Progress and Challenges in Product Configuration Systems Development

Mass customization and configure-toorder production are modern business strategies in which the goods and services offered by a company are tailored and individualized according to the specific needs and preferences of the customer. The classical examples of such configurable products include cars, personal computers, and various types of comparably complex technical devices; today, however, you can also create your custom muesli, skateboard, or travel package over the Web. Mass customization and configure-toorder are based on the idea that the final customer product can be assembled and configured based on a predefined set of components, to keep the individualization costs and the corresponding sales prices low. This contrasts with other strategies such as engineerto-order, in which customer-individual goods are manufactured,