Question

As we had discussed during the course, according to conventional theory, all viable manufacturing and service processes would lie on the diagonal line of the Product-Process Matrix and Service- Process Matrix.
Of particular interest to professionals in operations is the concept of Mass Customization which combines high volume with high variety. Dell did experiment with mass customization; however, their endeavors were not as successful as they had expected.

Answer the following questions relating to mass customization.
a) Why is it so difficult to achieve mass customization? What are the key success factors for
mass customization to be truly be effective?
b) Several firms have claimed varying degrees of success in implementing mass customization.HP and Nike are two examples that come to mind. Take one example (other than from the paint manufacturing industry) of a firm that attempted or claimed to adopt mass customization as a strategy. Describe briefly how they designed their process and how successful they were.
What went well and what did not? Are they really offering mass customization to their target
markets?

Answer 1

Answer -

a)mass customization to work the customer requirements needs to be similar. It is often difficult to achieve success with mass customization startegy as customer's prefer personalized items and services in the competitive world today and catering their varying needs with a single customized product is difficult.

b) A good example of mass customization is Levi's jeans which are customized to suit the generic consumer wearable preferences. The superior quality of their material helped in consumers adoption and preferences towards their products. However, people prefering designer jeans specially customized as per their needs didn't favor Levi's mass customized products.