The impact of time-based manufacturing practices on mass customization and value to customer

Mass customization capabilities enable firms to design, produce, and deliver a high volume of differentiated products that meet specific customer needs in a timely manner and at close to mass-production prices. A critical part of mass customization is simultaneously achieving customer responsiveness, cost efficiency, and high volume production in the manufacturing system. This research describes mass customization and provides a framework to understand the relationships among time-based manufacturing practices, mass customization, and value to the customer. It involves the development of an instrument to measure mass customization. Data were collected from 303 manufacturing firms of various size, location, and industry to develop the instrument and test the relationships in the framework. The primary research method was structural equation modeling using LISREL. The study indicates that firms with high levels of time-based manufacturing practices have high levels of mass customization and value to the customer. Also, firms with high levels of mass customization have high levels of value to customer. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.