Transforming from mass production tp MC

Mass Customization, Market Requirements, Cost of Variety, Cost Benefits, Change Management- Although the principles of agile manufacturing & mass customization are widely known, the actual, full implementation of these principles has only taken place in a few rare cases. Even some of well regarded MC pioneers often only provide “false” mass customization. This means, their MC businesses are mainly set up for marketing/research purposes and not to make profits. They actually loose money which is subsidized by their sales out of the “traditional” operating system. This situation leads to a few key questions: • Are the core principles and necessary changes of the operating system (R&D & Manufacturing with SC) really understood and correctly implemented ? • What types of products / businesses are suitable for Mass Customization ? • What is a reasonable / necessary target level of adapting MC principles to gain competitive advantage ? • What are the key inhibitors adapting Mass Customization principles ? • How to motivate an organization to start the journey transforming from traditional (manufacturing) operations to mass customization ? In this paper (knowledge presentation), we describe the core operating (production) system design principles that need to be implemented in order to ensure efficient manufacturing of “customized” goods at high efficiency. Being able to fulfill specific customer needs without the need for tradeoffs in cost and quality with acceptable lead time is key to success. The principles have been derived from client case studies and consulting projects implementing agile/lean production systems. A recent client case study will be used to visualize the concepts. Keywords: Operational System Design, Lean Manufacturing, Diagnostic, Mass Customization