From mass production to mass customization: enabling perspectives from the Swedish mobile telephone industry

Much has been written about the conceptual nature of mass customization, and the success of several best business practitioners in the area have been well documented. Most companies, however, are not textbook examples of best practice, but rather are making incremental progress towards mass customization based on a mass-production heritage. This paper presents the findings of a case study that investigated a mass customization initiative at a leading mobile telephone manufacturer in Sweden. The primary objective of the study was to determine the implications of a radically new manufacturing initiative for the company – the production of a customized, entry-level mobile telephone. The differences between the traditional scenario of the mass production of standardized products at the company and that of the new customized production were also sought. The findings of the study, which are presented using the product, process and system perspectives, are aided by a number of customization-related frameworks from the literature. The discussion includes the impact of moving the customization order point downstream in the value chain in terms of increased efficiency and reduced lead times, the reduced requirement for manufacturing flexibility with shifting production system boundaries, and the company's status as a mass customizer.