Mass customization, in marketing, manufacturing, and management, is the use of flexible computer-aided manufacturing systems to produce custom output. These systems combine the low unit costs of mass production processes with the flexibility of individual customization.

Tseng and Jiao define mass customization as "producing goods and services to meet individual customer's needs with near mass production effiency" (Source: Tseng, M.M., Jiao, J. (2001): Mass Customization, in: Handbook of Industrial Engineering, Technology and Operation Management, 2001, 3rd. ed., p.685; ISBN: 0471330574)

Joseph Pine II in his book Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition descibed this paradigm at the beginng of the 90s. Pine suggested a business model that he called the 8-figure-path which describes the process from invention to mass production to contionous improvement to mass customization and back to invention.

Pine also describes four types of mass customization:

• Collaborative customization - firms talk to individual customers to determine the precise product offering that best serves the customer's needs (see personalized marketing and personal marketing orientation). This information is then used to specify and manufacture a product that suits that specific customer. For example, some clothing companies will manufacture blue jeans to fit an individual customer.
• Adaptive customization - firms produce a standardized product, but this product is customizable in the hands of the end-user (the customers alter the product themselves)
• Transparent customization - firms provide individual customers with unique products, without explicitly telling them that the products are customized. In this case there is a need to accurately assess customer needs.
• Cosmetic customization - firms produce a standardized physical product, but market it to different customers in unique ways.

Examples of mass customization

Today we can observe many implementation like software-based 'product configuraters' which make it possible to add and/or change functionalities of a core product (Example: http://www.landsend.com/ ). But not yet in every branche. If a enterprise's marketing department offers individual products (atomic market fragmentation) it doesn't mean that a product is produced individually because of it is rather a variety production. Example: If an automotive company talks about individual cars they imply individual assembling of a car but only at the last stage within the manufacturing process. That wouldn't include an individual wish of a special auto body. Auto body production is, firstly, a fully automated welding process, and secondly, one of the first processes in creation of value. A frequently change of an automated production process would include a frequenly set-up change within programming, tools and apparatuses. Try it, call a automotive company and ask them for a personalized auto body, and tell them you would only pay an economy price!

WWW-Sources

• http://www.mcpc2005.com/ 3rd interdisciplinary World Congress on Mass Customization & Personalization, in Hongkong, 2005
• http://www.mcpc2003.com/ 2nd interdisciplinary World Congress on Mass Customization & Personalization, in Munich, 2003
• http://ami.ust.hk/mc01/ 1st interdisciplinary World Congress on Mass Customization & Personalization, in Hongkong, 2001
• http://www.customization.com/mass.html Strategic Horizons LLP, Joseph Pine II
• http://ami.ust.hk Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI), Mitchell M. Tseng
• http://www.mass-customization.de/index_english.htm TUM Research Center Mass Customization & Customer Integration, by Frank T. Piller
• http://www.mass-customization.pl Central Europe Mass Customization Research Center, by Maciej Piotrowski and Robert Freund
• http://www.sfb582.de/en/index_e.html Collaborative Research Center SFB582: Production of Individualised Products Close to the Market, The German Federal Research Association and Technical University of Munich
• http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/mjiao
• http://www.mcrcnottingham.org Mass Customization Research & Resource Centre, Nottingham University, UK
• http://www.madeforone.com/ News about enterprises using mass customization and personalization