Books on Mass Customization and Build to Order.

"Build-to-Order & Mass Customization; the Ultimate Supply Chain Management and Lean Manufacturing Strategy for Low-Cost On-Demand Production without Forecasts or Inventory," by Dr. David M. Anderson, (2008, CIM Press, 805-924-0200), Hardbound, 520 pages, ISBN 1-878072-30-7; now discounted to $25. Leading-edge methodologies correspond to Dr. Anderson’s consulting and seminars.

Free BTO book, signed by the author, for US callers. Just call Dr. Anderson at 805-924-0100 (after 8:30 am Pacific) for a free assessment of how much these methodologies can help your company

Description: This new book challenges many conventional practices and shows how to implement a revolutionary business model with evolutionary self-supporting steps. Instead of managing complex supply chains, the book has five chapters to show how to simplify supply chains to the point where parts can be spontaneously resupplied without forecasts or purchase orders. Instead of wrestling with all the problems of inventory, "on-demand lean production" can build products spontaneously without any finished-goods inventory. This and several other cost reduction strategies allow significant reductions in total cost. The same production facilities can build-to-order a wide variety of standard products and mass-customize products for niche markets or individual customers.
The book is written for both managers and implementers with a 64 page executive overview of the whole book followed by 400 pages of detailed methodologies and implementation strategies. There are 300 sidebars throughout the book that emphasize key points.

Many product scenarios has been worked out for several industries and will be published in the subsequent "Build-to-Order & Mass Customization Casebook." These specific methodologies are available now for consulting and seminars clients.

Design for Manufacturability: How to Use Concurrent Engineering to Rapidly Develop Low-Cost, High-Quality Products for Lean Production

DFM Book Features

Explains how to develop manufactured products right the first time
Describes how to significantly reduce total costs, raise quality, and achieve the quickest time to stable production
Illustrates how to make the most from lessons learned from previous/similar projects
Details how to design parts for optimal manufacturability and concurrently engineer factory processes
Spells out how to work with purchasing people early on to select parts and materials that maximize quality and availability while assuring desired functionality

DFM Book Summary

Design for Manufacturability: How to Use Concurrent Engineering to Rapidly Develop Low-Cost, High-Quality Products for Lean Production shows how to use concurrent engineering teams to design products for all aspects of manufacturing with the lowest cost, the highest quality, and the quickest time to stable production. Extending the concepts of design for manufacturability into to an advanced product development model, the book explains how to simultaneously make major improvements in all these product development goals, while enabling effective implementation of Lean Production and quality programs.

Illustrating how to make the most of lessons learned from previous projects, the book proposes numerous improvements to current product development practices, education, and management. It outlines effective procedures to standardize parts and materials, save time and money with off-the-shelf parts, and implement a standardization program. It also spells out how to work with the purchasing department early on to select parts and materials that maximize quality and availability while minimizing part lead-times and ensuring desired functionality.

Describes how to design families of products for Lean Production, build-to-order, and mass customization
Emphasizes the importance of quantifying all product and overhead costs and then provides easy ways to quantify total cost
Details dozens of design guidelines for product design, including assembly, fastening, test, repair, and maintenance
Presents numerous design guidelines for designing parts for manufacturability
Shows how to design in quality and reliability with many quality guidelines and sections on mistake-proofing (poka-yoke)

Describing how to design parts for optimal manufacturability and compatibility with factory processes, the book provides a big picture perspective that emphasizes designing for the lowest total cost and time to stable production. After reading this book you will understand how to reduce total costs, ramp up quickly to volume production without delays or extra cost, and be able to scale up production rapidly so as not to limit growth.

"Half Cost Products: How to Develop, Build, and Deliver Products at Half the Total Cost," is being written by David M. Anderson. These ultimate cost-reduction strategies are available now through Dr. Anderson’s seminars and consulting. There are many articles and a comprehensive eight-part cost reduction strategy at www.HalfCostProducts.com .

"Agile Product Development for Mass Customization; How to Develop and Deliver Products for Mass Customization, Niche Markets, JIT, Build-to-Order, and Flexible Manufacturing," by David M. Anderson, with an introduction by B. Joseph Pine II, published by McGraw-Hill in 1997 is now out of print. The book has been printed in a Chinese translation (simplified character Mandarin) from McGraw-Hill's Singapore office: www.asia-mcgraw-hill.com.sg

Table of Contents, Build-to-Order & Mass Customization

        Current Attempts at Build-to-Order 2
          Searching for Inventory 2
            Capital Equipment Built "To Order" 2
            BTO from Forecasted Parts Inventory 4
        Precedents 4
           Dell Computer 5
        Strategy For BTO&MC 7

        1923 – The Heyday of Mass Production 75
        If You Build It, They Might Come 75
        Forecasting – A High Stakes Gamble 77
        Defects by The Batch 79
        Its Only Overhead 79
        Take All Orders 80
        The Effect of Variety on Mass Production 81
        The Cost of Variety 82
        Trying to Make Mass Production Flexible 85
        Time For New Paradigms 86

        Part Proliferation 114
           The Cost of Part Proliferation 114
           Why Part Proliferation Happens 115
           The Results of Parts Proliferation 118
        Part Standardization Strategy 119
            New Products 119
            Existing Products 119
        Early Standardization Steps 119
            Eliminate Duplicate Parts 119
            Eliminate Approved but Unused Parts 121
            Part Listing 121
        Standardization Procedure 122
            The Zero-Based Approach 122
            Standard Part List Generation 124
            Part Standardization Results 130
        Tool Standardization 131
        Feature Standardization 132
        Processes Standardization 134
        Standardization of Expensive Parts 135
        Encouraging Standardization 138
        Why Standardization Is So Important 140
            Cost Reduction 141
            Quality 142
            Flexibility 143
            Responsiveness 144

        Problems With Setup 234
        Setup & Batch Elimination 235
            Setup & Batch Elimination Steps: 236
            Part Setup 236
            Part/Material Positioning Setup 237
            Tool & Tooling Setup 237
            CNC to Eliminate Machining Setup 238
            Program/Instruction Setup 239
            Process Variable Setup 239
            Manual Processing Setup 240
            Eliminating Setup with Dedicated Lines 240
            Parts with Unavoidable Setup 241
        Flow Manufacturing/One-Piece Flow 242
            Assuring Quality with One-Piece Flow 243
            Defining Product Families 243
            Cellular Manufacture 244
            U-Shaped Lines 245
            Machine Maintenance 246
            Line Balancing 246
        Leveling Production 247
            Artificially Induced Irregularities. 247
            Seasonal Products 250
        Capacity 251
            Short-Term Capacity Challenges 251
            Long-Term Capacity Challenges 252
        Results of Setup Elimination/Batch-Size-of-One Flow 253
        How BTO & Mass Customization Work 254
            BTO&MC for Fabricated Parts or Products, illustration 255
            BTO&MC for Electronic Systems, illustration 258
            BTO&MC for Manual Assembly, illustration 261

        Awkward, and Expensive, Customization Attempts 268
        The Buzz about Mass Customization 269
        What Mass Customization Really Is 271
        How to Mass-Customize 272
            Modular Customization 274
            Adjustable Customization 277
            Dimensional Customization 278
        Postponement 280
        What to Mass-Customize 281
        Extra Value-Added Opportunities 282
        Order Entry 283
        Marketing BTO & Mass Customization 284
        Combined Mass Customization And BTO 287
        The 98% Solution 288

PART IV: IMPLEMENTATION

        How Not to Achieve Low Cost 318
         Cost Measurements 320
            Usual Definition of Cost 320
            Part Cost Percentage Thru Outsourced Supply Chain 323
        Minimizing Cost Through Design 326
        Minimizing Product Development Expenses 328
        Minimizing Engineering Change Order Cost 332
        Minimizing the Cost of Quality 333
        Maximizing Factory Efficiency 335
        Rational Selection of Lowest Cost Supplier 335
        Lowering Overhead Costs with Flexibility 337
        Eliminating Inventory Costs 337
        Minimizing Customization/Configuration Costs 339
        Minimizing the Cost of Variety 340
        Minimizing Materials Management Costs 343
        Minimizing Marketing Costs 344
        Minimizing Sales/Distribution Costs 344
        Minimizing Supply Chain Costs 345
        Minimizing Life Cycle Costs 345
        Saving Cost with Build-to-Order 345
        Economies-of-Scale 348

        The Flexibility Spectrum 379
        BTO&MC Implementation 382
        Identify Goals and Drivers 382
        Obtain Customer Inputs 382
        Identify Where to Start 382
        Line up Resources 384
        Minimize Fears and Inhibitions 385
        Establish Criteria for "Within the BTO&MC System" 386
        Create Implementation Road Map 387
            Implementation Activities with Early Deliverables 388
            Implementation Cautions 390
        Focus And Staffing For BTO&MC 390
            Segregating BTO&MC and Oddball/Craft Products 392
        Product Families 393
            Grouping Products into Families 395
        BTO&MC Production Strategy 396
            High-Volume/No-Variation Products 396
            Medium-Volume/No-Variety Products 397
            Low-Volume/High-Variety and Custom Products 398
        Implementation Scenarios 398
            Build Standard Products To-Order 399
            Build Custom Products On-Demand 399
            Regional/Industry-Specific Plants 400
            Customer-Specific Lines 400
            Expand Downstream 401
            Expand Upstream 402
        Capital Costs For Implementation 402
            High-Volume Dedicated Production Lines 402
            Medium-Volume Dedicated Production Lines 403
            Low-Volume and Customized Products 403
            Capital Cost Summary 404
        Human Resources for Implementation 405
            View BTO&MC as an Investment 405
            Bring in Outside Expertise 406
            Start with Pilot(s) 406
            Combine Programs 406
            Minimize Competing Programs 407
            Focus on Compatible Products & Processes 407
            Redirect Cost Reduction Efforts 407
            Delegate Firefighting 408
            Offloading Responsibilities 408
            Identify Money-Losing Products 408
            Rationalization 408
        Downturn Strategies 409
            Don’t Lay off People 409
            Don’t Halt Training and Improvement Programs 412
            Don’t Compromise Product Development 413
            Don’t Keep Plants Busy Building Inventory 413
            Don’t Cut Prices 414
            Do Expand into Related Products/Services 415
            Do Pull in Outsourced Production, Selectively 415
            Do Improve Productivity and Invest in the Business 416
            Do Implement Improvement Programs 416

PART V: THE BOTTOM LINE

BUILD-TO-ORDER & MASS CUSTOMIZATION

DFM Book Features

DFM Book Summary

HALF COST PRODUCTS

AGILE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT FOR MASS CUSTOMIZATION

Table of Contents, Build-to-Order & Mass Customization