Whether it’s shoes, orthotics, helmets, or orthodontic aligners, the demand for personalized goods and the need for mass customization has become a trend. However, mass customization is a challenging trend for manufacturers to adapt to, due to traditional manufacturing and the supply chain.
For example, the production of customized products using injection molding requires a manufacturer to create a new mold for each product. This leads to increased changeover costs associated with tooling and fixtures, as well as extended timelines. Similarly, in lean manufacturing, inventory is often defined as "a countermeasure to instability." It serves as a buffer that can buy you time when disruptions inevitably result in manufacturing. When it comes to mass manufacturing custom parts, there is zero room for error. It's not possible to hold inventory as your buffer for production issues. Reliability is everything in customization, it makes or breaks the business, without it you can't scale. To move to mass customization rapidly, a company needs to hone in on reliability and invest in the right technologies.
Companies in the consumer goods, medical, and dental industries are turning towards digital manufacturing as a cost-effective solution for customized goods: one that enables them to command premium prices while simultaneously demonstrating distinctive value. In this session, Carbon will highlight real-world examples of companies across industries that are already tapping into the movement, with customized products currently available for consumers at scale. Without the limitations of traditional tooling, the sky’s the limit for customization at scale, and it’s already being realized.
Learning Objectives:
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the challenge manufacturers face when trying to meet the demand for mass customization in their products.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to describe the importance of reliability in repeat production of customized products.
- Upon completion, participants will be able to list examples of companies across industries that have already made customized products available for consumers at scale.
