Managers from the following companies will present during the MIT Smart Customization Seminar 2010 (SCS 2010) how they surprise their customers with truly customized products. A special emphasis will be placed on scaling mass customization up and making it a "serious" business model.
Even if you will not make it to the seminar, I believe this is a nice case study selection! Note: "Best practices" named in the following are my personal opinion.
Founded in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop today has become a synonymous for mass customization. With more than 400 stores world-wide, it the largest chain dedicated to the create-your-own trend in the United States. Best practices:
- Scaling up a mass customization business
- Creating a truly unique customization experience in a retail environment
Luxury brand Louis Vuitton is reinterpreting the individualization trend that has defined the luxury industry since many decades. Mixing modern interactive media and craftsmanship, LV creates entirely new experiences for its customers by customization and personalization. Best practices:
- How to utilize the latest personalization services on the internet
- How to combine a strong company heritage with latest technologies
Lego Group is one of the most recognized toy companies in the world. In many ways, its core building system – based on the LEGO® brick- is a classic example of effective modularization. In recent years, the LEGO Group has added entirely new layers of customization to its offerings, including LEGO Design ByME, a true mass customization experience on the internet. Best practices:
- Using customer communities to test and launch a mass customization offering
- Effective change management towards adapting established manufacturing, supply chain and marketing processes for customized products
myMuesli has become one of the largest and most successful European mass customization companies, building on today's mega-trend of customizing food and nutrition. Learn how the company became an international leader in just a few years and what will be next. Best practices:
- How to scale-up a mass customization start-up to become an international category leader
- Customer interaction systems for repeat orders in mass customization
Since many years, Archetype Solutions enables large US brands in the fashion industry to offer customized items. In 2008, Archetype went BtoC by opening indiDenim and indiTailored, two of the leading consumer-direct services that offer truly custom-made jeans and dress shirts. Best practices:
- Building a platform to enable established brands to offer mass customization
- Latest trends in customer interaction for fashion related products
Named "start-up of the year" by Business Week Germany, chocri offers consumers the opportunity to design their own chocolate bars online, an inherently viral product due to its fit as a gift. It is also the first German mass customization startup that expanded to the American market. Best practices:
- Starting a mass customization business with very limited funds and manage a period of strong growth
- Mastering the international expansion
Combining high-tech production technologies adapted from semiconductor manufacturing with design skills and a 2000-year old craft, Artaic makes the old art of mosaic accessible to every artist as a medium to work within in the building and construction industry. Best practices:
- Setting up a flexible manufacturing system for mass customization
- Building an network of interaction partners along the value chain
Bivolino is one of the leading mass customization companies in the European apparel industry and also a lead partner of the EU Open Garment initiative. It has enabled large retailers like Marks&Spencer, Otto, WE, and many others to offer customized items within established e-commerce sites. Best practices:
- Enabling established companies to enter mass customization
- How to make customer co-design as simple as possible
This posting is part of a series on
the MIT Smart Customization Seminar. See
all relating postings here. Or register here to the event!
More companies presenting at the 2010 Smart Customization Seminar in May 2010 at MIT:
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