Mass Customization Challenges of Engineer-to-Order Manufacturing

Companies in engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing environments that seek efficiency gains through adopting a mass customization strategy meet major challenges. Current research on the implementation of mass customization (MC) in companies traditionally has a strong focus on the transition from mass production, and few studies only involve settings characterized by high variety and low volume production. The purpose of this study is to bring further detail to major areas of concern when adopting mass customization principles in ETO manufacturing. A literature review of mass customization and ETO was carried out, and principles for mass customization implementation were tested in a case company. The study revealed that major issues of MC in ETO are interdependent across several decision areas and involve manufacturing as well as engineering and design phases. This paper provides more in-depth insights to practical consequences of implementing MC in ETO manufacturing.