"Mass Customisation is - the customisation and personalisation of
products and services - for individual customers at a mass production
price.
So, what does mass customisation mean for manufacturers and retailers?
Simply this, that there’s money to be made and customer satisfaction
to be achieved by allowing the buyer to customise his or her own
purchases by choosing the size, colour and style from a predetermined,
often extensive, list of ‘options’. The ultimate goal is to
manufacture on a mass scale, retain or improve the margins associated
with mass production, and supply a final product that meets each
buyer’s individual desires.
Apparel captures a major share of mass-customised products, but the
concept stretches far beyond a single industry — to furniture,
automobiles, eyeglasses, aeronautics, Barbie dolls, computers and so
on.
For the manufacturer, mass customisation offers an advantage because
it differentiates his product from that of his competitors. It enables
him to charge a premium for allowing his customer the ‘privilege’ to
specify the final details of his purchase. Moreover, it allows the
consumer to ‘buy in’ emotionally to the purchase, thereby reducing the
risk that he will return the product he’s purchased — forcing the
manufacturer to restock or mark down, or even worse scrap, the item.
Success in mass customisation is achieved by producing items quickly;
therefore it is critical for the manufacturer to find ways to reduce
product development cycles whenever possible.
In 2002. Fortune Magazine, and many other worldwide publications,
proclaim: "You will have it your way". Mass customisation has come
full circle.
Allow us to provide our definition of mass customisation. It is the
opportunity created by taking an otherwise standard product or service
and modifying it to meet the unique requirements and choices of a
single individual. Mass customisation provides uniqueness and freedom
of choice; perfect fit with multiple options; fair, competitive cost;
single-piece production; timeliness; quick-to-market; and, very
importantly, the consumer is involved throughout the process.
A compelling aspect of mass customisation is that it meets diverse
objectives. The customer desires uniqueness; freedom of choice;
perfect fit or form; fair, competitive cost. The manufactures want to
differentiate from their competitors, to improve profit margins and to
reduce risk and returns. Retailers want to sell products at higher
profit margins, to provide product variety and choice for the customer
and to minimise the inventory risk.
Today’s customer for mass customisation tends to address the desires
of more affluent people, those, for example, who can afford a
custom-built yacht, expensive vehicle or a special item of clothing,
but that situation is changing fast. Tomorrow’s opportunity for mass
customisation will, in my view, be quite literally everybody for
everyone; whether rich or poor, the desire for choice and
Total Quality Logistics (TQL), a freight brokerage company based in Milford, Ohio, has grown immensely since inception in June of 2005. With employee growth of 174% in just 9 years and an 191% increase in revenues, TQL needs to implement a plan that can help the company manage its employees while maintaining its reputable quality of service and revenue.
People are often deceived by some famous brands, which they will buy as useless commodities to feel they are distinctive. People require brands to experience the feeling of being special. People spend their money to have something from famous brands, like a bag from Coach or Louis Vuitton which they think they need, yet all that is just people’s wants. Steve McKevitt claims that people give more thought on features or brands when they need to buy a product, “It might even be the case that you do need a phone to carry out your work and a car to get around in, but what brand it is and, to a large extent, what features it has are really just want” (McKevitt, 145), which that means people care about brands more than their needs. Having shoes from Louis Vuitton or shoes that cost $30 it is designed for the same use.
Thus new products/line extensions will be based on Allround brand, each one with a unique target market, delivering different value proposition to the respective customer.
The global fashion and apparel industry is a giant with annual turnover of approx. $1.7 trillion and provides employment to approx. 75 million people. With globalization and increasing competition amongst manufacturers, coupled with lower production rates in the developing countries, buying clothes has become way inexpensive than before. Add to it the fiercely growing internet penetration and fast catching up ecommerce industry, clothes are more or
Have you ever thought how much research and effort a company has done to make their product appeal to you? A company will conduct surveys, record human responses to specific images, and adhere to government regulations not to mention all the different designs produced, just so that you will want to buy their product over their competitors. In Thomas Hine’s essay, What’s in a Package, Hine discusses the great length the response that a consumer should have when looking at a product’s packaging, the importance of manufactures’ marketing campaign, the importance of packages depending on the culture, then finally to why designs will change over time.
Considering that the military’s logistical structure hasn’t had a major improvement in over 60 years, the idea of streamlining and consolidating systems would be a welcome and much needed change. I currently work in the ammunition field for the U.S. Army and have done so for the past 18 years. The changes that the Marines are beginning to implement will help to free up resources and cut funds that could be used for other projects.
To conclude, the capability to create customized clothing is becoming undemanding as technology evolves. Ready made apparel were only available in predetermined size before the American Civil War, this exemplifies how the sizes were arbitrary and were not the same on a broad scale. The statement “The wealthy’s clothes were made by tailors” is a prime example of how tailored outfits are costly. Today, designers have computer-aided design to their disposal this improved the creation of cloths in many ways making it effortless to design the clothing and to also produce them. With the creation of new technology making cloths, fabrics will become
In business terminology, supply chain is the name given to a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, their transformation into intermediate and finished products, and then later the distribution of these finished products to customers. Although it may seem that supply chains are only important to manufacturing industries, they exist in service industries also. The actual level of its complexity may, however, vary greatly from industry to industry and firm to firm.
Founded in 1907 as a messenger company, United Parcel Service has grown into a world renowned provider of specialized transportation and logistics services. This multi-billion corporation enables and manages the flow of goods, information, and funds to over 200 countries and territories around the globe (UPS.com, 2013). Air, freight, oceanic is just a few of the modes that UPS uses to move the flow of goods around the globe. The company structure of UPS entails operations in three segments: U.S. Domestic Package operations, International Package operations, and Supply Chain & Freight operations. It’s just about an everyday occurrence to see an brown UPS truck on the road as we go about our everyday lives, the U.S. Domestic Package operations are comprised of delivery of documents, packages, and letters around the United States. The International Package operation delivers specifically outside the United States. Providing deliveries to the world’s major business hubs up to three times a day, UPS can deliver packages to at the best time possible for their customers. UPS has teamed up with the U.S. Commercial Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, to help customers get started exporting or increase their sales to new global markets (UPS.com, 2013). Partnering within a supply chain can prove to be very important in the success of the overall supply chain. Communication within a supply chain that flows freely between partners reduces in-efficiencies such as excess inventory (bullwhip effect), and lost profits. The Supply Chain & Freight operation within UPS entails forwarding and contract logistics operations and UPS Freight. As a freight forwarder they organize shipments from various sources to their final p...
The fashion industry has changed over a period of time due to the growth of boundaries. This is attributed to the varying dynamics of the industry; declining mass production, altered structural aspects in the supply chain, need for more affordable cost and quality. This shows that fashion retailers are able to acquire a competitive power in the market through making sure through which they get their products to the market for the consumers (McAfee, Dessain, & Sjoman, 2007). Consumers are hence able to get product easy and of high quality. Fast fashion has been able to meet the needs of consumers while trying to acquire major merchandize turnover to retailers than local rivals. The Zara case study reported sales $8.15 billion to its competitors Hennes & Mauritz 0f $7.87 billion (Dutta, 2002). This was the consumer’s one stop shop due to the quality products offered both globally and locally.
The strengths of the book come from its’ accessibility. The book is easy to follow and provides readers with a great deal of information about the production of mass-manufactured clothing. As well as brings awareness to its’ many issues which we inadvertently take part in when we purchase such products. The book is well written and thoroughly researched but does have its’ share of weaknesses.
The business model that sets Zara apart from other clothing retailers is how rapidly the company changes stocks and releases new product lineups. The company averages 12-16 collections annually which equates to more than one lineup a month. Due to stock being limited and the rapid production Zara brings forth, their items are viewed as exclusive promoting further business. Their customers are happy knowing that their specific article of clothing is more “rare” due to only having an average of a two-week window to purchase the clothing. The company specifically targets current trends and has them in the store within 30 days. This maintains the brand’s uniqueness and relativity in fashion.
Fashion is an outlet people use to express themselves. People anxiously wait to see what the next trends are as seasons pass by. We buy anything that doesn’t break a bank, people buy a $10 shirt just because it’s cheap and they might not even wear it, but it’s all right, since it wasn’t expensive. As harmless and normal as that scenario sounds, the fashion industry has created the harmful concept that is “fast fashion”, in which stores sell an abundance of extremely cheap trendy clothing and “where deliveries are small and often, with stock delivered twice a week, for instant-access fashion.” (Cochrane)
The full range of firm's activities, from the conception of a product to its end use and beyond is called value chain. It includes activities such as design, production, marketing, distribution and support to the final consumer (Porter, 1986; Giraffe et al., 2001). Generally the activities in a value chain are performed by a single company or spread among several different suppliers, enclosing goods or services within a geographical area or over different locations. The denomination of "Global value chains" reflects the trend of dispersion of value chain activities across the world. Several firms split their value chains and distributes production stages across many countries, at the same time, they outsource parts of their value chains
... concept is inadequate. The concept according to majority of retailers is just dressing a window, or just an unnecessary expenditure. The competitors’ today have an astonishing retail design stock and will have to compete purely on master merchandising and the technological edge.