Sustainable development strategies for product provision and manufacturing approaches

Manufacturing firms are under many pressures both financially and competitive which focus attention on the performance of their manufacturing processes. In this paper the opportunities for improving the environmental impact of products within the constraints of existing manufacturing infrastructure are examined. Approaches which support sustainability in two aspects are proposed, firstly, the provision of products to the users in ways which extend the product life and secondly, manufacturing approaches which reduce resource usage. The provision and manufacture of products in ways that are truly sustainable are inhibited by three issues: firstly, decisions are predominantly made solely from the perspective of the “vendor” (and do not consider the wider perspective); secondly, that generally the scope of business planning is still rooted in production/manufacturing costs (and not consumption costs) and thirdly, the current performance measures (e.g. KPIs) mainly focus on profitability. The rationale for this conference paper is the argument that there is a need to raise the awareness during the earliest stages of business planning that there may be alternative approaches which are more sustainable. The concepts presented here will underpin further research into performance measures which encompass sustainability and resulting business planning implications

Cloud-based manufacturing-as-a-service environment for customized products

This paper describes the paradigm of cloud-based services which are used to envisage a new generation of configurable manufacturing systems. Unlike previous approaches to mass customization (that simply reprogram individual machines to produce specific shapes) the system reported here is intended to enable the customized production of technologically complex products by dynamically configuring a manufacturing supply chain. In order to realize such a system, the resources (i.e. production capabilities) have to be designed to support collaboration throughout the whole production network, including their adaption to customer-specific production. The flexible service composition as well as the appropriate IT services required for its realization show many analogies with common cloud computing approaches. For this reason, this paper describes the motivation and challenges that are related to cloud-based manufacturing and illustrates emerging technologies supporting this vision byestablishing an appropriate Manufacturing-as-a-Service environment based on manufacturing service descriptions

A Framework for Understanding the Interdependencies between Mass Customization and Complexity

Mass customization is a business strategy that aims at satisfying individual customer needs, nearly with mass production efficiency. It induces a high complexity level because of various customer requirements and a steadily changing environment. However, mass customization has some potential to reduce complexity. The interdependencies between mass customization and complexity are discussed in order to demonstrate that mass customization is not just an oxymoron linking two opposite production concepts, but a business strategy that contributes towards reaching a competitive advantage. On the one hand, mass customization increases the production program, manufacturing and configuration complexities. On the other hand, it contributes to reduce complexity at the levels of order taking process, product and inventories. The main results attained through the analysis are integrated in a comprehensive framework that shows the complexity increasing and complexity decreasing aspects due to mass customization.Mass Customization; Complexity Management; Product Variety

Modular product development for mass customization

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Mass Customization vs. Complexity: A Gordian Knot?

Mass customization is a business strategy that aims at satisfying individual customer needs, nearly with mass production efficiency. It induces a high complexity level because of various customer requirements and a steadily changing environment. However, mass customization has some potential to reduce complexity. These interdependencies between mass customization and complexity form a Gordian knot that should be cut in order to point out that mass customization is not just an oxymoron linking two opposite production concepts, but a business strategy that contributes towards reaching a competitive advantage. On the one hand, mass customization increases the production program, manufacturing and configuration complexities. On the other hand, mass customization can contribute to reduce complexity at the levels of order taking process, product and inventories. The main results attained through the analysis are integrated in a comprehensive framework that shows the complexity increasing and complexity decreasing aspects due to mass customization.complexity; mass customization

Adopting Product Modularity in House Building to Support Mass Customisation

Product modularity is a concept that can contribute to the improvement of product quality and production efficiency in house-building. However, there is a lack of consensus in the literature on the concepts that define product modularity. Furthermore, little attention has been given to the differences between building construction and manufacturing, for which product modularity was originally developed. This research aims to address that gap by adapting the conceptualization of product modularity so that it can effectively be used in the house-building industry. The methodological approach adopted in this study was Design Science Research, and two empirical studies were carried out on construction companies based in Brazil and in the U.K. Those studies are used to illustrate the applicability and utility of the proposed concepts and tools. Research findings indicate that the adoption of product modularity concepts results in benefits to both traditional construction technologies and prefabricated building systems