Title: Mass customisation as a collaborative engineering effort

Authors: Songlin Chen, Yue Wang, Mitchell M. Tseng

Addresses: Advanced Manufacturing Institute, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. ' Advanced Manufacturing Institute, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong. ' Advanced Manufacturing Institute, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong

Abstract: Mass customisation aims to deliver customised products with near-mass production efficiency. To simultaneously achieve customisation and efficiency, mass customisation requires collaborative engineering efforts between customers and manufacturers, who usually have different preferences concerning customisation. Collaborative engineering offers new methodologies and tools to address some of the inherent conflicts in mass customisation; reciprocally, mass customisation offers a realistic and promising test bed for developing collaborative engineering theories and technologies. This paper explores the synergies between these two fields of study, sketches out the scenarios of applying collaborative engineering in mass customisation, and points out some directions for future research.

Keywords: mass customisation; collaborative engineering; synergy; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCE.2009.027444

International Journal of Collaborative Engineering, 2009 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.152 - 167

Published online: 24 Jul 2009 *