Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization

Mass Customization (MC) is not a mature business strategy and hence it is not clear that a single or small group of operational models are dominating. Companies tend to approach MC from either a mass production or a customization origin and this in itself gives reason to believe that several operat...

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Main Authors: Brabazon, Philip G., MacCarthy, Bart L.
Format: Book Section
Published: GITO-Verlag 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/690/
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author Brabazon, Philip G.
MacCarthy, Bart L.
author_facet Brabazon, Philip G.
MacCarthy, Bart L.
author_sort Brabazon, Philip G.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Mass Customization (MC) is not a mature business strategy and hence it is not clear that a single or small group of operational models are dominating. Companies tend to approach MC from either a mass production or a customization origin and this in itself gives reason to believe that several operational models will be observable. This paper reviews actual and theoretical fulfilment systems that enterprises could apply when offering a pre-engineered catalogue of customizable products and options. Issues considered are: How product flows are structured in relation to processes, inventories and decoupling point(s); - Characteristics of the OF process that inhibit or facilitate fulfilment; - The logic of how products are allocated to customers; - Customer factors that influence OF process design and operation. Diversity in the order fulfilment structures is expected and is found in the literature. The review has identified four structural forms that have been used in a Catalogue MC context: - fulfilment from stock; - fulfilment from a single fixed decoupling point; - fulfilment from one of several fixed decoupling points; - fulfilment from several locations, with floating decoupling points. From the review it is apparent that producers are being imaginative in coping with the demands of high variety, high volume, customization and short lead times. These demands have encouraged the relationship between product, process and customer to be re-examined. Not only has this strengthened interest in commonality and postponement, but, as is reported in the paper, has led to the re-engineering of the order fulfilment process to create models with multiple fixed decoupling points and the floating decoupling point system
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spelling nottingham-6902020-05-04T20:30:41Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/690/ Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization Brabazon, Philip G. MacCarthy, Bart L. Mass Customization (MC) is not a mature business strategy and hence it is not clear that a single or small group of operational models are dominating. Companies tend to approach MC from either a mass production or a customization origin and this in itself gives reason to believe that several operational models will be observable. This paper reviews actual and theoretical fulfilment systems that enterprises could apply when offering a pre-engineered catalogue of customizable products and options. Issues considered are: How product flows are structured in relation to processes, inventories and decoupling point(s); - Characteristics of the OF process that inhibit or facilitate fulfilment; - The logic of how products are allocated to customers; - Customer factors that influence OF process design and operation. Diversity in the order fulfilment structures is expected and is found in the literature. The review has identified four structural forms that have been used in a Catalogue MC context: - fulfilment from stock; - fulfilment from a single fixed decoupling point; - fulfilment from one of several fixed decoupling points; - fulfilment from several locations, with floating decoupling points. From the review it is apparent that producers are being imaginative in coping with the demands of high variety, high volume, customization and short lead times. These demands have encouraged the relationship between product, process and customer to be re-examined. Not only has this strengthened interest in commonality and postponement, but, as is reported in the paper, has led to the re-engineering of the order fulfilment process to create models with multiple fixed decoupling points and the floating decoupling point system GITO-Verlag 2005 Book Section NonPeerReviewed Brabazon, Philip G. and MacCarthy, Bart L. (2005) Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization. In: Proceedings of the International Mass Customization Meeting 2005 (IMCM '05). GITO-Verlag, pp. 61-74. ISBN 3-936771-46-4 Mass Customization business strategy mass production enterprise fulfilment systems
spellingShingle Mass Customization
business strategy
mass production
enterprise
fulfilment systems
Brabazon, Philip G.
MacCarthy, Bart L.
Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title_full Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title_fullStr Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title_full_unstemmed Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title_short Review of order fulfilment models for Catalogue Mass Customization
title_sort review of order fulfilment models for catalogue mass customization
topic Mass Customization
business strategy
mass production
enterprise
fulfilment systems
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/690/