Information and Management Systems for Product Customization

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. Understanding the needs and desires of the customer are central to the strategy of mass customization. However, introducing customer needs into the realm of product development dramatically increases the level of complexity of creating and delivering the product both internally and externally. This book introduces an innovative model that assesses and distinguishes subjective and objective customer needs. This model along with other software tools and AI agents address the complexity issues that are both external and internal in a mass customization strategy. Fundamentally, the book- with its technical analysis, models, conceptual frameworks, and managerial tools-closes the gap between the complexity and the difficulty of mass customization with its potential payoffs and implementation. This book consists of three parts. In the first part, within the theoretical basics of mass customization are discussed, and within the theoretical context, the main problems that are encountered with the implementation of mass customization are outlined. Part two deals with the development of appropriate information systems for mass customization. Part three discusses the topic of product modularity. More specifically, this part develops a managerial approach or tool to assess and solve complexity issues induced by the variety of needs expressed by customers. Using the tools and the conceptual frameworks developed in INFORMATION AND MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR PRODUCT CUSTOMIZATION, the main problems of mass customization can be resolved. The book is the result of a privately funded, multi-year research project on Modeling Planning, and Assessment of Business Transformation Processes in the area of Mass Customization.