Mass Customization and Footwear: Myth, Salvation or Reality?
Abstract
Mass customization is an emerging paradigm gathering growing interest in many industrial fields. The book explores the applicability of and developed technologies for the adoption of such a paradigm in the footwear business. The research showed the benefits for shoe companies of switching to the new business models and heled develop many of the enabling technologies that adopting the new paradigm appears to have. This is the only book dedicated to the application of mass customization in a particular industry. Based on the EUROShoE project, it is a detailed analysis of the most relevant case studies of early mass customizers in the footwear sector, highlighting reasons for their failure or success. Both the technological aspects and the business aspects of mass customization, together with some relevant economic indicators are discussed. This book will interest both practitioners in the footwear sector, and postgraduates, researchers and lecturers in mass customization.
... Mass production is seen as an outdated and too painful method, with other production processes more appropriate to the current reality from the point of view of sustainability (Anderson-Connell et al. 2002). On the other hand, personalization can prove to be a complex and expensive process for industry and consumers (Gilmore & Pine 1997;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... The EUROShoE (Extended User Oriented Shoe Enterprise) research project considers that the emphasis of the mass customization lies in the design process and in the creation of a database containing the developed models. This provides all the information for the client to fill out a form with the specifics intended and which assists in the final decision of the model (Semenenko & Krikler 2004;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... Similarly, the Converse brand launched in 2006 the Converse One platform that allowed consumers to intervene in the creation of their customized model. Other examples of footwear brands that have embraced this type of approach to co-design are Adidas, Puma, Vans, Timberland, JG, O'Neill, Footjoy, Steve Madden, among others (Berger & Piller 2003;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
This paper describes the development of ergonomic clothing suitable for the body characteristics of the care-dependent elderly women at four institutions: two located in the city of Guimaraes (Portugal) and two in the city of Teresina (Brazil). The prototypes were developed based on the needs of the elderly according to some functional factors as well as their physical conditions, aiming an easier handling by the caregiver and comfort for the user. The functional properties of the applied materials and accessories, the pattern design process, and the garment construction are described.
... Mass production is seen as an outdated and too painful method, with other production processes more appropriate to the current reality from the point of view of sustainability (Anderson-Connell et al. 2002). On the other hand, personalization can prove to be a complex and expensive process for industry and consumers (Gilmore & Pine 1997;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... The EUROShoE (Extended User Oriented Shoe Enterprise) research project considers that the emphasis of the mass customization lies in the design process and in the creation of a database containing the developed models. This provides all the information for the client to fill out a form with the specifics intended and which assists in the final decision of the model (Semenenko & Krikler 2004;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... Similarly, the Converse brand launched in 2006 the Converse One platform that allowed consumers to intervene in the creation of their customized model. Other examples of footwear brands that have embraced this type of approach to co-design are Adidas, Puma, Vans, Timberland, JG, O'Neill, Footjoy, Steve Madden, among others (Berger & Piller 2003;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... Boër and Dulio [36] determined three customizable dimensions of footwear: style/aesthetics, fit/comfort and functionality/performance. The style/aesthetic dimension is the most immediate, common, versatile, and easier to intervene. The customer chooses the design according to pre-defined attributes. ...
... Thus, this dimension is the most common and appreciated by customers and producers. However, there is no empirical evidences that confirm if this dimension is the most relevant to create value [26,36]. ...
... Generally, the intervention at the materials level is easy, given the large range of possibilities used in the upper module, from traditional ones (most types of leather), to textiles and new polymeric materials, innovative tanning systems, and smart textiles. Yet, the shape of the sole module could be more difficult to intervene in traditional production of injected soles [13,36,38]. Thus, the range of footwear materials is massive. ...
Despite Mass Customization being already well known and quite studied in the literature, the interest in this productive approach has not been exhausted. This happens due to the continuous evolution of the paradigm based on technological evolution and on the increasing heterogeneity of the consumer profile. In fact, in the fashion industry and specifically in the footwear sector, there is a continuous interest in approaches that answer to commercial pretensions of the brands/industry, to consumers differentiation needs and to requirements of sustainability. Thus, Collaborative Mass Customization of Footwear (CMCF) is a solution to be considered by business strategy evaluators, such as managers, marketers and designers. The objective of the present study is to define the principles for a more holistic methodology to assist the development of CMCF, based on a literature review. As results, a proposal of a CMCF model and framework are presented. It is aimed to contribute to the theoretical reflection of the Co-design applied to the Mass Customization of footwear.
... Mass production is seen as an outdated and too painful method, with other production processes more appropriate to the current reality from the point of view of sustainability (Anderson-Connell et al. 2002). On the other hand, personalization can prove to be a complex and expensive process for industry and consumers (Gilmore & Pine 1997;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... The EUROShoE (Extended User Oriented Shoe Enterprise) research project considers that the emphasis of the mass customization lies in the design process and in the creation of a database containing the developed models. This provides all the information for the client to fill out a form with the specifics intended and which assists in the final decision of the model (Semenenko & Krikler 2004;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
... Similarly, the Converse brand launched in 2006 the Converse One platform that allowed consumers to intervene in the creation of their customized model. Other examples of footwear brands that have embraced this type of approach to co-design are Adidas, Puma, Vans, Timberland, JG, O'Neill, Footjoy, Steve Madden, among others (Berger & Piller 2003;Boër & Dulio 2007). ...
This paper describes the development of ergonomic clothing suitable for the body characteristics of the care-dependent elderly women at four institutions: two located in the city of Guimaraes (Portugal) and two in the city of Teresina (Brazil). The prototypes were developed based on the needs of the elderly according to some functional factors as well as their physical conditions, aiming an easier handling by the caregiver and comfort for the user. The functional properties of the applied materials and accessories, the pattern design process, and the garment construction are described.
... Boër and Dulio [36] determined three customizable dimensions of footwear: style/aesthetics, fit/comfort and functionality/performance. The style/aesthetic dimension is the most immediate, common, versatile, and easier to intervene. The customer chooses the design according to pre-defined attributes. ...
... Thus, this dimension is the most common and appreciated by customers and producers. However, there is no empirical evidences that confirm if this dimension is the most relevant to create value [26,36]. ...
... Generally, the intervention at the materials level is easy, given the large range of possibilities used in the upper module, from traditional ones (most types of leather), to textiles and new polymeric materials, innovative tanning systems, and smart textiles. Yet, the shape of the sole module could be more difficult to intervene in traditional production of injected soles [13,36,38]. Thus, the range of footwear materials is massive. ...
In the present, consumers tend to be more knowledgeable and interventive, requiring an active role in the way how they relate to brands and products. To meet this need, several sectors of the fashion industry saw this as a market opportunity and adopted approaches of Collaborative Design and Mass Customization. The footwear sector was not indifferent to this new paradigm of creation, production, distribution, and consumption, and several worldwide brands adopted innovative strategies. In Portugal, despite footwear being a mature industry with a strong tradition and worldwide recognition, it is necessary to continuously invest in innovation-based competitiveness, exploring the opportunities of Industry 4.0. Thus, the study seeks to analyse this important sector of the Portuguese economy, in order to perceive the acceptance, vision, and expectations regarding the approaches of Co-design and Mass Customization. In this way, seven companies with national relevance were studied based on a questionnaire survey. Findings show the industry’s interest in Co-design and customization, despite the concern about the effort and risk associated to the transition and implementation of the productive approach. Relevant data for the development of collaborative models of footwear customization are gathered in this study.
... In fact, developing personalised products requires a reorganisation of processes, both internally within companies and externally with supply network partners, to be able to create and produce new, small personalised collections, or even just one personalised product, with compressed lead times. Therefore, adopting a supply network perspective in the fashion and footwear industry assumes a crucial relevance (Montreuil and Poulin, 2005;Poulin et al., 2006;Boër and Dulio, 2007;Macchion et al., 2015a;MacCarthy and Jayarathne, 2013). Indeed, personalisation management within the footwear sector remains a challenge considering the complexity of production processes connected to the assembly of the many parts composing a shoe, which are created with different materials and manufacturing technologies that may be located in distant countries. ...
... Since recent opportunities to personalise products have complicated the business context, new models and solutions for global supply network configuration are thus required, both from a scientific and an industrial point of view, to be able to capture customers' personalisation necessities and increase companies' capability to quickly react to mutable market demand (Boër and Dulio, 2007). This is particularly true in very complex and fluctuating environments, such as the footwear industry. ...
... The wide variety of footwear products, from more basic to more personalised items, has an impact by determining how purchasing activity should be accomplished. For instance, the purchasing activity could be based just on forecasts, because companies have reliable data about sales, or it could be necessary to manage the purchasing based on both real orders and forecast data, for the components for which it is possible to anticipate the purchase, to consider the specific requirements of consumers since requests may be very different from consumer to consumer (Tibben-Lembke and Bassok, 2005;Boër and Dulio, 2007). ...
... In fact, developing personalised products requires a reorganisation of processes, both internally within companies and externally with supply network partners, to be able to create and produce new, small personalised collections, or even just one personalised product, with compressed lead times. Therefore, adopting a supply network perspective in the fashion and footwear industry assumes a crucial relevance (Montreuil and Poulin, 2005;Poulin et al., 2006;Boër and Dulio, 2007;Macchion et al., 2015a;MacCarthy and Jayarathne, 2013). Indeed, personalisation management within the footwear sector remains a challenge considering the complexity of production processes connected to the assembly of the many parts composing a shoe, which are created with different materials and manufacturing technologies that may be located in distant countries. ...
... Since recent opportunities to personalise products have complicated the business context, new models and solutions for global supply network configuration are thus required, both from a scientific and an industrial point of view, to be able to capture customers' personalisation necessities and increase companies' capability to quickly react to mutable market demand (Boër and Dulio, 2007). This is particularly true in very complex and fluctuating environments, such as the footwear industry. ...
... The wide variety of footwear products, from more basic to more personalised items, has an impact by determining how purchasing activity should be accomplished. For instance, the purchasing activity could be based just on forecasts, because companies have reliable data about sales, or it could be necessary to manage the purchasing based on both real orders and forecast data, for the components for which it is possible to anticipate the purchase, to consider the specific requirements of consumers since requests may be very different from consumer to consumer (Tibben-Lembke and Bassok, 2005;Boër and Dulio, 2007). ...
Personalisation is a growing challenge, particularly for footwear companies strongly influenced by customer preferences. Previous research showed significant differences between footwear supply networks that provide personalised products, especially regarding key variables, such as the level of demand uncertainty, type of productive capacity, type of purchasing and order dimensions. However no studies have considered these variables simultaneously, thus failing to provide a complete understanding. Moreover, previous studies on personalisation primarily focused on product features by identifying the different types of collections available without analysing implications for supply networks. To fill these gaps, we adopted a multiple case study methodology. Based on findings, we identified different personalisation types (individual personalisation, segmented personalisation, personalisation for distributor) and compared them to the case in which personalisation is not available. This work demonstrates that a company can develop and deliver different types of personalised collections, but this requires the management of different supply networks.
... athletic shoes is still in its beginning stages, consumers' acceptance and purchase intentions for this product have not been systematically examined. Boër and Dulio (2007) categorized MC for footwear into three levels: style customization, which concentrates on aesthetics (such as the colors, components and materials); best-matched fit, which was designed to provide comfort to feet; and custom fit, which produces shoes based on customers' morphometric data. Style customization was also available in the latter two levels. ...
... Moreover, athletic shoes are consumer goods worn to show an individual's taste, style, and personality. Among all three levels of MC for footwear, style customization was found to cost least in design and production (Boër and Dulio 2007). Consequently, instead of providing best-matched fit, all the athletic shoe companies that offer online MC programs provide style customization. ...
... To date, major athletic shoe companies provide style customization, but not all of them offer best-matched fit customization beyond the normal selection of sizes. It has been assumed commonly that best-matched fit customization can be fulfilled better in physical stores than online, which may limit the wide acceptance of online MC for purchasing athletic shoes (Boër and Dulio 2007). Thus, the acceptance of online MC depends on offering both functional and aesthetic customization options. ...
This research intends to understand the acceptance of online mass-customized athletic shoes among college students through applying the theory of reasoned action with a focus on whether utilitarian value and need for uniqueness influence favorable attitude formation differently. The questionnaires were distributed to 260 college students in a major southeastern US university using extra class credit as participation incentive. SPSS 23.0 and SPSS Amos 23 were used in data analysis. Structural equation modeling with a path comparison were used to assess construct validity and test the proposed hypotheses and conceptual framework. Results showed that college students’ acceptance and purchase intention could be predicted by attitudes and subjective norm. In addition to perceived security of the online environment, utilitarian value and need for uniqueness equally facilitated formation of favorable attitude toward acceptance of online mass-customized athletic shoes among college students. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as the limitations of the study are further discussed.
... Cost, quality, timeliness and even flexibility are progressively becoming order qualifiers, thus pushing firms to devise businesses gravitating around innovativeness, responsibility and customer intimacy. According to (Boër & Dulio, 2007) we are currently experiencing a 'Personalised Production' (PP) paradigm, a situation wherein businesses are radically customer-centred in delivering solutions. This phenomenon is fostered by the development of Product-Service Systems (PSS), bundling products and services to lock-in customers while concurrently locking-out competitors. ...
... While (Boër & Dulio, 2007) identify the dimensions of product homogeneity (A) and demand steadiness (B), we propose two further dimensions that can help frame the manufacturing trends, that are fully compliant with the PSS approach. ...
... Fig. 1 -Evolution of manufacturing, adapted from (Boër & Dulio, 2007) Whilst the literature on PSS and AM are wide and corroborated, few studies focus on their synergy. Many AMbased PSS have been mushrooming in both industrial and consumer business destinations, yet no systematisation effort has been undertaken to properly classify such services throughout their lifecycle. ...
Additive Manufacturing (AM) technologies disclose mass customisation and agile manufacturing, along with fully-digitised supply chains lowering the environmental impact. Concurrently, the progressive servitisation of products builds on new sustainable consumption paradigms, closer to the customer needs. The two mutually-enforcing subject matters are thus tightly intertwined in leveraging on custom-tailored, green and on-demand solutions. In this paper, we investigate the relation between AM and Product-Service Systems (PSS) according to different and interdependent categories pertaining to lifecycle, service orientation and customer proximity. We present a descriptive template that may facilitate – without demanding completeness – the individuation of common traits and patterns in AM-based services. This study represents a preliminary effort to systematise a cutting-edge technology with a PSS standpoint and to pave the way for future research.
... This paper investigates the application of mass customization in the footwear industry. A systematic in depth treatment of the peculiarities of the application of this business model and manufacturing paradigm to a footwear industry was EUROShoE (Extended User Oriented Shoe Enterprise) research project [7]. Among the business models they have studied, we can find an introduction to the case of Alpina, a Slovenian footwear producer. ...
... On the other side, as many other industries, footwear manufacturing is increasingly confronted with a progressive reduction in the size of production batches and a demand for minimizing delivery times. This results in a push towards diversification, mostly in terms of progressive repositioning in the upper segments of the market and in developing a capability of supplying higher and higher quality products [7]. However, since outsourcing of a large percentage of production abroad tends to be followed by reduction of quality levels, in this case delocalization and outsourcing has to be limited. ...
... However, since outsourcing of a large percentage of production abroad tends to be followed by reduction of quality levels, in this case delocalization and outsourcing has to be limited. Thus, the delocalization strategy, which had to be adopted to counterbalance the increasing price pressure from the low labour cost countries, does not prove to be adequate when other competitive assets, such as quality, service and flexibility become relevant [7]. What are the possible solutions for western producers to win back their market positions? ...
... The goal is then to correctly identify the customization options and dimensions meant to satisfy those additional customer needs. To better express the level of customization offered, three dimensions are highlighted: fit, style, or functionality [5,6]. Style (aesthetic design) relates to modifications aiming at sensual or optical senses, i.e., selecting colours, styles, applications, cuts... ...
... Functionality addresses issues like selecting speed, precision, power, cushioning, output devices, interfaces, connectivity, upgradeability, or similar technical attributes of an offering. [5] [6] It is important to highlight that the final customer, as a single entity, differently from what happens within the co-design in ITEM-1, does not individually impact the company choices in defining the customization dimensions of the product: those options are defined eliciting the "needs of the many" by market research, surveys and anticipation of trends. With reference to the footwear company afore mentioned, we can place those examples in a more meaningful context, by stating their capability to cover the customization dimensions just presented: ...
... This cost must be compatible with an adequate price so that the customized product does not target a different market segment, if compared with the standard one. The EUROShoE project [6] demonstrated, by relevant consumer analysis, that in footwear a premium for customized shoes of 20-40% is acceptable. ...
To adapt to global competitive pressures, European Industry must develop methods and enabling technologies towards a personalized, customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing [1]. To this end, a key question to be addressed is whether Mass Customization can be regarded as one of the main driving forces to achieve effective Sustainability, or a burden. Indeed, manufacturing is growing beyond the economic context, into a social and ecological phenomenon, motivating companies to move towards sustainable manufacturing: manufacturers are thus demanded to merge the need to be reactive towards customer needs and wishes (customized products), with the requisite to be proactive towards ecological and social impact (sustainable products). Are those two aspects empowering one another? Are they colliding? This paper will first portray the two concepts of mass customization and sustainability, and will then propose a framework to establish a link and evaluate it, also with the support of concrete examples in footwear.
... Regarding the assessments of suppliers, production, and customer support complexity, the obtained values are similar between the two groups. Nevertheless, in general, the obtained values of each considered element of complexity are in accordance with the literature -when compared to traditional production, mass customization could be a more complex process, particularly in supply chain coordination, and a simpler process in distribution and sales [8,31]. In the same table, concerning the costs associated with the different processes, a general disparity is found between groups, except the assessments concerning the costs with distribution and salesboth similar and "moderate". ...
... As a result, in general, the expectations from the interested group point towards higher investments and costs than the reality advocated by the experts' group, revealing a significant concern by traditional producers, which can result in a reluctance to leave traditional production approaches due to fear of a significant increase in costs associated with the production of customized footwearin accordance with the literature [9,15,32]. Nevertheless, the business opportunity and brand equity are considered good assets to take into account in the CMCF approach -in accordance with the literature [3, 10,31]. Table 2 shows the mean of the values provided by the responses of the two groups concerning their perception of consumer behavior towards CMCF. ...
The fashion industry market is intrinsically dynamic and mutable. Emerging trends lead consumers and industry to a mindset transformation, through a deep shift in the paradigms of creation, production, and acquisition. The footwear industry recognizes the potential of this reality, focusing on the development of innovative strategies based on collaborative mass customization. In Portugal, despite footwear being a mature industry, it is necessary to continuously invest in innovation-based competitiveness. Thus, based on two surveys, one addressed to a group of seven Portuguese manufacturers (with no mass customization experience), and the other to a group of three Portuguese experts (specialized in footwear customization), critical information about expectations versus reality was gathered. The main objective was to obtain specific and exhaustive data, based on qualitative elements. In this way, it is aimed to contribute to the theoretical reflection of the collaborative design applied to the customization of footwear based on the overview of the Portuguese industry.
... According to Gottfridsson and Zhang (2015) , globalization of the shoe industry has resulted in a supply chain in which processes might be spread all over the world. With the widespread adoption of information and communication technologies , computers and process automation, footwear production modernized, particularly in terms of quality of the manufactured products, flexibility of production, level of control on the various processes, consistency and constancy of the quality of the delivered products (Boer and Dulio, 2007: 7). The global footwear industry has been experiencing rapid expansion over the last five-year period, primarily due to rapid demand for new and innovative footwear products worldwide. ...
... For example, in traditional shoe making nations like Italy and Spain, shoe imports grew at between 8% and 10%, with the result that increasing amounts of Asian shoes were consumed every year in countries with a long tradition in shoe making and a still-active footwear industry. In Italy, for example, for the first time in 2004 the amount of the shoes imported exceeded those exported, which created a negative trade balance, which occurred as a consequence of the progressive repositioning of Italian shoe production towards the upper segments of the market (Boer and Dulio, 2007: 14). Except Brazil and Mexico (with 6% share in the top ten world producers) all other are Asian countries. ...
Streszczenie
The main objective of the paper is to analyze the position of relevant countries of the footwear sector at a world and European level in terms of the different variables and evaluate the strategic positioning of the different sector players. The paper offers a comprehensive picture of the footwear industry worldwide, focusing on the main trends at international trade, consumption and production. Also, the paper examines the position of the Republic of Croatia and the Visegrad group countires in the context of international trade, consumption and production of the footwear. The paper is essentially data-driven, and includes a synthetic description and analyse of the structure of the sector and of the different competitive factors affecting the sector’s evolution.
... Ceux-ci sont présentés dans le tableau suivant. (Boer & Dulio, 2007) ont présenté cinq catégories d'investissements nécessaires pour mettre en oeuvre la MC pour un producteur de chaussures. Néanmoins elles peuvent être généralisées pour tous les types de produits. ...
... La customisation des chaussures se fait dans trois domaines : la convenance de la pointure de la chaussure, l'esthétique de la chaussure et finalement les fonctions de la chaussure (Boer & Dulio, 2007). ...
Mass customization (MC) has become a reality and an important strategy for survival in today's economy. It is defined as producing customized products at a cost similar to that of mass production (MP). However there are several ways to offer customized products, such as adding customized services, chosing among different colors, combining different modules, and co-designing the product. Since 1993, several works have helped companies in several specific areas, such as tools for designing mass customized products, tools supporting the interaction with the customer, etc...Nevertheless, one question remains unanswered: how to decide to move from MP to MC? How to evaluate this opportunity to improve the performance of the enterprise? How to decide what type of MC to put in place? What are the most important factors to drive? And how to evaluate the transition from a MC system to that of MP? To address these issues we propose a decision support method and tool to move from MP to MC. Our approach consists of evaluating the enterprise's performance by modelling and simulating a value network. Our scientific proposal is validated via a case study from the footwear industry. We use the SimulValor language to which we have made some improvements, and a discrete event simulation system in which we created our own library of value network. The main indicator of performance is the value generated for which we propose a model that is combined with the conceptual model of the value network. The combined models are simulated and evaluated to help determine the transition from MP to MC considering not only profit, but also delays, costs and customer satisfaction.
... In some cases a customer is encouraged to buy more shoe sizes, selects one and returns the others. Sometimes a special electronic or mechanical device is used to measure the feet (Boër, 2007). A good shoe size recommendation system should consider the following components in the recommendation: ...
... One of the crucial components in our recommendation system is a foot scanner. There are number of foot scanners available on the market (Boër, 2007). Some of them use set of cameras to define the exact 3D shape of the foot. ...
... The second line of development went into the reduction of the number of cameras and lasers. Such an example is the method described by Boer and Dulio [26]. The person being scanned steps on the platform, which has photogrammetric landmarks for the detection of the current position of the measuring head, consisting of a camera and lights. ...
... If the customer or operator is satisfied with the results, the complete 3D measurement is saved to the PC, otherwise the measurement is repeated. If the system is used in a shoe shop then it follows the so called matching algorithm, where the geometrical difference between the foot and the shoe's internal volume is calculated for an entire assortment of selected shoe models [14], [26] and [28]. The models with the best fit are then suggested to the customer. ...
Three-dimensional (3D) measurements of the feet is crucial for the correct design and selection of shoes. Badly-fitting shoes are one of the major causes of pain, foot related diseases and injuries of the feet. This article presents a new system for 3D foot-shape measurements which is based on the laser-multiple-line-triangulation principle. The main part of a system is the measuring head comprising a three laser lines projection unit and two cameras, which rotate around the centre of the platform that the customer stands on, and measures both feet
simultaneously. The developed software analyzes the different foot dimensions and suggests the most suitable model and size of a shoe from a database to the customer. Validation experiments have been presented to demonstrate the measuring precision of the system. The results show that the standard deviation for all feet dimensions is better than 0.6mm in case of test objects.
... This is only possible when production processes are organized with an efficiency approaching mass production. The difficulties associated with such a process are described by Boër and Dulio [13]. ...
In recent years, there is an increase in research into shoe last customization and topic analysis methods. The work aims to systematically review the literature on the customization of shoe lasts. The method used in this work is to perform a five-phase systematic review algorithm. Data on the research performed are extracted and synthesized from each study: main research objectives, authors, date of publication, journal, or conference in which the article was published, and the quality of each article. The studies included in the review are published between 2018 and 2022. The results of the review are nineteen papers about the process of customization of the shoe last. The conclusions of the analysis indicate that the quality of research has not changed over time, in 2020 there was a decrease in work. Most often, researchers analyze the impact of anthropometric factors on the correct shoe last modeling and methods of shoe last parameterization.
... However, there is a limit to the created value outperforming the cost. Previous research confirms that personalization indeed adds value for customers, however their willingness to pay for this added value is up to 30% more compared to mass-produced counterparts [51], [6]. The Deloitte consumer review [52] also reports similarly; about a third of the customers are willing to pay only 10% more for a personalized product, while another third is willing to pay 20 to 40% extra. ...
Diversifying customer needs and fierce mass-market competition drive the industry to seek new solutions. The advancements in digital manufacturing enable Mass Personalization (MP) to answer individual customer needs. Design for Mass Personalization (DfMP) envisages profound product variability with active customer participation to answer specific needs efficiently. Conventional design methodologies lack in designing for such product variability and customer involvement that can answer specific needs. Addressing the lack of design methods in DfMP to exploit digital manufacturing, this thesis presents a design methodology for MP, focusing on the utilization of manufacturing flexibility in developing personalizable products and eliciting customers' specific needs through effective customer participation. The presented methodology proposes a flexible and adaptable seed design architecture, and an interactive customer co-creation process. Proposed DfMP framework structures a design process where the designer facilitates customer co-creation over a modifiable seed design. A two-phase process guides the designer through the development of a user-modifiable design and demonstrates how to facilitate user involvement in reaching personalized designs. The development of seed design, construction of design space, and management of solution space with a design solution algorithm are elaborated. The methodology is verified through two case studies and an industrial application example. The first case study includes the functional, ergonomic, and esthetical personalization of a shoe that is manufactured by 3D printing and digital knitting. The study is supported by interviews with experts to evaluate the design process and content of the study. The potential of the DfMP methodology is largely confirmed by the experts. The second case study demonstrates the functional personalization of a saxophone mouthpiece to tailor the performance for musicians. The findings are verified through a user study with saxophone players. The proposed co-creation scenario is successfully tested with players, and the ability of the methodology to cater to their specific needs is demonstrated. Both case studies show the potential of the methodology to deal with coupled MP cases and provide for personal needs. Finally, an application on FARO dental lights is exampled to illustrate the use in a practical setting of a commercial product. The outcome of this research contributes to DfMP to exploit the flexibility that emerging digital manufacturing technologies provide to enable meeting diverse customer needs efficiently and effectively. A systematic approach to DfMP will allow expanding MP to more products and act as a foundation for the customer co-creation oriented design in the context of this emerging paradigm.
... However, there is a limit of the created value outperforming the cost. Previous research confirms that personalisation indeed adds value for customers; however, their willingness to pay for this added value is up to 30% more compared to mass-produced counterparts (Boër & Dulio 2007;Abdul Kudus 2017). Therefore, the mass efficiency is still needed to be sustained. ...
Mass Personalisation (MP) is becoming more significant to answer diversifying customer needs, as a result of the advancements in digital manufacturing. In contrary to the modular design in mass customisation, Design for MP (DfMP) proposes more profound changes in product and active user involvement in the design process, while maintaining mass efficiency. Traditional product development methodologies fall short in guiding MP, as it has the distinct differences with product variability and the customer involvement with specific needs. In this study, a dedicated design methodology for MP is presented, focussing on these key dimensions. The proposed methodology guides the designer through the development process of a user modifiable design and demonstrates how to facilitate the user involvement in reaching a personalised design. It proposes a flexible and adaptable seed design architecture, and an interactive customer co-creation process. The development of a seed design, construction of its design space, and management of the solution space with a design solution algorithm are elaborated. The application of the methodology was illustrated on the personalisation of knitted footwear, and 3D printed saxophone mouthpiece. The examples show the potential of the methodology to deal with coupled MP cases. A systematic approach to DfMP will allow expanding MP to more products, and acts as a foundation for the customer co-creation oriented design in the context of this emerging paradigm.
... This idea of "Create Your Own" [6] is very popular with consumers today, as it offers them the opportunity to create unique products while reducing inventory and improving the ability of brands to meet customer needs. ...
Customer-centric strategies such as mass-customisation rely heavily on customer involvement such as co-designing products and services. In this sense, companies struggle to provide a better shopping experience by enabling technologies and Industry 4.0 practices. Online configurators are an example of these technologies that exist since decades but whose role in increasing value for the customer and the company is growing. This paper addresses the integration of sustainability preferences into configurators, with a focus on the 3D-printing domain. The basic ideas of this research work are, on one hand, that configurators can be enriched with readable and meaningful environmental indicators to increase customers environmental awareness based on the measurement of the impact of their choices, and on the other hand, such historical data about customer choices and orders available within configurators databases could support a more sustainable management of products and services portfolios. A case study-based research was developed in the 3D-printing domain exhibiting a high potential to support the rapid prototyping of customised products and thus helping to speed-up production ramp-up and time-to-market. The main findings include an initial proof-of-concept and several opportunities to further develop the configurator.
... In the scope of scientific exploration, the research project EUROShoE (Extended User Oriented Shoe Enterprise) stands out, considering that the emphasis of mass customization lies in the design process with the creation of a database containing all the proposed models. This database provides all the information to the client by completing a form with the intended features allowing to assist the client in the decision-making process (Semenenko and Krikler 2004;Boër and Dulio 2007). ...
In the current era of valuing and sharing experiences, the consumer states being proudly eager to actively intervene in the construction of his/her own sphere of action. Having humanitarian and socializing dimensions in its essence, the practice of design reveals itself capable of breaking barriers and broadening physical and conceptual horizons, to fulfil its main purpose—the satisfaction of consumers’ needs and desires. Co-design, as a win-win shared experience for brands and consumers, responds to the commercial needs of brands and to the consumers’ needs of interaction, customization, and emotional involvement. This approach between stakeholders is strongly enhanced by new technologies and digital environments, blurring boundaries between designer and consumer/user and overcoming physical constraints. In the footwear sector, some brands recognize the potential of this method, focusing on the development of online customization platforms. Thus, using the content analysis method, based on the study of three of these user interfaces, it is intended to present a proposal of a model for a platform-user relational analysis able to assist the development of online footwear customization interfaces. It is aimed to contribute to the theoretical reflection of the co-design applied to the customization of footwear. © Common Ground Research Networks, Nelson Oliveira, Joana Cunha, All Rights Reserved.
... In the past decades, developments of 3D scanning techniques made fast and precise digitization of the 10 shapes of human feet possible. Last makers often measure a series of girths and lengths from the 3D 11 scanned data for designing a customized last ( Witana et al., 2004;Boër and Dulio, 2007;Rajulu and 12 Corner, 2012). However, 3D scanning devices are not always accessible and the post-processing of 3D 13 scanned data is often time-consuming ( Luximon and Goonetilleke, 2009). ...
... Achieving a greater use of information technology and automation (Carpanzano and Cataldo 2003;Boer and Dulio 2007), and a greater integration of the different actors and technologies to attain a network of enterprises co-operating in real time are key factors to respond more effectively to daily challenges and tackle global competition. The ICT dimension therefore plays a pivotal role in different activities, from design to production and sales, and for mass customisation to be introduced throughout the fashion footwear supply network (Piller and Tseng 2003;Carpanzano and Ballarino 2008). ...
Despite the growing interest in supply chain management (SCM), there is little literature on knowledge and competences needed to properly configure and manage a supply chain. There are some interesting methodologies to map the knowledge and the techniques used in the supply chain of a sector and transfer them in another sector. This is particularly important when cross-fertilisation of practices can support sectors facing global competition as the footwear industry. New business opportunities can in fact be exploited addressing the needs of specific target groups searching for customised fashion and healthy shoes. Based on literature review and case study analysis of twelve companies within the fashion and orthopaedic footwear supply networks, this work compares the relevant processes and the distinctive capabilities necessary in managing supply networks to implement customisation, identifying and highlighting the interchangeable best practices that could serve as a new common knowledge base to be shared by the two sectors.
... The idea of customizing the respective environment by adaptable storage solutions and added functionalities was introduced in 2014 [3] as functional customization [4]. ...
Background:
Mobility demands change due to differing life stages of car owners. Car sharing and retail markets seldom offer a possibility for customization by the user in contrast to the freedom of choice of an initial owner of a car.
Objective:
The value creation of functional customization is investigated. Prior to a test with a concept design, different use case scenarios of car drivers are identified regarding the preferred storage location of their personal belongings in different situations.
Methods:
A study with 70 subjects was conducted in order to evaluate the value added by functional customization. Storage habits of users were investigated in general and in relation to a concept design offering the possibility for flexible storage.
Results:
Smartphones, supplies, beverages and wallets were the most relevant belongings in all driving situations (commuting, leisure, vacation and special occasions) complemented by sports equipment. Smartphones and other valuables are stored within reach and sight of the user. The emotional responses, recorded before and after the test, subdivided in attraction, hope and joy indicated positive feedback.
Conclusions:
The ease of use and the design proved to be crucial product characteristics of individually adaptable storage solutions. Positive emotions are contributing factors for a user's purchasing decision.
... Adidas" in the 1990s. Zinedine Zidane, who were sponsored by Adidas (Boer & Dulio, 2007). Regarding the costs involved, the client has to pay around 30% higher than the standard price (Reichwald & Piller, 2009). ...
In today´s society, the expectations, needs and wishes of customers are among the most important factors in the market. Nowadays, customers know exactly what they want and expect to have the possibility to find a product that completely satisfies their wishes. In order to meet these requirements, many different companies are using the marketing tool of mass customization, which offers the buyer the opportunity to customize a product according to their priorities, at a price orientated by a mass-produced item. Footwear has a huge influence in sport goods companies. The combination of mass customization and sneakers is definitely a trend that offers significant potential for the future and has become an integral part of the consumer market. This article provides an overview of the marketing tool of mass customization. The main characteristics of the sports market are also addressed. The connection and the compatibility between mass customization and footwear is illustrated as well. This paper closes with a discussion about the future prospects and further research avenues.
... Customers are able to customize the fit (which includes the length and the width of each foot), the performance (which incorporates outer sole/mid sole options and seasonal upper materials) and shoe design in selected Adidas store locations. Before this initiative, these functions were only offered to top athletes like David Beckham or Zinedine Zidane, who were sponsored by Adidas (Boer & Dulio, 2007). Regarding the costs involved, the client has to pay around 30% higher than the standard price (Reichwald & Piller, 2009). ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of online and mobile marketing as drivers of brand love.
Design/methodology/approach
– Data were collected through an online survey during early 2013. A total of 241 valid answered questionnaires were collected and the constructs were tested for unidimensionality by using principal components analysis.
Findings
– This work confirms that in spite of the fact that players are relevant assets and investments, sports managers need to concentrate their efforts on managing the team’s brand, as this is one of the company’s most important assets. Moreover, the present paper shows that developing an interactive website is not enough to get brand love. In particular, findings reveal that traditional websites are no longer motivating customers to return to the site. As a result, sports managers need to use interactive marketing mediums to connect with consumers in real time. In addition, by integrating different elements of social media such as blogs, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, professional teams elevate presence and create virtual communities, which influence the choice of brands and impact fan engagement.
Practical implications
– As the Real Madrid branded mobile application was not found to be a driver of brand love, marketers should consider this strategy with caution.
Originality/value
– This work could also be of help for sport managers considering mobile marketing as a way to interact with their followers.
... In Chapter 4, the cross-case analysis on fashion and orthopaedic footwear sectors used to build the model is described, moreover, Chapter 5 illustrates the implementation of the model in a real case. Boer and Dulio 2007; Yeung, Choi, and Chiu 2010). This implies different approaches to market based not only on traditional sales channels (as shops or retailers) but more and more on an Internet-mediated contact with consumers both for product conception and for sales. ...
Consumer needs and expectations of specific target groups – such as elderly, obese, disabled or diabetic persons – are arising as challenging opportunities for European companies which are asked to supply innovative customised goods of high quality at affordable price. This is particularly true in the fashion as well as in the orthopaedic sector where there are many different competences to conjugate to offer dedicated products to the mentioned target groups. This paper aims at proposing a reference model to support companies in defining collaborative supply networks for customised production. In particular, this work describes the implementation of the developed model in a real case highlighting the changes implied at network level to address the need for fashionable and healthy products.
... To face with the more stringent market requirements, traditional production approaches based on make-to-order transactional strategies have to cope with massproduction principles and an intimate relationship with the customer. This means managing small and diversified batches [1] and giving rise to a "make-to-individual" relational-based paradigm with an increase of management complexity and, therefore, a potential upsurge of production and service provision costs and risks. Service-driven processes, such as design, support and maintenance, are now crucial to the customer, and can ensure a competitive advantage for enterprises, regardless of their dimension. ...
Additive manufacturing is shifting business models towards mass customisation and responsible production paradigms. Such a technology is fostering re-localisation and value-added approaches in order to increase customer involvement into a more flexible and sustainable production process. This paper provides both theoretical tools and case studies to frame the additive manufacturing realm and the distributed fabrication background.
... Several works can be found in the literature on the use of automation in different production stations of the shoe manufacturing, such as the automation of the lasting operation [2], of the grinding operation [3], of the roughing and cementing operations [2,[4][5][6], of the bonding of the sole [7], of the finishing operations [2,8], and of the quality control [9]. In the EUROShoE project an automated production plant has been developed for the production of mass-customized shoes [10,11]. ...
The production process of most of the footwear companies working in the market segment of classic, casual, and fashion shoes is still handicraft. Moreover, the actual design and production processes are largely independent, and both of them need the physical prototypes of the semi-finished shoes in order to be accomplished. In this context, the IDEA-FOOT project introduces a new method for the shoe integrated design and production in which most of the production parameters are derived from the shoe 3D CAD model and an innovative automated production plant in which manipulators and automated machines are fully integrated. The aim of this paper is to present the main features of the automated plant, the advantages in using a new integrated design and production process, which is totally new for this market segment, and to analyze the impact of this new production model on the production performance and on the company organization. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2013.
... To face with the more stringent market requirements, traditional production approaches based on make-to-order transactional strategies have to cope with massproduction principles and an intimate relationship with the customer. This means managing small and diversified batches [1] and giving rise to a "make-to-individual" relational-based paradigm with an increase of management complexity and, therefore, a potential upsurge of production and service provision costs and risks. Service-driven processes, such as design, support and maintenance, are now crucial to the customer, and can ensure a competitive advantage for enterprises, regardless of their dimension. ...
... They do not want to be involved only in purchasing process, but they tend to be a part of an experience while buying a product [7]. Meanwhile, customers are more concerned about design, esthetic, function, and other attributes of the product and they want to be involved in design process [3]. From the companies' perspective, MC acts as an economically viable strategy for the companies. ...
For about two decades, mass customization (MC) is considered as a proper business model for the markets characterized by heterogeneous needs of customers. It can be considered as a win–win strategy that benefits both customers and companies. However, when it comes to environmental impacts of MC, things are less clear and more challenging. This paper aims at investigating how a MC business model performs in terms of environmental sustainability based on an empirical analysis.
... They do not want to be involved only in purchasing process but they tend to be a part of an experience while buying a product [2]. Meanwhile customers are more concerned about design, aesthetic, function and other attributes of the product they purchase [6]. From the companies' perspective, MC acts as an economically viable strategy. ...
In recent years Mass Customization has been considered as a proper strategy to provide customers with individualized products with a reasonable price. Meanwhile, the trends of aging population and rapid technological evolution have initiated the interest of healthcare sector to production of customized medical devices. Pursuit of such a strategy can result in introduction of manufacturing operations of customized medical devices inside the hospitals. To this end, an innovative business model is required to facilitate and support such a shift by focusing on both product and service perspectives and hence taking into account an integrated product-service system approach. This paper aims at introducing a PSS-oriented business model to support customized production by hospitals. Moreover, a qualitative analysis of pros and cons of each business model configuration is presented in the paper. Eventually, considering each configuration along with its benefits and challenges, the hospital selects the most proper business model base on its strategy and long-term oriented objectives.
... Nonetheless, an example of such impacts can be brought forth in the footwear sector that has been influenced in the recent years by the coming of mass customization as a main trend for differentiating from competitors and set upon new market shares. Mass customization has, in fact, allowed shoe makers to renovate a mature market by proposing a new business paradigm (Boër and Dulio, 2007). On the one hand, the evolving customer's tastes led to the need for a more customized offer. ...
The introduction of new production paradigm often implies a comprehensive redesign of products and of the supply chain producing them. This paper presents a theoretical framework allowing to identify the challenges and requirements imposed by a certain paradigm, specify which supply chain actors are impacted by each enabling factor and finally to describe deeper into details which kind of modifications have to be implemented by each supply chain actor in order to ensure the effective adoption of the new production paradigm. The general framework has been instantiated looking at two paradigms whose importance is growing in the current competitive environment, namely Mass Customization and Sustainability. The effective implementation of these two paradigms allows companies to enhance their value proposition and strengthen their competitive position. Aim of this paper is to investigate which are the enabling factors of these paradigms and how their implementation impacts on the supply chain design. This allows to identify the modifications to be implemented by each supply chain actor starting from the shifts in the product design. The use of the conceptual framework is illustrated by empirically applying it to the footwear sector. The empirical evidences about the footwear sector demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework. The general applicability of the framework and its extension/refinement is currently carried out within a wider research project aimed at analyzing the integration of mass customization and sustainability in various industrial sectors.
... The creation of customized shoes has been investigated in several research activities [4][5][6][7][8][9]. They face the digitalization of customer's feet by adopting non-contact 3D scanning systems and the related range data elaboration software tools in order to provide a virtual foot model [10] or a set of meaningful of cross-section measurements [11]. ...
Purpose: Study and development of innovative tools in order to support the design and manufacturing of customised shoes for people with diabetes. Method: The approach is based on the identification of main critical stages of footwear customisation when patient parameters have to be properly used; medical knowledge formalisation is translated in new software design tools that interest the footwear shape and the suitable materials. Result: Rapid customisation of preventive shoes for people with diabetes Discussion & Conclusion: “Diabetic foot” in one the main effects of diabetes; it is important to develop shoes able to prevent this kind of complication. This paper reports an approach and related design tools that allow customising shoes on the basis of patient features. Rapid manufacturing technologies have to be still analysed in order to complete the whole process.
The environmental costs related to the production processes, the exposure of workers to inadequate conditions, the high competitiveness and the accelerated growth of the footwear sector, are results of the current production and consumption model, which also reverberates on the premature disposal of footwear and the lack of management of waste from its production process. Given these facts, this article seeks to understand which Design for Sustainability (DfS) approaches are being implemented in the sector. Through a literature review, the most used DfS approaches were identified and with a desktop research, a survey on examples was carried out, in order to mitigate the impacts through the concepts of Circular and Distributed Economy, models can enable greater resilience for small businesses in the sector, through local production and consumption. 16 examples of companies in the footwear sector were selected and analyzed, the study made it possible to carry out a critical analysis regarding the use of isolated strategies and a reflection on the incorporation of different DfS approaches. In addition, the study provides a wide repertoire of solutions and good practices for other designers in the sector.
The application of mass customization in the fashion and apparel industry has a tremendous environmental and social cost. The operationalization of the concept seems complex, and it requires considerable agility in adapting the business model. An increasing number of companies are trying to come together to change the fashion economy and foster social and environmental responsibility, but at what cost? The activities of the fashion industry are known to lead to damaging impacts on biodiversity and the overall health of communities. The need for a transition to sustainable and responsible fashion (i.e., achieving environmental preservation and social justice, respectively) is critical to the future of a thriving industry (leading to economic sustainability). The discourse of consuming less and better opens the door for manufacturers to provide more personalized products that are better adapted to consumer choices. This article explores if mass customization manufacturing can really live up to its sustainability aspirations? An exploratory study was conducted to gather the perception of manufacturing business owners concerning the interplay between product personalization and adapting a responsible manufacturing approach. Findings from the survey suggest companies can benefit from incorporating product customization into a responsible approach, such as designing long-lasting products, reducing resource use and increasing traceability of sourcing/transparency. In addition, respondents agreed that absorbing some of the costs could help customer loyalty without significantly increasing retail prices. However, demand forecasting remains a challenge to integrating sustainable practices into a mass customization business model. Further research is needed to leverage product personalization to promote responsible consumption and integrate it into existing models.KeywordsPersonalizationResponsible consumptionSustainable valuesSustainable thinkingSustainable designSustainable process
Streszczenie
The main objective of the article is to investigate why entrepreneurs from the Mazovian region are not eager to apply for the EU funds. The authors asked the following research questions: Why are the entrepreneurs reluctant to apply for the EU funds? How (if) has the situation changed comparing the 2007-2013 and the 2014-2020 perspectives? What should be changed from the side of the EU perspective? In the research a qualitative method – direct interview with entrepreneurs – was used. 171 entrepreneurs were interviewed. Purposive sampling was used. The authors chose the companies, which fulfilled the following conditions: they were interested in applying for the EU funds; they had experience in getting support from the European Union; they perceive themselves as “innovative”. All enterprises were from the Mazovian region in Poland. It was stated that a large number of companies wants to apply for the EU funds, but they cannot do it due to many factors such as the necessity to include own funds; no interest to participate in any project; the willingness to purchase the apparatus or appliance or too high bureaucracy. The best way to make the EU funds available for the companies is to meet their problems and expectations first. It should be done in the form of consultations between the government and business world. Such consultations would bring ideas, which topics should be included into the proposed programmes. The originality of this work lies in studying factors, which make the entrepreneurs from the Mazovian region impossible to apply for the EU funds. It is very important to recognise them as the 2014-2020 perspective offers a huge amount of money, which can be well spent by the entrepreneurs, if they managed with hampering factors.
Mass Customization refers to customer co-design process of products and services, which meets the needs of each individual customer with regard to certain product features. All operations are performed within a fixed solution space, characterized by stable but still flexible and responsive processes.
La personnalisation de masse est une configuration de l'offre produit, du système de production et de la chaîne de valeur, qui permet la satisfaction (mesurée par la valeur perçue) des besoins individuels des clients et celle des autres parties bénéficiaires (e.g. l'entreprise, les fournisseurs, etc.). Les recherches menées ont permis d'obtenir une identification des différentes étapes de sa mise en oeuvre. Pour offrir des produits personnalisés (réalisés unitairement ou en masse), une organisation adaptée doit être choisie et implémentée. Cette démarche n'est possible qu'après une analyse préliminaire des types de personnalisation de masse et de leur spécificités, ainsi qu'une identification des leviers correspondants. Un plan d'action doit alors être défini puis piloté. A chacune des étapes spécifiques à cette mise en oeuvre correspond bien entendu un champ de recherche qui m'a permis de structurer ma recherche autour des champs que sont : - le recueil des données caractérisant la personnalisation de masse et le contexte, - la conception et la reconception de la configuration sur les trois niveaux : produit, process, organisation, - la mise en oeuvre puis le pilotage de la chaîne de valeur permettant la personnalisation de masse. Les résultats présentés ici sont issus d'une double approche : - des projets en collaboration avec des entreprises, portant sur un point d'achoppement opérationnel nécessitant des outils implémentables, - des projets de recherche fondamentale issus d'une formulation et d'une curiosité académique.
The term “mass customization,” abridged with MC, was anticipated by Stan Davis in the book, “Future Perfect,” in 1987: “the same large number of customers can be reached as in mass markets… and simultaneously they can be treated individually as in the customized markets of pre-industrial economies.”
Genetic Algorithms for Solving Scheduling Problems in Manufacturing Systems
Scheduling manufacturing operations is a complicated decision making process. From the computational point of view, the scheduling problem is one of the most notoriously intractable NP-hard optimization problems. When the manufacturing system is not too large, the traditional methods for solving scheduling problem proposed in the literature are able to obtain the optimal solution within reasonable time. But its implementation would not be easy with conventional information systems. Therefore, many researchers have proposed methods with genetic algorithms to support scheduling in the manufacturing system. The genetic algorithm belongs to the category of artificial intelligence. It is a very effective algorithm to search for optimal or near-optimal solutions for an optimization problem. This paper contains a survey of recent developments in building genetic algorithms for the advanced scheduling. In addition, the author proposes a new approach to the distributed scheduling in industrial clusters which uses a modified genetic algorithm.
The Development of Production Management Concepts
The aim of this paper is the analysis of contemporary concepts used in production management in relation to the paradigms which accompanied their appearance and development. The first chapter contains a definition of the term 'paradigm', discusses the importance of the paradigms for the development of a scientific approach to management and lists examples of paradigms relevant to production management. In the second chapter such management concepts as LM, Kaizen, TOC, TQM, TPM, Six Sigma and BPR are presented, along with their respective old and new paradigms, main goals, fundamental rules and tools (methods and techniques). Some less popular concepts are also dealt with. The last chapter is devoted to an analysis of interactions between the analyzed concepts, with an emphasis on their mutual compatibility and complementarity, which can be of benefit in the process of their implementation.
Loyalty Programs Effectiveness
An increasing number of loyalty programs is one of the most common phenomena observed in the practice of marketing companies on the market today. Objectives and tasks of loyalty programs determine the type of use of marketing instruments affecting the attitudes and behaviours of customers, which is aimed at the program. The diversity of factors influencing the effectiveness of loyalty programs should set the scope and object of empirical research. As the results of studies to evaluate the effectiveness of loyalty programs mainly on the B2C market is diverse in terms of the criteria. This article presents the essence of loyalty programs and the factors influencing their effectiveness.
Principals of Financial Modelling
The financial statements submitted by each company annually reflect their financial performance in the past but are also utilized to forecast the future results in quantitative and realistic frames. The aim of the following elaboration is to thoroughly research all the issues related to financial modelling. The author step by step introduces the reader with theoretical and practical assumptions related to forecasting of respectively, the profit & loss account, balance sheet account and cash flow statement. All of the issues are illustrated with excel spreadsheets that were prepared exclusively for this article purposes.
Directors Remuneration and Companies' Performance the Comparison of Listed Companies in Poland and UK
This paper examines the determinants of CEO compensation. There are many factors that influence CEO compensation. For this research three factors has been selected: companies size, accounting factor and market factor. The study looks at the relationship between each of this factors and directors remuneration. Sample of companies listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) has been investigated over the period of 2007 - 2010. Data has been collected through annual reports content analysis and announcement on websites of LSE and WSE. Linear regression has been run on collected data. Positive correlation has been found between directors' remuneration and companies' size in both British and Polish listed companies. The relationship is also positive between directors pay and companies performance. Companies' performance has been assets by return on equity ratio (ROE) and Tobin's Q. All the findings are consistent with the outcome presented within previous research by variety of scholars.
Unceasing market request for personalization of consumer goods calls for more and more flexible production technologies, and for increasingly reliable means to gather precise pictures of what each customer desires. Fitting is especially crucial to accomplish personalization in footwear, where the prevailing of manual operations makes production flexibility quite easy, but the close interaction between shoe and foot requires extremely precise knowledge of the body part which is being gloved. In a still ongoing research project, the authors are developing a powerful smartphone App to perform a 3D scanning of a foot, whose preliminarily registered performances are here presented and discussed. The solution is expected to establish a new standpoint in the trade-off between the level of precision of the gathered data and the ubiquity and accessibility of the scanning functionality, thus empowering a widespread best-matched fit personalization in the footwear market.
In order to stay competitive, European manufacturing companies need to enter new market segments implementing innovative production methodologies to strengthen their collaborative networks. Consumer needs and expectations of specific target groups - such as elderly, obese, disabled, or diabetic persons - are arising as challenging opportunities for European consumer goods companies which are asked to supply small series of functional and fashionable products of high quality, affordable price and eco-compatible. This paper aims at proposing an innovative collaborative Reference Model that supports in Textile, Clothing and Footwear (TCF) supply networks in meeting the needs of specific consumer target groups.
Background: It is common practice to prescribe customised footwear to people with diabetes to reduce the risk of foot ulceration. Although shoe customising systems have been proposed, effective tools for designing shoe lasts for diabetic patients are lacking. The shape of the lasts must meet certain biomechanical objectives, while maintaining the style of the shoe.
Method: The main contributions of this work are as follows: the creation of an artificial-neural-network-based framework to correlate foot measurements and medical data to required footwear features; the definition of repeatable geometrical procedures to measure foot and last scans; and the definition of geometrical operators to modify the last shape according to its original aesthetic and specific footwear parameters. These parameters are computed by a knowledge-based system on the basis of the patient's pathology and best practices of experienced technicians.
Results: Dedicated software systems integrated in a common platform are implemented to support the last design process. Test case studies and a survey show the advantages provided by the proposed approach in terms of achieved quality and shoe developing time (72% time savings).
Conclusions: A design framework with dedicated tools is proposed for the customisation of shoe lasts for diabetic patients. Further research should be focused on tools to design the insole, outsole and other shoe components.
The European shoe industry has experienced significant challenges in the last 20 years, mainly due to the pressures of modern global markets in which the industry has to compete with competitors from low labour cost countries in Asia and the Far East. A new trend is now forecast concerning the mass customization of shoes, where customers choose and order customized shoes from a range of predefined materials and designs. This is to be achieved through the ‘shoe shop of the future’ with combined capabilities of obtaining 3D models of customer's feet together with the exciting developments offered through the latest advancement in e-commerce. However, such a novel approach for the customization of shoe design and production will have a significant influence on the batch sizes and expected lead times, and will reduce the average batch size of shoe production from 500–1000 pairs to about 10–20 pairs per batch. Consequently, customized shoes will result in an enormous increase in the number of batches, leading to an increase in the complexity of planning, scheduling and tracking of orders both across the supply chain and internally within various production departments of a shoe factory. This research proposes a distributed scheduling approach to provide the required autonomy in decision making and flexibility in job sequencing at departmental level to deal with the complexity of planning a large number of small batch production orders.
This paper describes the idea of the extended enterprise, in which manufacturing companies co-operate closely to maximize the benefits of the business they are all involved in. The concept ofthe extended enterprise is explored, and itseffect on purchasing relationships is considered. Production planning considerations are dealt with and the extended enterprise is considered from the viewpoint of the supplier. Modelling and analysis of the extended enterprise in connection with process improvement is reviewed, and some questions that arise from the co-operative approach are presented. The paper concludes that the concept stems from supply chain management and the interest in integration across boundaries. The extended enterprise presents many challenges, but may be a new source of competitive advantage.
As manufacturing becomes a truly global affair, the basis of competition will switch from individual companies and their supply chains to regional clusters. Large multi-nationals can relocate operations to any part of the world, with significant impact on the regions into and out of which they move. This will introduce new considerations for managers seeking to achieve agile manufacture. In particular, they must recognise the interdependence of all the stakeholders in the economic infrastructure of their part of the world. This contribution discusses the nature of clusters giving some examples. It comments on the role of governmental agencies in economic development.
Mutations of the context: economy, society, technology; call for continuous changes of products and related processes. Industry response must range from strategic to tactic horizons. The growing importance of environment and social aspects has lead to the emergence of the life cycle concept and to Sustainable Industrial Production. The Products-Processes life cycle matrix must then change to respond to mutations of the context. It may follow a stepwise path combining innovation (new generations) and evolution (within a generation). An appropriate system is required: the Virtual’ Factory. It “produces” and “maintains” new generations. The combination of a Virtual Factory and a Physical Factory, is the Self-Innovating Factory (SIF). Because of products-process complexity, networks, made up of “physical factories”, are emerging. To respond to context changes, appropriate, Virtual Factories networks should be implemented. The integration of both networks would lead to the Self-Innovating Extended Factory (SEIF), capable of responding to context changes, as required by Sustainable Production Paradigm. The model described has been named MANURITURING. The main phases to implement and some of the methods and tools to support it, have been described. The model has been adopted by an industrial group to develop its next generation of manufacturing systems.
In the shoe manufacturing process, in order to attach the upper with the corresponding sole, it is necessary to ‘scrape’ a thin layer of material off the upper surface so that glue can penetrate the leather and adhere; an operation called ‘roughing’. This paper describes the design and the implementation of an innovative robotic cell for roughing and cementing of shoe uppers, which operates at the moment in a pilot plant for custom-made shoe production. The small size of the production lots, as required by customization, and the accuracy needed to follow the complex 3D roughing paths, require a considerable degree of flexibility to minimized setup time. In order to meet these severe requirements, the robotic cell, described in this paper, integrates CAD-CAM generated tool paths with the use of a force controlled head, mounted at the manipulator wrist, which allows real-time adaptation of the trajectory in order to ensure continuous and stable contact between the tool and the shoe to be processed, regardless, to a certain extent, of the inaccuracies in the path specification. The paper describes the development details involved in the design of the cell, with a special emphasis on the active head and the overall control architecture.
Companies, wanting to access new ICT tools, have to go through new technology acquisition. Firms in the manufacturing sector, as in our case shoe producers, increasingly have the need to improve collaboration and co-operation across the company. They are more and more interested in building networks with the support of business integrators as service providers that can offer services and tools and guarantee security standards. This study proposes a new tool, that has been developed by a service provider of the footwear sector, to support shoe producers in managing automatically through a web application the costs of their orders to compare their and other shoe producers processes and to support what-if analysis. A first prototype for such kind of service is proposed and further developments are suggested.
This paper describes the facilities that are available at the ITIA Design and Mass Customization Laboratory of Vigevano. The history of the Laboratory and how ITIA has come, through different research projects, to the implementation of the integrated production plant (IPP) is presented. Then the main features, in terms of structures, system architectures and implemented technologies, of the IPP will be described, showing how such innovative research infrastructure will be used in the final phases of the EUROShoE project, in particular for what concerns the research related to the mass customization paradigm and its application in different industrial sectors. These phases will be described in details indicating the roles of the different elements of the system and their respective interactions, in terms of the vertical (between sale, design and manufacturing) and horizontal (between different machines and systems within the same phase of the product life cycle) integration. Aspects related to the experimental validation of such technologies in a quasi–productive environment are also presented, showing how the experimental campaigns are planned and organized. Future uses and applications of the IPP as a public research infrastructure at the European level are presented in the conclusions.
This paper will address the process of the design and development of shoes using CADCAM and knowledge based systems. Background information is provided on the research project EUROSHOE as well as a simple description of the traditional process of shoe design and development. The benefits of using ‘traditional’ CADCAM to produce shoes are outlined. A discussion takes place on what makes a shoe fit a customer's requirements which leads into a description of a new knowledge base system to assist the design process. The process of collecting knowledge, formulating this into rules and using to select BESTFIT shoes is outlined. Tools to convert BESTFIT shoes into CUSTOMFIT shoes are also described.
In the scenario of mass customization, production is a crucial phase of the whole product life cycle. Production planning and scheduling must therefore evolve and adopt new tools that help to obtain a deeper control of what has to be produced in order to satisfy efficiently customer’ needs. This is very important in the clothing and footwear (fashion) industry where customer's taste and choices change rapidly according to fashion dictates. In this paper an application in the footwear sector is presented and tested on a prototype of a new factory – an agile production unit – based on the concepts of agile and flexible production. The planning and scheduling module proposed is mainly focused on the short term in order to respond quickly to market needs and changes in a flexible manner. The module is composed of a finite capacity scheduler integrated with a new software based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process decision support system, which considers all the aspects related to order importance as complexity or urgency and assign each order a priority. This SW is able to take into account many intangible factors, as trademark, that are usually submitted to the subjective judge of the production manager (planner) and is completely configurable according to user’ needs. The result of the elaboration, that is the priority value, constitutes a fundamental input for the scheduler in addition to the due date of the order. The scheduler has a daily horizon because it is unnecessary to cover a long-time period if things can change every day following market requirements. The scheduler is configured to create all cycle operations for each single item even in order to manage orders composed of one pair or even one single shoe. This is a fundamental condition under a custom-made production focus. This also allows operation fine control and monitoring of the manufacturing process because the control system can identify exactly where each item at each time is in the system. Concluding, further developments are considered within a more integrated ad extended scenario applied to the automated production system in a new project where the full product life cycle including the customer, retailer shop and suppliers are taken into consideration.
The life cycle of an industrial product goes through several stages, from the initial idea to the finished product, and on to the purchase and recycling. Virtual reality environments (VRE) allow the user to interact with a digital representation of a product, and so can be used to perform aesthetical, ergonomic, functional tests as well to support customer decisions in the selling process; mainly for customized products. In this contribution, ITIA-CNR presents two important applications in the shoes context: VRShoe and MagicMirror. VRShoe is a VRE for designing shoe aesthetics. MagicMirror, currently under development, is an augmented reality (AR) system for supporting the decision-making processes of customer customized shoes.