Mass customization – at a profit

Abstract

Reports on Management Round table′s conference on “Mass customization – at a profit: any variety, any time, anywhere”, which attempted to explain the implications of mass customization and how companies are utilizing it to satisfy customers. Provides a summary of the methods, ideas and conclusions from the conference, giving ideas from Joseph Pine and Stan Davis on responding to the customer; outlines a report from IBM′s senior director of product design, explaining how IBM used creative imagination in engineering to customize PCs for its consumers. Concludes that mass customization will define leading organizations in the next century, along with rapid turnover from customer specification to actual product.