What is a mass customization?
Mass adaptation concerns the company's ability to produce adapted product at economically viable unit costs. This is often comparable to what can be achieved on a large scale, mass production. This ability to adapt the product for a viable price has arrived in the last few decades with the advent of computers and the Internet. Mass production
was historically synonymous with uniformity and standardization that was necessary to reduce costs. Adaptation is the opposite; It is individualistic and unique, which almost always costs more. At first glance, the term of mass adaptation seems to be contradiction in terms of and for many years. Digital technology has changed it all.
It may be tempting to assume that the mass adaptation applies only to cyber enterprises. Obviously, its importance to these companies is huge. Yet the concept, as originally developed in 1987 by a business consultant based in Boston Stan Davis in his book Future PerfecT , was focused on the analysis of the old economy, bricks and mortar. In this old economy, the focus remained the same when Joseph Pine subsequently developed this concept in its 1992 book, Mass Adaidization-Nová boundary in a business competition .
Production costs are lower in many business companies due to computers. Car, boats, aircraft and trains are cheaper due to computer -supported design and production today. In addition to Internet computers, the Internet also helped lower production costs, especially in services such as investment management, research and development, premium processing and customers' centers.
Distribution costs are dramatically lower due to the Internet. Countless products, including books, newspapers, magazines, insurance claims and university education, have achieved lower delivery costs. TRIBUE DISTRIBUTIONS are now so low that the market area of many products is scatteredwipes worldwide.
Combined, these savings in production and distribution have caused the mass adaptation to reality. A good example is the newspaper. In the old days, before digital technology, there was a morning edition, evening edition and possibly late edition. For any edition, each reader received the same copy.
Today, the same newspaper comes in a printed copy as always. There may also be an online version that is constantly updated, almost infinitely customizable and comes anywhere in the world where the Internet is connected. Online reader can often choose content and layout according to its preferences.
These new production and distribution capabilities allowing computer and internet have significantly expanded the competitive arsenal available to companies. Computers and the Internet significantly increase the opportunities for the productupment product. The ability of companies to use technology to customize its products is a new competitive weapon.