Article ID: | iaor2009175 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 35 |
Issue: | 2 |
Start Page Number: | 147 |
End Page Number: | 168 |
Publication Date: | Apr 2005 |
Journal: | Decision Sciences |
Authors: | Vonderembse Mark A., Ragu-Nathan T.S., Tu Qiang, Ragu-Nathan Bhanu |
Keywords: | decision theory |
As uncertainty in markets and technology intensifies, more companies are adopting modular product and process architectures to cope with increasing demands for individually customized products. Modularity-based manufacturing is the application of unit standardization or substitution principles to create modular components and processes that can be configured into a wide range of end products to meet specific customer needs. This study defines modularity-based manufacturing practices (MBMP), develops a valid and reliable instrument to measure MBMP, builds a framework that relates customer closeness, MBMP, and mass customization capability, and tests structural relationships within this framework using LISREL.