Abstract: The study aims to establish the virtual size and fit technology features to enhance fashion online retailing platforms, utilising digital human measurements to provide customised style and function to consumers. A few firms in the UK have launched advanced interactive fashion shopping domains for personalised shopping globally, aided by the latest internet technology. Virtual size and fit interfaces have a great potential to provide a personalised better-fitted garment to promote mass customisation globally. Made-to-measure clothing, consuming unstitched fabric is a common practice offered by fashion brands in Pakistan. This product is regarded as economical and sustainable to be utilised by consumers in Pakistan. Although the manual sizing system is practiced to sell garments online, virtual size and fit visualisation and recommendation technologies are uncommon in Pakistani fashion interfaces. A comparative assessment of Pakistani fashion brand websites and UK technology-driven fashion interfaces was conducted to highlight the vast potential of the virtual size and fit technology. The results indicated that web 2.0 technology adopted by Pakistani apparel brands has limited features, whereas companies practicing web 3.0 technology provide interactive online real-store shopping experience leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and globalisation of brands.
Abstract: Mass customization production increases the difficulty of the production line layout planning. The material distribution process for variety of parts is very complex, which greatly increases the cost of material handling and logistics. In response to this problem, this paper presents an approach of production line layout planning based on complexity measurement. Firstly, by analyzing the influencing factors of equipment layout, the complexity model of production line is established by using information entropy theory. Then, the cost of the part logistics is derived considering different variety of parts. Furthermore, the function of optimization including two objectives of the lowest cost, and the least configuration complexity is built. Finally, the validity of the function is verified in a case study. The results show that the proposed approach may find the layout scheme with the lowest logistics cost and the least complexity. Optimized production line layout planning can effectively improve production efficiency and equipment utilization with lowest cost and complexity.
Abstract: Different tools of the supply chain should be managed very efficiently in mass customization. In the automobile industry, there are different strategies to manage these tools. We need to investigate which strategies among the different ones are successful and which are not. There is lack in literature regarding such analysis. Keeping this in view, the purpose of this paper is to construct a framework and model which can help to analyze the supply chain of mass customized automobiles quantitatively for future studies. Furthermore, we will also consider that which type of data can be used for the suggested model and where it can be taken from. Such framework can help to bring insight for future analysis.
Abstract: The German manufacturing industry has to withstand an increasing global competition on product quality and production costs. As labor costs are high, several industries have suffered severely under the relocation of production facilities towards aspiring countries, which have managed to close the productivity and quality gap substantially. Established manufacturing companies have recognized that customers are not willing to pay large price premiums for incremental quality improvements. As a consequence, many companies from the German manufacturing industry adjust their production focusing on customized products and fast time to market. Leveraging the advantages of novel production strategies such as Agile Manufacturing and Mass Customization, manufacturing companies transform into integrated networks, in which companies unite their core competencies. Hereby, virtualization of the process- and supply-chain ensures smooth inter-company operations providing real-time access to relevant product and production information for all participating entities. Boundaries of companies deteriorate, as autonomous systems exchange data, gained by embedded systems throughout the entire value chain. By including Cyber-Physical-Systems, advanced communication between machines is tantamount to their dialogue with humans. The increasing utilization of information and communication technology allows digital engineering of products and production processes alike. Modular simulation and modeling techniques allow decentralized units to flexibly alter products and thereby enable rapid product innovation. The present article describes the developments of Industry 4.0 within the literature and reviews the associated research streams. Hereby, we analyze eight scientific journals with regards to the following research fields: Individualized production, end-to-end engineering in a virtual process chain and production networks. We employ cluster analysis to assign sub-topics into the respective research field. To assess the practical implications, we conducted face-to-face interviews with managers from the industry as well as from the consulting business using a structured interview guideline. The results reveal reasons for the adaption and refusal of Industry 4.0 practices from a managerial point of view. Our findings contribute to the upcoming research stream of Industry 4.0 and support decision-makers to assess their need for transformation towards Industry 4.0 practices.
Abstract: To offer a large variety of products while maintaining
low costs, high speed, and high quality in a mass customization
product development environment, platform based product
development has much benefit and usefulness in many industry fields.
This paper proposes a product configuration strategy by similarity
measure, incorporating the knowledge engineering principles such as
product information model, ontology engineering, and formal concept
analysis.
Abstract: As there has been a recognizable transition in
automotive industry from mass production to mass customization,
automobile manufacturers and their suppliers have been seeking ways
for more flexible and efficient processes. Eventually, modular
production is currently being applied to manage the changing orders of
the industry. In this paper, two different modular assembly line
concepts were studied: conveyor line and box assembly line.
Mathematical model for two assembly line concepts were developed
and their production line efficiency were compared as a performance
measure to improve their assembly line balancing.
Abstract: In the supply chain management customer is the most
significant component and mass customization is mostly related to
customers because it is the capability of any industry or organization
to deliver highly customized products and its services to the
respective customers with flexibility and integration, providing such
a variety of products that nearly everyone can find what they want.
Today all over the world many companies and markets are facing
varied situations that at one side customers are demanding that their
orders should be completed as quickly as possible while on other
hand it requires highly customized products and services. By
applying mass customization some companies face unwanted cost
and complexity. Now they are realizing that they should completely
examine what kind of customization would be best suited for their
companies. In this paper authors review some approaches and
principles which show effect in supply chain management that can be
adopted and used by companies for quickly meeting the customer
orders at reduced cost, with minimum amount of inventory and
maximum efficiency.
Abstract: When choosing marketing strategies for international markets, one of the factors that should be considered is the cultural differences that exist among consumers in different countries. If the branding strategy has to be contextual and in tune with the culture, then the brand positioning variables has to interact, adapt and respond to the cultural variables in which the brand is operating. This study provides an overview of the relevance of culture in the development of an effective branding strategy in the international business environment. Hence, the main objective of this study is to provide a managerial framework for developing strategies for cross cultural brand management. The framework is useful because it incorporates the variables that are important in the competitiveness of fast food enterprises irrespective of their size. It provides practical, proactive and result oriented analysis that will help fast food firms augment their strategies in the international fast food markets. The proposed framework will enable managers understand the intricacies involved in branding in the global fast food industry and decrease the use of 'trial and error' when entering into unfamiliar markets.
Abstract: In order to optimize annual IT spending and to reduce
the complexity of an entire system architecture, SOA trials have been
started. It is common knowledge that to design an SOA system we
have to adopt the top-down approach, but in reality silo systems are
being made, so these companies cannot reuse newly designed services,
and cannot enjoy SOA-s economic benefits. To prevent this situation,
we designed a generic SOA development process referred to as the
architecture of “mass customization."
To define the generic detail development processes, we did a case
study on an imaginary company. Through the case study, we could
define the practical development processes and found this could vastly
reduce updating development costs.