Thomas Ditlev Brunø

Sustainability Evaluation of Mass Customization

This paper addresses the issue whether the concepts mass customization and sustainability are fundamentally compatible by asking the question: can a mass customized product be sustainable? Some factors indicate that mass customized products are less sustainable than standardized products; however other factors suggest the opposite. This paper explores these factors during three life cycle phases for a product: Production, Use and End of Life. It is concluded that there is not an unambiguous causal relationship between mass customization and sustainability; however several factors unique to mass customized products are essential to consider during product development.

Assessment of Process Robustness for Mass Customization

In mass customization, the capability Robust Process Design defined as the ability to reuse or recombine existing organizational and value-chain resources is essential to deliver a high variety cost effectively. We argue that there is a need for methods which can assess a company’s process robustness and their capability to develop it. Through literature study and analysis of robust process design characteristics a number of metrics are described which can be used for assessment. The metrics are evaluated and analyzed to be applied as KPI’s to help MC companies prioritize efforts in business improvement.

Closed Loop Supply Chains for Sustainable Mass Customization

Closed loop supply chains reducing waste, energy consumption and natural resource depletion which all contribute to more sustainable production and products. For mass customization however, the challenges of closed loop supply chains are emphasized by the large variety of inbound end-of-life products from customers which complicates handling and forecasting. This paper analyses these challenges in the specific context mass customization using theoretical considerations and three case studies.

Product family modelling for manufacturing planning

To enable product configuration of a product family, it is important to develop a model of the selected product family. From such model, a product configurator, in which customers can specify individual products from the family, can be developed. To further utilise the product family model for planning and executing production, the model should be enriched with additional data. The idea is that, when any individual product is specified using the product configurator, a product model can be extracted with all data, necessary for manufacturing planning. In this paper, issues of creating manufacturing structures and related planning data in product family models are presented. Primarily, the more complicated multi-level manufacturing structures are considered and it is argued that the models need to specify other structures for manufacturing compared with the product structure resulting from configuration. Furthermore, the addition of attributes for planning data is addressed.

Planning Nervousness in Product Segmentation: Literature Review and Research Agenda

Differentiated planning is one of the means for today’s companies to accommodate the increasing needs for product variety, delivery responsiveness, and cost-efficiency. Even though, product segmentation is the foundation for such planning, planning nervousness has not yet been addressed from this perspective. This paper seeks to establish a relation between planning nervousness and segmentation by analyzing the current body of literature with the objective of identifying overlaps between the two areas. The literature characteristics are assessed and directions for future research are provided.

An Engineer-To-Order Mass Customization Development Framework

Developers of automated manufacturing systems are often categorised as Engineer-To-Order companies, relying on the ability to offer solutions that are tailored to the individual consumer. Managing product variety and enabling reusability between solutions becomes key concepts towards increasing competitiveness and revenue, in which Engineer-To-Order companies may benefit from adopting Mass Customization concepts. As automated manufacturing systems tends to be software intensive, it become equally important to enable reusability for physical components and for software related artefacts. In parallel to Mass Customization, Software Product Line Engineering has emerged as a way for software developers to manage variability and reusability. This paper seeks to combine the concepts of Mass Customization and Software Product Line Engineering, by introducing a development framework applicable for Engineer-To-Order companies offering automated manufacturing systems.

From EcoDesign to Industrial Metabolism: Redefinition of Sustainable Innovation and Competitive Sustainability

Successful enterprises are distinguished by their sustainable development reliant on their ability to learn and develop innovative solutions. Recyclability (material and product design) and recycling (process design) emerge as new paradigm for sustainable competitiveness.

Evaluating the investment feasibility and industrial implementation of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing concepts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a decisions support tool that can be applied in initial stages of design, for evaluating the investment feasibility of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing design concepts, based on future demand predictions and their uncertainties. A quantitative model is proposed, which evaluates the discounted value of capital and operating costs of changeable manufacturing design concepts, based on essential characteristics regarding their type and extent of changeability. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative empirical modeling is applied, where model conceptualization, validation, and implementation are central elements, using two Danish manufacturing companies as cases. Findings The applicability of the model is demonstrated in the two case companies, highlighting differences in type, extent, and level of feasible changeability, as a result of differences in product and production characteristics. Research limitations/implications Further studies of changeability implementation should be conducted across industrial fields in order to generalize findings. Practical implications There is currently limited support for the conceptual design phase of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing, where critical decisions regarding type, extent, and level of changeability must be made, regardless of high degrees of uncertainty about future demand scenarios. Originality/value This paper expands previous research on design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering changeability as a capability that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different industrial contexts. The proposed model and the case implementations provide important knowledge on the transition toward changeability in industry.

Analyzing Factors Affecting Time, Cost, and Quality between Diverse Public Construction Agencies

Construction projects’ overrun of deadline and budget with reduced quality of the end-product is a challenge which academics, politicians, and construction parties have become more aware of. The objective of this research is to review if factors affect public construction projects’ time, cost and quality significantly different between different public construction agencies. The study was initiated by literature review and expert interviews, which lead to identification of 26 factors. A questionnaire was afterwards sent to the full Danish population of publicly employed project managers. The principal findings demonstrate that factors affecting time, cost and quality to a large extent do not differ significantly between the studied organizations. However, a significant difference between factors impact at time, cost and quality was established in the following post-hoc analysis. The conclusion is thus consequently, that the identified factors largely affect non-significantly different between organizations.

Planning Nervousness in Product Segmentation: Empirical Analysis of Decision Parameters

Previous research presents a theoretical relation between planning nervousness and product segmentation and indicates that the concept should be subject to further research. This paper seeks to empirically confirm this relation, by developing hypotheses and testing these on a specific case. Three hypotheses related to historical planning data, planning frequency, and demand variability are developed and tested using data from three-echelons in a case company. A key finding is a confirmation of the relationship, providing operational tools that can assist organizations in battling planning nervousness.