Customization and Variants in Terms of Form, Place and Time

Abstract

The interest in customization has increased due to globalization, and globalization makes competing on price more difficult if access to low-cost production is unavailable. Customization usually implies the creation of variants, where the final products are customized in form, place and/or time. However, the relation between customization and variants is unclear; therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze customization in terms of form, place and time, as well as relate it to product proliferation (i.e., variant creation). Here, a time perspective is used, creating a clear relation to flow thinking. Using flow thinking and the two strategic decoupling points related to flow driver (customer order decoupling point) and flow differentiation (customer adaptation decoupling point) provides a better understanding of what, where and when customization can be applied.

Logistics Organization Design for Building Contractors

“…This relationship determines the degree of off-site fabrication (sometimes referred to as the degree of prefabrication) in a similar way to the value-added-based approach, except for that lead times are used over the amount of value-adding. The location of the flow can also be viewed as a form of place customization (Wikner and Tiedemann, 2019). The terms "delivery site" and "supply site(s)" can be used to denote where the final delivery is made and which activities that are performed upstream of this delivery site (Rudberg et al, 2024).…”