Manufacturing practices: antecedents to mass customization

Abstract

Mass customization is a strategy that many firms are adopting to exploit the demand for products that meet the needs of individual customers. Mass customization capability is a firm's ability to manufacture products that meet a variety of specific customer requirements quickly at a cost that is comparable to mass-produced products. The challenge for manufacturing managers is to find ways to cope with environmental uncertainty and increasing product variety through mass customization without affecting lead-time, cost or quality. Based on data collected from 303 US firms, this study investigates manufacturing practices (re-engineering set-ups, preventive maintenance, cellular manufacturing and quality assurance) that enable firms to enhance mass customization capability. When the sample is divided into firms with high versus low environmental uncertainty, the results show that these manufacturing practices tend

Linking Work Design to Mass Customization: A Sociotechnical Systems Perspective*

“…In the mass‐customization paradigm, companies produce products with great variety, high volumes, low cost, consistent quality, and fast delivery. Specific manufacturing techniques and practices are found to be effective in this production paradigm (Tu et al, 2001; Salvador, Forza, & Rungtusanatham, 2002; Tu, Vonderembse, & Ragu‐Nathan, 2004; Tu, Vondermebse, Ragu‐Nathan, & Ragu‐Nathan, 2004). In order to match the social aspects of the organization with these technical characteristics, the social system should also be designed in specific ways that are aligned with the technical system.…”

Overcoming the customization-responsiveness squeeze by using product configurators: Beyond anecdotal evidence

“…Similar to [65], we focused on a subset of the seven practices proposed by [55]. We excluded both shop-floor employee involvement in problem-solving and pull production because [55] found them to, respectively, be an antecedent and an outcome of the five practices considered in this study: namely, reengineering set-ups, cellular manufacturing, quality assurance, preventive maintenance, and dependable suppliers.…”

The pursuit of responsiveness in production environments: From flexibility to reconfigurability

“…TQ: process control, customer focus, feedback, supplier quality involvement. Tu et al (2004) JIT, TPM JIT: cellular/layout manufacturing, setup time reduction. TPM: predictive/preventive maintenance.…”