From engineer‐to‐order to mass customization

Purpose – Most mass customization literature focuses on the move from mass production to mass customization. However, in some literature engineer‐to‐order (ETO) companies are also claiming to have become mass customizers, although it can be questioned if these companies conform to popular definitions of mass customizers. The purpose of this paper is to ask the question: under which conditions is it reasonable to label ETO companies as mass customizers?Design/methodology/approach – First, definitions of mass customization are examined and related to ETO companies that move towards mass customization. Second, the individual transitions from mass production and ETO to mass customization are analyzed by: relating the transition to classifications from relevant literature; describing the motivations and risks associated with the transition; and defining some of the most important transition characteristics. Finally it is discussed if ETO companies can become mass customizers and under which conditions it would...

[1]  Kaj Asbjørn Jørgensen,et al.  Product Modelling for Mass Customisation in Global ETO Companies , 2005 .

[2]  B. J. Pine,et al.  Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever , 2010 .

[3]  F. Piller,et al.  - 1-PRODUCT CONFIGURATION FROM THE CUSTOMER ’ S PERSPECTIVE : A COMPARISON OF CONFIGURATION SYSTEMS IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY , 2004 .

[4]  Lars Hvam,et al.  Specification process reengineering: concepts and experiences from Danish industry , 2003 .

[5]  Paul H. Zipkin,et al.  The Limits of Mass Customization , 2001 .

[6]  Gilmore Jh,et al.  The four faces of mass customization. , 1997 .

[7]  William L. Berry,et al.  Approaches to mass customization: configurations and empirical validation , 2000 .

[8]  Giovani J.C. da Silveira,et al.  Mass customization: Literature review and research directions , 2001 .

[9]  Jayashankar M. Swaminathan,et al.  MASS CUSTOMIZATION , 2010 .

[10]  Kathrin M. Möslein,et al.  Overcoming Mass Confusion: Collaborative Customer Co-Design in Online Communities , 2005, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[11]  S. Davis.  Future Perfect , 1987 .

[12]  Joakim Wikner,et al.  Mass customization in terms of the customer order decoupling point , 2004 .

[13]  S. Kotha.  Mass Customization: The New Frontier in Business Competition , 1992 .

[14]  Kenn Steger-Jensen,et al.  Issues of mass customisation and supporting IT-solutions , 2004, Comput. Ind..

[15]  Daniel Sabin,et al.  Product Configuration Frameworks - A Survey , 1998, IEEE Intell. Syst..

[16]  Rebecca Duray.  Mass customization origins: mass or custom manufacturing? , 2002 .

[17]  Lars Hvam,et al.  A multi-perspective approach for the design of product configuration systems , 2004 .

[18]  C. Hart.  Mass customization: conceptual underpinnings, opportunities and limits , 1995 .

[19]  Jan Olhager,et al.  Strategic positioning of the order penetration point , 2003 .

[20]  Frank T. Piller,et al.  Mass Customization: Reflections on the State of the Concept , 2004 .

[21]  Lars Hvam.  Mass customisation of process plants , 2006 .

[22]  Frank T. Piller,et al.  Transforming mass customisation from a marketing instrument to a sustainable business model at Adidas , 2006 .