The Life Cycle of Manufacturing Networks in the Mass Customisation Era

Read this article. The research focuses on network design performance in our current era of product customization and personalization. With online order volume steadily increasing, what network design considerations do you feel are necessary to successfully fulfill custom orders?

Conclusions

The ability to customise a product/service is offered to consumers for many years now, while truly unique products will be requested in the near future by users around the globe using the Internet as a means of integration in the design process. In addition, the shortening of life cycles and time to market, increased outsourcing, manufacturing at dispersed sites, and the diverse cooperation in networks increase the complexity of production. Agility, reconfigurability, and synchronisation from process up to supply chain levels are necessary in order for companies to respond effectively to the ever-changing market needs. Driven by the ever-increasing need to reduce cost and delivery times, OEMs are called to efficiently overcome these issues by designing and operating sustainable and efficient manufacturing networks.

This work reviewed the existing literature related to the basic aspects of a manufacturing network life cycle within the MC landscape. The focus was to study existing practices and highlight the gaps in the current approaches related to these aspects of manufacturing network design, planning, and operation. Afterwards, the identification of future directions of academic and industrial research is proposed. Departing from that, major drivers and enabling technologies are identified and concepts that can lead to a more sustainable implementation of MC are proposed.

Summing up, the theoretical foundations of MC have been laid for many years now [150]. Still, there is an apparent gap between the theoretical and the actual application of MC, and bridging this gap is a challenging task that needs to be addressed. A safe conclusion reached is that the complexity generated in manufacturing activities due to the exploding product variety requires a systematic approach to be considered during the design, planning, and operating of the entire manufacturing system. All in all, piecemeal digitalisation of manufacturing network is not a viable option; revisiting of the entire supply and manufacturing network life cycle is essential for sustainability. The pursuit for a smoother, more efficient, more rewarding, and eco-friendly manufacturing is ongoing.