Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Investigating the role of IT in customized product design

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 15; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/0953728042000238782

1366-5871

Ali Yassine, Ki-Chan Kim, Thomas Roemer, Matthias Holweg,

Color perception and design

Abstract Realizing product customization as ‘just a mouse click away’ is the ultimate dream of many organizations and customers. To date though, mass customization is generally delivered through standardized products or custom-assembly of standardized components – often neglecting the product development aspect of customization through providing custom-designed products. In this paper we address this gap, and in particular investigate – both theoretically and empirically – the role of IT in product development-related customization. We revert to the automotive industry, which although it has long progressed beyond ‘any colour as long as it is black’, still offers only limited customization possibilities to its customers. Keywords: Customizationproduct design and developmentinformation technology Acknowledgements This research was generously supported by the Center for eBusiness at MIT. ALI YASSINE is an Assistant Professor at the Department of General Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and Director of the Product Development Research Laboratory. His research involves managing the development process of complex engineering systems, design process modelling, and IT-enabled concurrent engineering. Prior to joining UIUC, Professor Yassine was a research scientist at MIT Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development (CTPID). Ali's publications have appeared in Management Science, Research in Engineering Design, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, and many other international journals. Dr Yassine received the BE degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1988 from the American University of Beirut. He received the MS and PhD degrees in 1989 and 1994 respectively in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He is a member of INFORMS, ASME and PDMA. KI-CHAN KIM is currently Associate Dean of Student Affairs and Professor in the Department of Management at the Catholic University of Korea. He is also Director of the Korean Marketing Association, Vice President of the Korean Academy of Commodity Science, and Executive Director of the Korea Academy of Motor Industry. Professor Kim received his PhD in Marketing and Strategy at Seoul National University in 1992. He was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Tokyo and Harvard University. Professor Kim was awarded the 1998 Most Outstanding Case Study Award from the Centre for Case Development, Seoul National University. That same year, he won the Outstanding Paper Award from the Korean Academy of Commodity Science. THOMAS A. ROEMER received a PhD from the Anderson School at UCLA and is the Robert N. Noyce Assistant Professor at the Sloan School at MIT, where he teaches Product Development and Operations Management. His primary research interest is in Product Development, particularly the management of complex development projects, and intra- and inter-firm information exchange during the development of new products. He has consulted and conducted research with numerous organizations across industries and borders. Recent publications have appeared in Operations Research and the European Journal of Operational Research. MATTHIAS HOLWEG is a University Lecturer in Operations Management at the Judge Institute of Management at the University of Cambridge. Prior to joining the faculty at Cambridge, Matthias was a Sloan Industry Center Fellow at MIT's Center for Technology, Policy and Industrial Development, and a Senior Research Associate at Cardiff Business School's Lean Enterprise Research Centre. He is also a Principal Investigator of the MIT. International Motor Vehicle Program, where his research focuses on the design and management of supply chain systems, with a particular emphasis on the implementation of build-to-order strategies in the global auto industry. Matthias holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from Germany, a Master's in Operations Management from the University of Buckingham, and a PhD in Supply Chain Management from Cardiff University. Notes These may include fitting high-performance engines into small cars, for example, which may require extra studies to ensure that the transmission subsystem will function with the engine; other vehicle dynamics need to be considered and adjusted accordingly. In the late 1990s, Toyota discussed offering their customers custom-made car seats. Toyota even set up a prototype of a seat-measurement device at its visitor centre in Toyota city. This concept never evolved further though; instead adjustable seats developed rapidly (Zipkin Citation2001). See www.smart.com for more information on the seven system partners, which are co-located on the Hambach factory site. This distinction is only one possibility, and other divisions have been proposed, for example, by Shapiro (Citation2001) who divides them into transactional and analytical, or Thomke and Fujimoto (Citation2000), who divide these technologies into fit and function. Duarte and Snyder (Citation1999) used the ‘term groupware’ to describe the categories of electronic systems that integrate hardware and software to facilitate communication in dispersed teams. A decade ago, General Motors built 80 physical prototypes (at about $300,000 each) to validate and test designs for its 1991 Chevrolet Caprice. Today, GM builds about 20 prototypes for its cars and trucks, and it does most of other testing on computers (Brennan Citation2001).