Development of a web-based mass customization platform for bicycle customization services

Abstract

Bicycle manufacturing is a mature industry in Taiwan and several companies already own the world-known brands such as Giant, Merida and KHS. These companies based on not only their core design capabilities but also well established supply chain to delivery high quality products to their customers. However, none of them focus on providing bicycle customization services to a single customer with affordable price. In contrast with these companies, some small workshops provide full customize services, but the price is not suitable for general public. This paper develops a web based masscustomization platform to aid the bicycle customization services through cyberspace. The online platform composes of two major parts, which are the bicycle requirement extraction service and the custom bicycle specification management service. These two modules can assist customers define their needs intuitively (and often at home) while maintain their spending within budgetary constraints. By using these two modules, the bicycle industry can establish an easy customization process for the mass general market. Further, with the mass customization function online, all customer orders and specifications are collected in electronic forms in realtime in order to optimize production planning and execution for quick market response and order fulfillment. © Springer-Verlag London Limited 2009.