The Evolutionary Process of Product Configurators

Abstract

The field of mass customization is constantly in an evolutionary process, which becomes obvious when observing product configurator offerings over a period of time. The evaluation of the biggest collection of product configurators, the Configurator Database (www.configurator-database.com), reveals which industries and product categories show the highest growth and where the offer is likely to decline. Besides having a look on statistical developments, the objective of this paper is to identify functional and visual changes of these crucial tools for mass customization. Based on case examples in the automotive industry, the user interfaces of configurators are researched with a special focus on visual elements and interaction possibilities.