Conceptualising the mass customisation decision-making process in collaborative supply chain networks

Mass customisation processes inevitably lead to complex environments where raw materials, modules and assemblies, finished goods and services are planned to meet the needs of individual customers by co-ordinating resources within and across organisational boundaries. Furthermore, collaborative approaches are necessary components of the process of managing mass customisation regimes and dampening the inherent complexities of mass customisation environments. These collaborative approaches are information-sharing processes that facilitate decision-making at every supply chain node. These nodes include product design, production planning, transport and logistics and resource management. Moreover, within small/medium companies, the information flows and requirements often change due to the high variability of customer requirements. A generic integrated view which considers the critical aspects of mass customisation is needed to support the necessary decision-making processes. These generic solutions will lead to a model that can be reused in different environments. In this paper, an example in the aerospace industry is given to illustrate the conceptualisation of the model in a small/medium company.