Mass customization and mass personalization meet at the crossroads of Industry 4.0: A case of augmented digital engineering

Abstract

After mass production and then mass customization, the time is almost ripe for mass personalization. The goal is to offer unique products designed for the needs of each customer. However, production in larger series of products also has its advantages, and the promise of “lot size one” is still far from being the norm in several sectors of the economy. As a result of an action research project in a small household ceramic producer, this paper explores the potential of a hybrid strategy. Augmented digital engineering is adopted to (1) ensure customer participation along the entire product design lifecycle, (2) maintain the benefits of modularization and low cost, (3) minimize the waste of time and materials during product design, and (4) seek a minimum trade‐off between customer desires and engineering strategy. For theory, our work describes Industry 4.0 technology's role in achieving individual customer interaction and value co‐creation in hybrid strategies of mass customization and mass personalization. For practice, we present an example of technological architecture to implement augmented digital engineering in Industry 4.0, accessible to scenarios of hand‐intensive work and creative design processes.

Institutionalization and framing of Industry 4.0: a framework for understanding stakeholders and comparing countries

“…The most frequent order of worth was the industrial one (48% Spain and 56% Sweden), which, based on the expressions provided by the reports, encompasses concepts of efficiency, productivity, cost reduction, shorter lead times and performance optimization (Asif et al , 2022; Szász et al , 2021; Yüksel, 2020). In second position is market framing (17% Spain and 18% Sweden) which focuses on issues of competitiveness (Kumar and Bhatia, 2021), customer satisfaction (Barata et al , 2023), new business opportunities (Weking et al , 2020) and new sources of income for the company (Bai et al , 2022). Following these come the project/connectionist frame associated with remote operations, enhancement of internal and external collaboration and connectivity (Castro-Martin et al , 2021; Taleb et al , 2019) – connected factories, connecting people and things and connecting products and services (Dolgui and Ivanov, 2022; Horváth and Szabó, 2019).…”

“…Its core ethos revolved around optimizing processes and performance-related concerns, promoting a technological ecosystem to bolster manufacturing excellence (Ojha, 2023). Closely linked to the industrial perspective is the market-oriented view, which accentuates profit generation (Bai et al , 2022), competitive advantages (Kumar and Bhatia, 2021) and responsiveness to customer needs and expectations (Barata et al , 2023). This perspective evolved to encompass the development of novel business models that transcend traditional paradigms (Weking et al , 2020).…”

Digital Engineering Methods in Practical Use during Mechatronic Design Processes

“…Here, companies try to make products as individual as possible and customise it to the individual customer needs. A first approach of combining Industry 4.0 methods with mass customization is available, using augmented reality to visualise those customizations [139]. Digital Engineering may open up the opportunity of generating those customised products automatically based on Machine Learning or generative design.…”

Research on the influence of digitalization on competitive advantage of manufacturing enterprises

“…Secondly, by leveraging digital technology, enterprises can develop customized products and services to cater to customers' differentiated needs and desires (Aheleroff et al, 2020). Given individual demand variances, mass production of personalized products is challenging, necessitating enterprises to acquire more information and invest more human and material resources to better serve customers' differentiated needs (Barata et al, 2023). In a digital environment, enterprises can obtain ample useful information (Yang, Fu, & Zhang, 2021).…”