Improving the Shoes Customization Process Through a Digitally-Enabled Framework

Abstract

Product customization is largely considered one of the most important competitive factors in several industrial sectors, including high-end footwear. However, in this sector, products are generally manufactured through manual and artisanal operations, processes are not standardized and repeatable, and the personal skills of expert operators play a leading role. The objective of the present paper is to propose a workflow enabled by a framework including several technologies (computer aided design tool, augmented reality systems, traceability infrastructure), to support industrial companies of the high-end footwear sector during the different phases of shoes customization (from configuration to delivery). All these technologies jointly contribute to innovate the shoes customization process by increasing the flexibility of internal processes, improving the ability of companies to answer to specific requirements thanks to the direct involvement of customers, maximizing the efficiency of data sharing, making the organizational, design, production and management processes more efficient and repeatable, and reducing the customer response time.