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

Abstract

Abstract 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. Keywords: mass customizationstrategyproduct designprocess designsystem designcase studies Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the professionals in the Swedish mobile telephone industry for their cooperation and willingness to be interviewed. The financial support of PROPER, the Swedish Programme for Production Engineering Education and Research, is also acknowledged. MICA COMSTOCK is a PhD candidate at the Division of Production Systems, Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Linköping Institute of Technology in Sweden. He holds a Licentiate of Engineering in Assembly Technology from Linköping University and an MBA in Management Information Systems from the University of New Mexico, USA. Professionally, he has worked in diverse areas ranging from database management to the space industry. His research interests include the manufacturing strategies of lean manufacturing and mass customization, and how such strategies can be realized through the application of various technological, methodological and conceptual enablers. KERSTIN JOHANSEN holds a Licentiate of Engineering in Assembly Technology from Linköping University and a Master of Science in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University, Sweden. She is a PhD candidate at the Division of Production Systems at the Linköping Institute of Technology. Her manufacturing, management and design experience of nearly 10 years in the Swedish electronic industry supports her research interests in product realization within extended enterprises. MATS WINROTH holds a PhD in Assembly Technology from the Linköping University and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. For the past five years, he has served as instructor and researcher at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University, Sweden. Published in journals such as Computers in Industry and the CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Systems, his research interests include manufacturing strategies, especially in collaborative company networks.