COST REDUCTION THROUGH ASSEMBLY POSTPONEMENT IN MASS CUSTOMIZATION

This research focuses on the assembly postponement strategy to reduce costs in mass customization scenarios. Assembly postponement is a technique of delaying the product differentiation point when assembling multiple items from common components at the beginning of the production process. We extend Lee and Tang's (1997) assembly postponement network model by accounting for supply uncertainty and customer service levels agreement. A Bayesian Belief Networks (BBNs) approach is used to calculate inventory levels and costs resulting from customer service level requirements. To illustrate our model, we use the customization of a desktop PC as an example. The results from this dissertation provide several managerial and practical implications. First, our study account for customer service levels satisfaction in mass customization scenarios. Second, we show how practitioners can minimize operational costs for customized goods while accounting for supply uncertainty.

Name thesis:degree_name

PHD

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

College of Business and Entrepreneurship, Ambassador Crawford / Department of Management and Information Systems

Grantor dc:publisher

Kent State University

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Ngniatedema, Thomas

Contributors dc:contributor

• Shanker, Murali
• Hu, Michael

• Information Systems

Statement dc:rights

• unrestricted
• This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1299095930

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:kent1299095930