Variety Induced Complexity In Mass Customization

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.

This book brings several original contributions to research and practical applications in the field of mass customization from the designer, manufacturer, and customer perspectives respectively. It presents advancements in product design for mass customization, design of assembly and supply chain processes, variety induced complexity models, complexity management, marketing tools, information systems to support decision-making, and critical success factors of this manufacturing and marketing strategy.. A special focus of interest is also on the use of product configurators in practice and sustainability assessment for mass customization strategy. The aim is to disseminate current developments and approaches for further theoretical investigation and practical applications of mass customized manufacturing systems.

Mass customization (MC) has been hailed as a successful operations strategy across manufacturing and service industries for the past three decades. However, the wider implications of using MC approaches in the broader industrial and economic environment are not yet clearly understood. Mass Customization: Engineering and Managing Global Operations presents emerging research on the role of MC and personalization in today’s international operations context. The chapters cover MC in the context of global industrial economics and operations. Moreover, the book discusses MC topics that are relevant to the manufacturing and service sectors, such as: • product platforms; • learning curve modeling; • additive manufacturing; and • service customization. Case studies in manufacturing (e.g., apparel and transportation) and services (e.g., banking and virtual worlds) are also included. Mass Customization: Engineering and Managing Global Operations is a valuable text for mass customization researchers and practitioners. Researchers will find a selection of chapters prepared by internationally renowned authors, comprising most of their recent research in MC. Engineering professionals will be drawn by the vivid discussion of operational aspects and methods of MC, as well as by the selection of cases illustrating their practical application.

In today's competitive environment, manufacturing and service companies are intensifying their customization processes. Customization means companies must meet the challenge of providing individualized products and services, without introducing high costs. Therefore, companies must address both customization and cost factors to gain a competitive advantage. While product customization is the manufacturing of products according to individual customer needs, it does not involve any focus on the cost perspective. Information and Management Systems for Product Customization will concentrate on both product customization and costs' efficiency, which is termed as mass customization. Moreover, mass customization with its multi-dimensions is the new business paradigm challenging today's manufacturing companies.

Many manufacturers are evolving from mass production to mass customization to cope with the increasing diversity of customer requirements. This leads to increasing complexity resulting from the great variety offered to customers. This problem is compounded by the integration of products and services within a single offering, as the importance of the service sector has increased over the years and companies have added services to their offering to meet the needs of customers. clients. To overcome this complexity, several methods have been proposed, such as modularity. Modularity has been seen as an effective method for meeting the challenges of variety management in the area of products and services. It has been discussed in the product area but rarely in the service area.This thesis focuses on an approach to practically implement modularity on a service-oriented system that can be applied either to the product, or to the service, or to the integration of both. The approach can help reduce internal complexity resulting from the increased supply of products and services. Additionally, our approach focuses on the ability to have similarity measures between service and product elements. The assessment of the different outputs for the two techniques is used to identify the number and quality of aggregate outputs. Different measurement indicators are used to assess each exit scenario and to assess the clusters formed. Finally, a test case is carried out to validate our method.

This book brings several original contributions to research and practical applications in the field of mass customization from the designer, manufacturer, and customer perspectives respectively. It presents advancements in product design for mass customization, design of assembly and supply chain processes, variety induced complexity models, complexity management, marketing tools, information systems to support decision-making, and critical success factors of this manufacturing and marketing strategy.. A special focus of interest is also on the use of product configurators in practice and sustainability assessment for mass customization strategy. The aim is to disseminate current developments and approaches for further theoretical investigation and practical applications of mass customized manufacturing systems.

Mass Customization leads the strategy of today`s well succeeded companies. It indulges the customer with the so long yearned for product and/or service that exactly fits his desires and specifications. This book compiles a hand-selected variety of testimonies from Mass Customization experts worldwide with different experiences both on an academic research basis as well as on practical case studies. This diversity makes it a compulsory guide to use in any enterprise throughout the world that wants to take its business into new and more ambitious dimensions. Furthermore, its contents are structured in a way that will help everyone that wants to learn, teach or put into practice the concepts of Mass Customization.