An inspection system to master dimensional and technological variability of fashion-related products: A case study in the eyewear industry

An approach to design reconfigurable manufacturing tools to manage product variability: the mass customisation of eyewear

“…From a manufacturing point of view, a "standard" frame is always built assembling a front, two temples, two lenses and in some cases beautifiers. However -despite the apparent low complexity of the product architecture -the manufacturing process is challenging: the high product variability (Montalto et al, 2016;Montalto et al, 2018) and the seasonality which characterises the fashion-market (De Toni and Nassimbeni, 2003) implies the necessity to simultaneously and rapidly manage different product and manufacturing changes. Furthermore, these parts, once assembled, must properly match in order to guarantee the fulfilment of both aesthetic and functional requirements (Montalto et al, 2018) since spectacles are fashion accessories, but also medical devices.…”

“…Despite this high product variability, the manufacturing process of spectacles is not fully automatic (further details about this process will be provided in Section 2.2). It is also characterised by a handcraft essence (Montalto et al, 2016) because, especially in case of high-luxury models and frequent production changes, the expertise and the knowledge of the operators are a guarantee of the high product quality and thus represent an added value for the product. On the other hand, the automation of a three-dimensional fabrication processes could be too expensive and not as flexible as required (Zipkin, 2001) especially in case of rapid product changes.…”

“…Although spectacles were born as medical devices, nowadays eyeglasses and sunglasses are also fashion products: functional and aesthetic requirements must always be simultaneously satisfied (Montalto et al, 2016). This paper is focused on spectacle frames in cellulose acetate because they often represent high-end and luxury frames while their production involves both automated and hand-crafted activities.…”