Extended value network modelling and simulation for mass customization implementation

Mass customization (MC) which was introduced by Davis (Future perfect, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA 1987) has become a reality; nevertheless not all MC stories had a happy ending. Many companies implementing MC failed while some others succeeded such as National Bicycles Industrial Company of Japan, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Benetton, Chryslers, and Dell. How to determine the best MC strategy to be implemented or even if such a strategy should be adopted? In the literature many methods for implementing MC are found, however none of these propose a structured way for implementing and evaluating such a strategy as a whole, each concentrated on one department or phase of the supply or value chains. We suggest in this paper the use of extended value network modelling and simulation for evaluating an MC strategy, and we describe the modelling language used and the approach which will be applied into shoemaking industries via a European project named DOROTHY.