WEB-BASED PRODUCT CONFIGURATION FOR MASS CUSTOMIZATION : Towards developing mass customization strategy

Abstract: The increasing demand towards products and services that perfectly matches the customer needs is evident, so the manufacturing trends are aiming to produce small unit of customized product in large total volumes. The advances in manufacturing and information technologies provided great opportunities to achieve cost-effective mass customization. The purpose of this study was to have a holistic view on under-standing how entrepreneurs in small companies employ and effectively manage mass customization realization. The focus was placed in identifying what are the major factors that influence successful mass customization, how available technologies are enabling this process and how companies achieve value co-creation with the customers. In order to study the practical implementation of mass customization four case studies have been conducted. The information gathered was categorized and the preliminary theoretical framework was used as a template to compare the empirical results. The results show that every strategy for mass customization has to be customizes according to the particular product/service, market, customers, and the available technology for cost efficient implementation of mass customization. In a mass customization system value co-creation is achieved by direct customer integration and is benefiting from economies of integration. The challenge is to balance the system to the right degree, so socially and technologically efficient environment can bring higher value for the customers and better business opportunities for the companies.