Mass Customization: Opportunities, Methods, and Challenges for Manufacturers

PART       III

Vertical Integration in Mass Customization

“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”

—Alan Turing

Vertical integration is about the integrated data flow from design over order processing through to the machines. In an ideal world, the data flow in the backward direction would be supported, too; however, I fear that will take a bit longer.

Let me illustrate with an example what I mean. In the construction world, some twenty years ago the concept of the building information model (BIM) was introduced and has steadily grown since. BIMs are software objects that can be incorporated into technical drawings. In contrast to other technical drawing components, BIMs add more dimensions ...