سفارشی سازی انبوه در مدیریت عملیات: ترکیب متضاد یا واقعیت؟

Mass customization in production and operations management, a process of integrating mass production/standardization principles with customization, seems to be gaining momentum in the United States as well as all over the world. Major companies like Dell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Proctor and Gamble, and others are experimenting and also effectively implementing this process in their production and operations facilities. Mass production and customization have traditionally been at the two opposite extremes of the production continuum. However, integrating these together as mass customization seems to be the practice of the present with the strong likelihood that it would be a continued trend of the future. This paper explores the concept of mass customization, focuses on methods to achieve mass customization, explains why it is not an oxymoron but a reality, looks at the advantages and disadvantages, and discusses how it may be effectively used in production and operations management.a

Mass Customization refers to a process of production of goods and services tailored to suit the needs of customers in a mass market. Pine [1] and Gilmour and Pine [2] contended that mass customization was the process that displaced mass production as the primary method used in production facilities. Most of these studies on mass customization appear to be developed from a strategic management perspective, and very limited research in the operations management perspective of mass customization exists in the production operations management literature [3]. However, this concept of mass customization is certainly a production operations management issue, especially as it pertains to the new, nontraditional process of integrating mass production and customization into mass customization. Also, major manufacturers such as Dell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, Ford, Chrysler and others are specifically using mass customization processes in their production facilities. Moreover, some studies have showed the positive consequences of integrating mass customization into the traditional mass production systems [4]. Therefore, mass customization is undoubtedly a production operations management issue and must be looked at from an operations management perspective, and this paper does so by taking this novel approach.

Mass Customization is increasingly gaining momentum in production and operations management. Combining the two opposite terms of mass production and customization used to appear virtually impossible; however, today it is not an oxymoron but a clear reality. Several major firms including Dell, Motorola, General Motors, Toyota, Hewlett-Packard and others are actively using mass customization in their production. Models to show the operational strategies that facilitate the mass customization process and the overall organizational strategies to enable effective mass customization have been presented. Due to its widespread use among many major production companies and the strong contribution it makes toward a firm's overall performance and success, this unique production trend—mass customization—would certainly continue to dominate production and operations management in the future.