 Have Direct Web Page Contact with CustomersProvide Product Customization with Fast Response |
Lean companies
- Allow customers to configure and order their product on the web
- Understand what their customers want
- Have product designs and manufacturing systems to support customization
Traditional companies
- Cannot handle even minor customizations or configuration changes without major disruptions and costs
- Quote very long delivery times for make-to-order goods
Benefits of Lean
- Gives customers the goods they want on-time, every time
- Creates loyalty for retention of customers
| "The customer will be able to configure the vehicle over the Internet and
climb behind the wheel within a few days', declares Mark T. Hogan, the manufacturing
executive named to head GM's new online division, dubbed e-GM."
- Customers Move into the Driver's Seat, Business Week, October 4, 1999 |
| "The twin logic of mass customization and one-to-one marketing binds producer
and consumer together in what we call a learning relationship - an ongoing
connection that becomes smarter as the two interact with each other, collaborating
to meet the consumer's needs over time."
- Do You Want to Keep Your Customers Forever?, B. Joseph Pine II, Don Peppers, and Martha Rogers, Harvard Business Review March-April 1995 |
| "Henry Ford's famous car in any color - as long as it's black - is one type
of compromise. Such a compromise denies customers the selection they want. Or
customers are forced to wait."
- Breaking Compromises, Breakaway Growth, George Stalk, Jr., David K. Pecaut, and Benjamin Burnett, Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct 1996 |