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Mass Customization Challenges of Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing

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Book cover Managing Complexity

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics ((SPBE))

Abstract

Companies in engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing environments that seek efficiency gains through adopting a mass customization strategy meet major challenges. Current research on the implementation of mass customization (MC) in companies traditionally has a strong focus on the transition from mass production, and few studies only involve settings characterized by high variety and low volume production. The purpose of this study is to bring further detail to major areas of concern when adopting mass customization principles in ETO manufacturing. A literature review of mass customization and ETO was carried out, and principles for mass customization implementation were tested in a case company. The study revealed that major issues of MC in ETO are interdependent across several decision areas and involve manufacturing as well as engineering and design phases. This paper provides more in-depth insights to practical consequences of implementing MC in ETO manufacturing.

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Acknowledgements

This research has been supported by the Research Council of Norway. We are grateful for the contribution from the case company representatives involved in this research. We would also like to thank the reviewers for their valuable feedback on an earlier manuscript version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SINTEF Technology and Society, Industrial Management, Trondheim, Norway

    Maria K. Thomassen

  2. Department of Production and Quality Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

    Erlend Alfnes

Authors
  1. Maria K. Thomassen
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  2. Erlend Alfnes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria K. Thomassen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Jocelyn Bellemare

  2. Department of Management & Technology, University of Quebec at Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Serge Carrier

  3. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark

    Kjeld Nielsen

  4. Technology and Innovation Management, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany

    Frank T. Piller

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Thomassen, M.K., Alfnes, E. (2017). Mass Customization Challenges of Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing. In: Bellemare, J., Carrier, S., Nielsen, K., Piller, F.T. (eds) Managing Complexity. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29058-4_3

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