Mass Customisation

The Implications

Mass promotion will first highlight the concept and general benefits.
It then needs to highlight individual possibilities and unique benefits.
To provide concrete examples and to assist newcomers to the process, it is useful to create starter products which can be adapted.

To help customers one should develop easy to use design systems possibly incorporating computer based training, expert systems and simulation.
Customer needs will be better met where products and services can be personalised and customised easily.
Your marketing department needs to take a component based approach and create identifiable basic building blocks. These will need to be priced individually along with any overall discounts.
Business Rules will define the possible combinations and limits. Such rules will usually be held in a rules repository, along with the other business that define policies, processes, etc..
Design needs to include real-time cost calculations and credit or payment approval. Design then needs to be integrated with production, billing and servicing.
Processes and IT systems will need to support this Lego™ like approach, not only in product development, but through marketing, sales, production and servicing.

The channel renumeration basis may well need changing.
Agents, distributors and sales staff will need training in both the technology and in the sales approach. In particular there is the paradigm shift from pushing existing products or services to that of elucidating needs and then designing a tailored product or service.

Production systems needs to assemble the basic blocks according to the rules.
The supply system will need to changed. The process becomes either "design one", "build one", "order many component" or "design one", "order many component", "build one" if the suppliers can deliver within an acceptable time frame - acceptable to the final customer that is!
Likewise, the delivery system will need to change. Rather than deliver numerous identical items when the wholesaler or retailer orders, the delivery system will deliver 1 particular item, perhaps direct to the customer. This is less of an issue where the product is an intangible service product that can be delivered by post or electronically.

Profiles of individual customer's products need to be available to support staff throughout the life of the customer. This is in addition to profiles of the individual customers which may well be needed to give the complete customer picture. This is especially so where the servicing may involved the offering and sale of further components. In effect customer service is marketing.
Alternatively, with some products, the product specification can be embedded within the product, for example, on a micro-chip. This could be used in conjunction with any diagnostic software.

Activities need to be linked together dynamically according to the product and customer profiles.
The links need to be seamless to the customer, and they must not introduce any inefficiencies or errors.

Feedback during the any part of the design or service cycles needs to be encouraged and captured. This could be by overtly asking for feedback or by monitoring customer interactions and by analysing the unique product they have designed.
Such data needs to be analysed, communicated, and acted on in a timely fashion. For example, by feeding back into the marketing promotion or into the design of further components.
Information provided by customers must be used sensitively and be kept secure.

There needs to be a supportive Vision:
- One based on being quick and responsive, exploiting opportunities in a turbulent marketplace and chaotic world (after Pine).
- Five "A's": any volume; anytime; anybody; anywhere; and anything (after Nissan).
All staff and distributors will be need to be well trained and motivated to meet individual needs. The management style and organisational culture may well need changing.
Organisational and functional boundaries must not inhibit the processes.

Staff need to be supported with good IT. It should be possible to interact and "hand-hold" customers during the design stage. Servicing staff need timely access to the unique customer and product profiles.
A shared customer information system, data mining tools, interactive technologies, flexible component based systems, object technology systems, and rules based systems are key.

Now Back to the Overview
or see the other related topics below.

To Follow: Examples - see FLW slides - separate page?