Technology for Mass Customization and Personalization

This Technology page provides news on systems that enable enterprises to apply mass customization and product personalization.

The most fundamental technology for mass customisation is a product configuration system, or configurator. This is a software application, usually web-based, that enables customers to specify their exact requirements for a product, and then place a completed order. Many of the technology news items in MadeForOne.com refer to announcements from software companies about new or improved product configuration systems.

Completed orders are generally passed from the product configurator to Flexible Manufacturing Systems. These are manufacturing systems that can be easily and quickly adjusted to manufacture or assemble each product to a unique specification. The most essential requirement is that the time required for setup (the adjustment of machines between production of items) is as close as possible to zero. The most efficient systems will integrate directly with the product configurator, and adjust themselves based on the measurements or specification of an individual order.

If you have questions or comments about technologies used in mass customization, please visit the Technology page on the MadeForOne.com Forum.

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Mass customization by MyTego.com

A company called MyTego.com, based in Winnipeg, Canada provides an interesting example of a company using the mass customization business model. The company provides custom-made vinyl ’skins’ (self-adhesive covers) for personal electronic devices. Customers can create a Tego skin using images from the extensive online MyTEGO catalog, or they can upload pictures from their computer or [...]

Developments in 3D printing hardware

Continuing on from my previous post on the Mcor Matrix 3D printer that uses paper as its raw material, I hope to provide here a review of other recent developments relating to 3D printing hardware. Not all of these are immediately relevant to the idea of consumers printing objects in their own home, but do [...]

MCor Matrix - Paper goes 3D

Over the last few months, I’ve noticed that 3D printing technology, and the businesses that are based on it, are receiving a much higher level of attention in the mainstream business and technology media. Coupled with this is a noticeable expansion in the number of companies that are engaged in the provision of services to [...]

Spreadshirt closes €10m in financing

Online custom clothing company Spreadshirt, recently announced an investment of €10 million by Kennet Partners, a leading private equity firm, and existing investor Accel Partners. Spreadshirt allows customers to personalized goods to purchase for themselves, with a minimum order of one. In addition, Spreadshirt extends this capability to partners, large and small, who want to offer [...]

More links for 25 February

1. If you’re a parent of a young baby or toddler, this press release might be of interest to you: A company called MyPacifier will sell you a child’s pacifier with the name of the child on it - probably most useful if your child is in a creche or playschool. The press release tells [...]

Links for 25 February

1. Jeff Howe, author of the Crowdsourcing book, has written an interesting and comprehensive blog post about the possible future online business models that might be adopted by the print media. 2. RPI, a provider of automated, mass-customized manufacturing and fulfillment for the [...]

Contrasting uses of open strategies in the music industry - EMI and Minimum Noise

The music industry has faced considerable strategic challenges in recent years, not least the trend towards reduced revenues caused by file sharing, but also the shift in market power from labels towards online aggregators such as Apple iTunes. Another side-effect of the world wide web on the music industry has been the trend towards dis-intermediation, [...]

Customization links for 19 January

An article in LimaOhio.com includes information on American Trim, a company from Lima, Ohio in the U.S. that is held up by the local Mayor as an example of a enterprise that has successfully pursued a mass customization strategy. American Trim manufactures parts for appliances and heavy trucks. ___________________________________________ In FXStreet.com, John Mauldin wrote a [...]

Categories of crowdsourcing and more on whether contributors should be paid

Since the crowdsourcing phenomenon was first documented during 2006, in a Wired magazine article by Jeff Howe, followed by his book of that name in 2007, the business and technology world has continued to adopt the concept, with varying models and methods. In some cases, the crowdsourcing model used involved a reward of some kind for [...]

Customization Links for 17 January

Following on from the previous post on personalized medicine, a less serious application of genetics: DNA art, as reported in the Pittsburg Live website. DNA 11, an Ottawa, Canada-based company, takes people’s DNA, obtained by a simple cotton swab wiped inside a cheek, and turns the genetic information into a glass-framed, 8-by-10-inch visual [...]

State of personalized medicine in 2009

I have found some interesting articles on personalized medicine around the web in recent weeks which, when taken collectively, provide a useful examination of current developments in this area. An article in the Vancouver Sun, ‘One-size-fits-all no more‘ provides an interesting overview on the topic of personalized medicine, explaining the topic everyday language, and decoding some [...]

Dorling Kindersley Travel launch customized travel guides

The Inventorspot website has a news item on the new customized travel guides being produced by Dorling Kindersley (DK) Travel. They are similar in concept to Offbeat Guides, which were covered on this site recently. The Inventorspot article considers the DK Travel customized travel guide to be a superior offering to the Offbeat Guide, although it should [...]

Cincom enters blogging world to engage with customers

Cincom, which provides software solutions for configuration of complex products (often called product configurators), has started two separate blogs to engage with its customer base. The first of these blogs is called Complex Selling Made Effective, with articles written by contributors from Cincom, principally Louis Columbus and Dale Wolf of Cincom Manufacturing Business Solutions. While [...]

Local Motors joins trend for crowdsourcing car design

Could 2009 be the year that crowdsourcing takes root in the area of car design? My last 2008 post here described how Caterham, a specialist British sports car maker, is crowdsourcing the design of its next car. In late December, an article in the Boston-based XConomy website described how Local Motors, a startup company in [...]

Caterham to crowdsource design of its next car

Caterham, the specialist British sports car manufacturer, has launched a crowdsourcing initiative for the design of its next model, in association with PerformancePR, an automotive public relations company. The project, named Splitwheel, which is described as “a revolutionary online project to design and build a new performance car based on the collective decision-making of its [...]

To view product configuration technology news from earlier in 2005, click here.

See all 2004 MadeForOne.com Technology articles here.