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Keywords Customization, Process planning, Manufacturing strategy
Abstract Mass customization presents a paradox to traditional manufacturing practices. Historically, companies chose to produce either customized, crafted products or mass-produced, standardized products. Thus, mass customization presents a paradox by combining customization and mass production, offering unique products in a mass-produced, low cost, high volume production environment. If mass customization is truly a combination of mass production and craft manufacturer, how does a manufacturer become a mass customizer? Are the key principles of mass customization rooted in customized product knowledge or mass production techniques? Does the path to mass customization impact financial performances? This paper begins to answer these questions by exploring the total product mix of mass customizing plants using data gathered from 126 mass customizers. This study shows plants that choose mass customization approaches that match the non-mass customized product line characteristics have higher financial performance than those firms without a matched product line.
Introduction
Low cost customized products are a new phenomenon in a customer-centered marketplace. Mass customization (Davis, 1987; Pine, 1993; Pine et al., 1995) heralds the coming age of consumer choice with quick response on customized products from information to automobiles. The concept of mass customization is simple, providing personalized products at reasonable prices. However, the practice of mass customization does not fit the conventional mindset of manufacturing methods. Historically, companies chose to produce either customized, crafted products or mass-produced, standardized products. Consequently, mass customization presents a paradox by combining customization and mass production, offering unique products in a massproduced, low cost, high volume production environment.
If mass customization is truly a combination of mass production and craft manufacturer, how does a manufacturer become a mass customizer? Are the key principles of mass customization rooted in customized product knowledge or mass production techniques? Do all mass customizers have similar progression?
Literature review
Literature on mass customization provides a wide range of companies given the moniker of mass customizer. Both standard and custom product manufacturers have developed mass customized products. In his early mass customization work, Pine (1993) popularized the concept of mass customization and began to define the broad concept of mass customization in the realm of manufacturing strategy. Pine described the manufacturing aspects of mass customization by mapping the progression from...