Mass Personalization with Industry 4.0 by SMEs: a concept for collaborative networks

Abstract

Industry 4.0 (I4.0) increases flexibility of production processes to fabricate products with a level of customization that resembles the era of crafts manufacturing. Despite global competition, personalization is a differentiation strategy applied by manufacturers to remain distinctive. By incorporating personalized products next to their core products, Small-, and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) can respond to the demand for personalized products where individualization adds value. Yet, personalization comes along with high variation due to small series, or even individually unique products. To cope with this variation, SMEs need cost-effective, intuitive solutions to benefit from I4.0 involving minimal efforts. This study presents a concept increasing the capacities of SMEs to capitalize on mass personalization via a collaborative network.