from various industries, and an insider’s vision of the business implications of mass customization’s coming of age.

This proceedings volume presents the latest research from the worldwide mass customization, personalization and co-creation (MCPC) community bringing together new thoughts and results from various disciplines within the field. The chapters are based on papers from The MCPC 2015 Conference where the emphasis was placed on “managing complexity.” MCPC is now beginning to emerge in many industries as a profitable business model. But customization and personalization go far beyond the sheer individualization of products and become an extension of current business models and production styles. This book covers topics such as complexity management of knowledge-based systems in manufacturing design and production, sustainable mass customization, choice navigation, and product modeling. The chapters are contributed by a wide range of specialists, offering cutting-edge research, as well as insightful advances in industrial practice in key areas. The MCPC 2015 Conference had a strong focus on real life MCPC applications, and this proceedings volume reflects this. MCPC strategies aim to profit from the fact that people are different. Their objective is to turn customer heterogeneities into profit opportunities, hence addressing the current trend of long tail business models. Mass customization means to provide goods and services that best serve individual customers’ personal needs with near mass production efficiency. This book brings together the latest from MCPC thought leaders, entrepreneurs, technology developers, and researchers that use these strategies in practice.

Companies are being forced to react to the growing individualization of demand. At the same time, cost management remains of paramount importance due to the competitive pressure in global markets. Thus, making enterprises more customer centric efficiently is a top management priority in most industries. Mass customization and personalization are key strategies to meet this challenge. Companies like Procter&Gamble, Lego, Nike, Adidas, Land's End, BMW, or Levi Strauss, among others, have started large-scale mass customization programs. This book provides insight into the different aspects of building a customer centric enterprise. Following an interdisciplinary approach, leading scientists and practitioners share their findings, concepts, and strategies from the perspective of design, production engineering, logistics, technology and innovation management, customer behavior, as well as marketing.

This book defines the parameters of the emerging business strategy of mass customization, covering the main categories in a systematic examination of: manufacturing systems and mass customization; supply chain management and mass customization; and information systems and mass customization. The book provides a conceptual framework for mass customization, its tools, its solutions, and real-world examples of successful implementations of the business strategy.

A starter to the concepts of modularization and mass customization. Condensed and application-oriented approach for a broad audience in engineering, production, sales and marketing. Provides an extensive configurator evaluation checklist for future users and a supplement of business cases.