Evolving Paradigms of Manufacturing: From Mass Production to Mass Customization and Personalization

Abstract

This paper reviews the development of the paradigms of manufacturing, including mass production, mass customization and the emerging paradigm of personalization. In each paradigm, we discuss the contributions of scientific principles, manufacturing technologies and systems operations and how they are integrated together to achieve quality, productivity and responsiveness in manufacturing. We also compare the roles of the consumer in each paradigm.