COST E 53 Conference - Quality Control for Wood and Wood Products 49 Mass customized production and design processes for the parquet flooring industry Hans Häuslmayer 1 , Manfred Gronalt 1 , Alfred Teischinger 2 1 BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Department of Economics and Social Sciences, Institute of Production and Logistics, Feistmantelstr.4, A-1180 Vienna 2 BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Institute of Wood Science and Technology Keywords: mass customization, parquet industry, process redesign, supply chain reconfiguration ABSTRACT We propose new ideas of applying mass customization concepts in the production of wooden floorings, especially for the parquet industry. Due to market requirements this industry is obliged to observe special quality standards during production. The current grading system of hardwood does not meet the specific demands for the appearance of the wood in the final products. The standards are aimed at reducing the number of characteristics which define the various grading classes regarding the appearance of the boards. Mass customizing parquet flooring could open new business opportunities for the industry. In order to offer customers the possibility of individually composed floors, several types of customized modules instead of the currently produced floor boards can be manufactured. The transfer of natural patterns of wood into the final product by involving the customer in the design process was one goal of our research. Natural patterns and features, which would not be used in a standard driven production process, could be allowed. The target and advantage of the system is the higher added value of a low grade material and probably fewer complaints about defects of the final product by the customer. Our research explores these new production concepts in a case study approach with an Austrian manufacturer of parquet flooring, using simulation as a method. We analyze several possible product-variety/customer-order mixes and their distinctive production outcomes when producing different customized modules of floorboards. We also present new ideas how an individualized supply chain process in the production of parquet flooring could look like. INTRODUCTION The term Mass Customization has been coined in the late 1980ies and has become subject to research concerning operations management since Pine (1993). McCarthy (2004) defines Mass Customization as the capability of companies to produce a relatively high volume of product options for a relatively large market, which is demanding customized products without tradeoffs in cost, delivery and quality. Implications of mass customization on the supply chain, concerning information and material flows and the connection between product types and the decoupling point, have been researched for example by Yang and Burns (2003). Mass Customisation strategies, such as postponement, can also have effects on customer satisfaction. Reiner (2005) shows for a supplier of the telecommunication industry, that postponement strategies such as labeling imply a substantial potential for customer-oriented improvements. Sigg & Jonas (2003) report on applications of mass customization and use of postponement strategies as well as customized product configuration in furniture production. According to a Delphi-study of the wood-working-industry undertook by the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation over 25% of furniture shall be produced in lot size 1 on industrial scale (ProWood 2004). Working solutions for customized furniture design, production and ordering processes, like the famous IKEA kitchen configurator, are well known solution within the wood-working-industry. What concerns production processes of parquet flooring, in the last 30 years innovations have mainly taken place on the technical equipment side. State-of-the-art descriptions of production processes from the 1970ies (Kisseloff 1974) do not differ very much from analyses in the 1990ies (Hamberger 1995) or our observations of production processes in a case study in 2005. Mass customizing parquet flooring could open new business opportunities for this industry. In order to offer customers the possibility of individually composed floors, several types of customized modules 15th – 17th October 2007, Warsaw, Poland