How to Implement a Mass Customization Strategy: Guidelines for Manufacturing Companies

Skjelstad, Lars; Alfnes, Erlend

doi:10.1142/9789814280280_0003

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…There are also case studies testifying to the beneficial effects of analysing and moving CODPs in manufacturing operations. 8 Thus, over the past two decades, the CODP has been used with success as a tool for improvement and strategic alignment in both theory and practice.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most common positions of the CODP are frequently referred to as make-to-stock (MTS), assemble-to-order (ATO), make-to-order (MTO), and engineer-to-order (ETO), with MTS being the most downstream position and ETO the most upstream position in the value chain. 7 Many high-volume manufacturing companies have made considerable gains by strategically positioning the CODP (see, for example, Alfnes and Skjelstad 8 ). It has enabled them to define and implement manufacturing and supply chain strategies that match the characteristics of their products and markets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategies for customized shipbuilding with different customer order decoupling points

Semini

Haartveit

Alfnes

et al. 2014

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part M:

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The ship design and construction industry serves a considerable range of market segments, with different levels of required customization, different demand volumes, and other product and market variations. In order to effectively respond to various market requirements, strategies and related work processes need to be differentiated. An important strategic concept to make distinctions among strategies is the customer order decoupling point, that is, the point in the value chain where the product is linked to a specific customer order. This article aims to analyse and compare strategies for customized, low-volume ship design and construction from the perspective of the customer order decoupling point and to link them to product and market characteristics. It is based on a case study at the Ulstein Group, an established Norwegian ship designer and builder. The study allowed us to define 'customized design' and 'standardized design' as two different strategies that fundamentally differ in terms of the customer order decoupling point. In the former, customized ships are offered in a process where most activities are driven by the expectations and requirements of a particular customer. In the latter, the customer is given only a limited choice of predefined, standardized, and well-proved options. We conclude that customer order decoupling point positions upstream in the value chain imply high levels of flexibility and customization, while downstream positions allow short lead times, high delivery precision, and lower prices. The customer order decoupling point perspective provides a useful framework in which to analyse the ship design and construction industry. KeywordsShip design and construction processes, customer order decoupling point, operations strategy, market interaction strategy, low-volume customized manufacturing Date

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%