Mass Customization: A Supply Chain Approach

["Ali Kamrani" <kamkode@engin.umd.umich.edu>]

CALL FOR CHAPTERS

	Mass Customization: A Supply Chain Approach 
	Published by Kluwer Academic Publishers

As co-editors of the above book, we are pleased to invite you to write a
chapter for the above book.  Attached is "Call for Chapters", offering
aims and scope of the book, a list of chapters, and a publication
schedule for your consideration. The aim of this project is to publish a
book on theory, practice, and case studies related to mass customization
in the context of a supply chain, or an extended manufacturing
enterprise. We are looking for contributions ranging from 20-25 double
spaced pages.

Important dates related to publication of this book are as follows:

	Chapter Proposals due from Authors  : June 30, 2002
	Notice of Acceptance of the Proposals: : July 15, 2002
	Full Chapter submission:   : November 15, 2002
	Notification of review status   : February 15, 2003
	Revised Final Chapter    : April 15, 2003
	Publication of the book   : July 1, 2003

For further information, please contact any one of the co-editors.

Ali K. Kamrani, Ph.D. and Charu Chandra, Ph.D.
Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Department University
of Michigan-Dearborn 4901 Evergreen Road Dearborn, Michigan 48128-1491,
USA
Tel: 313-593-5399, 313-593-5258
Fax: 313-593-3692
Email: kamkode@umich.edu, charu@umich.edu

**************************
Mass Customization: A Supply Chain Approach

Aims and Scope

Mass customization operates with product configuration in order to adapt
to customer requirements through mass production of individually
customized goods and services. A balance between customer expectations
about price and delivery promptness of customized products and
producers' ability to schedule within an acceptable cost and time frame
is put forward as one of the conditions required for successful
implementation of mass customization. An efficient production network
should be available for implementation of this strategy. If other
conditions are met, then finding the balance and a production network
configuration supporting it remains an ultimate decision making goal.
The balance can be characterized by delivery time and inventory held to
secure the service level. Customization is achieved by postponing some
production activities until customer orders are received. Production is
finalized according to ordered product specification. In a multi-stage
production system, there would be a stage, starting from which
production is initialized only upon receiving customer's order. 

The implementation of mass customization and postponement strategies
also affects the structure of the enterprise because postponement
activities will most likely be placed close to the market, which
reflects demand emanating from consumers. As products are designed in
accordance with these strategies, it is imperative their effects be
implicitly reflected in the design of supply chain from sourcing to
final distribution of products. Supply chain is a special form of
complex business enterprise system, where the key is to co-ordinate
information and material flows, plant operations, and logistics. The
fundamental premise of a supply chain management approach is
synchronization among multiple autonomous business entities represented
by it. That is, improved co-ordination within and between various supply
chain members. Co-ordination is achieved within the framework of
commitments made by Members to each other. Increased co-ordination can
lead to reduction in lead times and costs, alignment of interdependent
decision-making processes, and improvement in the overall performance of
each Member, as well as the supply chain network (Group). The most
common form of supply chain decision-making is aimed at managing
business-to-business, and business-to-consumer model for service and
goods transactions. 

A draft outline of contents

Chapter 1.  Mass Customization: Current Trends, Challenges and
Opportunities. (available)
An overview of the emergence of mass customization paradigm in
manufacturing will be offered. It will be contrasted with manufacturing
practices of the past and a case laid out for challenges and
opportunities that lay ahead of practitioners of this field in research
and academe, as well as industry.

Chapter 2.  Mass Customization: Frameworks, Methodologies, Tools and
Techniques. (allocated)
Problem taxonomy will be offered for mass customization problems in
production management. Integrated frameworks for problem solving in the
complex decision-making environment of mass customizable products will
be described. Accompanying methodologies for design, modeling, and
implementation of mass customizable production systems will be
elaborated. Research and development on specialized tools and techniques
to support the problem-solving environment will be highlighted.

Chapter 3.  Product Development Process for Mass Customization.
(allocated)
Necessary background for product development by providing a discussion
of sequential and parallel product development processes. A generic
product development process is shown in this chapter.

Chapter 4.  Process Management for Mass Customizable Products.
(available)
Mass customization demands efficient and effective process management.
State-of-the-art models and techniques utilizing Petri-nets,
Neural-nets, and Graph nets for process management will be described.

Chapter 5.  Resource Allocation and Capacity Utilization to support Mass
Customization. (available)
Optimization models and techniques for resource allocation and capacity
utilization under conditions of uncertainty, bottleneck and congestion,
typically encountered in mass customization production environments will
be described and illustrated.

Chapter 6.  Modular Design and Reconfigurability for Mass Customization.
(allocated)
Comprehensive discussion of the modular design concept, including types
of modularity, the characteristics of modular systems, and the
development of modular and reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

Chapter 7.  Logistics and Supply Chain Management for Mass
Customization. (allocated)
Supply chain management problems that focus on achieving
multi-objectives of reduced time to market, broader product variety, and
lower cost will be the focus of this chapter. Logistics models to manage
- bullwhip effect due to uncertain demand, supplier lead times,
inventory management, bottleneck operations, member coordination will be
the primary topics of study for this chapter.

Chapter 8.  Information Modeling and Knowledge Management for Mass
Customization. (allocated)
Information modeling and knowledge management to facilitate information
support for decision modeling systems in an agile environment will be
the subject for this chapter. Information architectures to design
complex virtual and / or distributed information systems in an
integrated manufacturing environment will be the key emphasis of
suggested approaches. Suitability of Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems and their interface to specialized manufacturing software for
CAD/CAM/CAE as well as Product Development Process software will be
analyzed.

Chapter 9.  Concurrent and Collaborative Manufacturing for Mass
Customization of Products. (available)
The requirement for an open and collaborative manufacturing environment
will be described. Technologies to support product life cycles, and
suitable methodologies, tools and techniques will be the focus of this
chapter. Platforms for E-commerce, especially for B2B dealings in
customer resource management, procurement, manufacturing, and logistics
management will be analyzed.

Chapter 10. Service Management for Mass Customization. (available)
With increased emphasis on customer service and its implications on mass
customization strategies, issues of on-line marketing, warranty
management, after sales service assume added importance. This chapter
will describe models and techniques for these important service aspects
of mass customization.

Chapter 11. Simulation Modeling and Queuing Networks for Mass
Customizable Production. (available)
Design and development of complex production networks to changing market
dynamics is a challenging task. Simulation as a tool provides the
ability to develop prototypes of such complex networks cost effectively
and in shorter duration. This chapter will describe how simulation can
be utilized in conjunction with various optimization algorithms to
develop realistic prototypes of complex problems in large-scale
production networks.

Chapter 12. Future Directions in Mass Customization Research and
Practices. (available)
This chapter will focus attention on the multi-dimensionality of
research and problem-solving from the point of view of varied academic
disciplines and its future in large-scale problem solving in production
networks. Future directions and opportunities in theory, computation,
and application development in mass customization will be discussed.
***************************************