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PurposeThis study is to propose a procedure to support decisions on which enablers should be employed to minimize the impact of barriers to implementing mass customization strategies in food companies.Design/methodology/approachThrough interpretive structural modeling, the authors analyzed the relationships between barriers. Then, with an approach similar to the quality function deployment technique, commonly used in general product and process development, the authors clarified the relationships between barriers and enablers.FindingsThe results revealed 19 barriers and 17 enablers for implementing food mass customization. The analysis indicates that most of the barriers (16) present strong associations with each other. The barrier “products with non-customizable features” depends on the whole chain of associations and causes a minor impact on the other barriers. In turn, the barrier “ingredient incompatibility” causes impact over the whole chain, and its dependence on other barriers is very low.Research limitations/implicationsThe results were tested in a single Brazilian company in the food sector.Practical implicationsThe findings can allow food manufacturing companies to focus their efforts on the improvement of enabling technologies, such as smart packaging, Internet of Things and additive manufacture.Social implicationsThis study would help food companies to improve their business and provide better products to society.Originality/valueThere are few recommendations in the literature to how to implement mass customization strategy in companies from the food sector. This study fills in this gap presenting a procedure to guide managerial staff to develop this promising approach for food companies.

The demand for mobile e-health technologies (m-health) continues with constant growth, stimulating the technological advancement of such devices. However, the customer needs to perceive the utility of these devices to incorporate them into their daily lives. Hence, this study aims to identify users’ perceptions regarding the acceptance of m-health technologies based on a synthesis of meta-analysis studies on the subject in the literature. Using the relations and constructs proposed in the UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2) technology acceptance model, the methodological approach utilized a meta-analysis to raise the effect of the main factors on the Behavioral Intention to Use m-health technologies. Furthermore, the model proposed also estimated the moderation effect of gender, age, and timeline variables on the UTAUT2 relations. In total, the meta-analysis utilized 84 different articles, which presented 376 estimations based on a sample of 31,609 respondents. The results indicate an overall compilation of the relations, as well as the primary factors and moderating variables that determine users’ acceptance of the studied m-health systems.

Mass Customization (MC) has become a significant market trend, mainly with the dissemination of new technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT). This article aims to identify possibilities of MC adoption for produced food and to identify barriers and enablers related to MC success. For to develop the MC theme in food production, as the first step, a systematic literature review was carried out. The systematic search of several databases (Emerald Insight, Science Direct, Web of Science, Proquest and Scopus) was conducted, and 52 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Results show food perishability, difficulty in processing, nutritional values quantification of the customized food products and perceived complexity of the customization benefit by the customers as barriers to MC implementation in the food sector. Each of these barriers is discussed together with the recommended enablers to overcome them. The results presented contribute to the identification of opportunities for new products, processing, and services associated with custom food products and the improvements implementation of foods already customized by companies. This paper gathers considerations to direct the MC success of food engineering and food sector companies. To accompany the industry 4.0 scenario, it becomes essential to develop mass customization strategies. The challenge of Food Engineering is precise to create methods that align with such a situation. In this way, the present article presents itself as an initial step towards a new way of thinking about food engineering processes.

Resumo Em um cenário de indústria 4.0 e integração de processos, torna-se necessária a discussão sobre a produção de produtos personalizados em massa ao consumidor. As empresas possuem dificuldades na implementação da estratégia de Customização em Massa (CM), especialmente em empresas produtoras de alimentos, o que pode ser explicado pela falta de estudos sobre fatores que afetam o sucesso da adoção desta estratégia. A partir de uma revisão sistemática da literatura, este artigo possui o objetivo de realizar uma análise bibliométrica com a finalidade de identificar as possibilidades da adoção de CM para produtos alimentícios customizados em massa e, ainda, identificar barreiras relacionadas à implementação da CM. Os resultados apresentam a perecibilidade dos alimentos, a dificuldade no processamento, a quantificação dos valores nutricionais do produto customizado e a complexidade de percepção do valor agregado da customização pelos clientes como barreiras para a implementação no setor alimentício. Os resultados apresentados contribuem para a identificação de oportunidades de novos produtos e também para a reunião de informações que possibilitem um direcionamento da implementação de CM no setor alimentício.