Abstract
The business philosophy of Mass Customisation (MC) implies rapid response to customer requests, high efficiency and limited cost overheads of customisation. Furthermore, it also implies the quality benefits of the mass production paradigm are guaranteed. However, traditional quality science in manufacturing is premised on volume production of uniform products rather than of differentiated products associated with MC. This creates quality challenges and raises questions over the suitability of standard quality engineering techniques. From an analysis of relevant MC and quality literature it is argued the aims of MC are aligned with contemporary thinking on quality and that quality concepts provide insights into MC. Quality issues are considered along three dimensions - product development, order fulfilment and customer interaction. The applicability and effectiveness of conventional quality engineering techniques are discussed and a framework is presented which identifies key issues with respect to quality for a spectrum of MC strategies.
Highlights
Mass customisation (MC) is an emerging business philosophy and manufacturing strategy
This paper considers MC from a quality perspective and discusses the suitability of existing quality methods and tools for supporting it
It is argued that MC is a natural consequence of quality ideals since its goal is to provide all customers with the product they want
Summary
Mass customisation (MC) is an emerging business philosophy and manufacturing strategy. It attempts to combine the provision of customized products and services on a mass scale with operational performance akin to mass production systems. This implies rapid response to customer requests whilst maintaining high levels of efficiency and productivity with limited cost overheads due to customisation (Tseng and Jiao, 1998). The significant quality benefits that are associated with the mass production paradigm must be guaranteed in an MC environment. The traditional science of quality deployed in mass production environments is premised on volume production of relatively uniform product specifications. The processes and technologies to support quality management in MC are immature and quality management frameworks and techniques with respect to MC have received very limited consideration in the research literature
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