Product Development Processes for Individualized Products: A Case Study

The demand for individualized products is continuously increasing. For this purpose, product development processes are already established in companies. However, these processes are typically based on mass products and are not necessarily suitable for individualized products. Hence, the question emerges of how to develop and manufacture individualized products in a corporate product development setup. The characteristics of individualized products and a multiple-case study in seven companies made apparent that product development processes for complex individualized products should be adapted according to the specific requirements and relate to specific product development methods. More specifically, results indicate that a prior definition and assurance of boundaries as well as free spaces through pretested products is key, as the validation stage is constrained for such products. Methods such as in-process monitoring, postprocessing, and responsibility sharing (co-design) and the use of expert tools foster such product development processes. That gives practitioners the possibility to develop and manufacture individualized products efficiently by adapting the product development process and using the right methods. Based on these results and the literature review, we propose a novel definition of individualized products and a holistic product development process that may support discussions of the relevance of mass individualization as a new paradigm.