Mass customization: Literature review and research directions

Mass customization relates to the ability to provide individually designed products and services to every customer through high process flexibility an d integration. Mass customization has been identified as a competitive stra tegy by an increasing number of companies. This paper surveys the literatur e on mass customization. Enablers to mass customization and their impact on the development of production systems are discussed in length. Approaches to implementing mass customization are compiled and classified. Future rese arch directions are outlined. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.