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.