Mitchell M. Tseng and Frank T. Piller

21    Segmented Adaptive Production Control 

Enabling mass customization manufacturing
         

Jens R. Lopitzsch and Hans-Peter Wiendahl
Institute of Production Systems and Logistics, University of Hanover, Germany

In order to generate product variants not only by customized assembly of standard parts but by individual manufacturing processes, an innovative production control is necessary. In this chapter, the methodology of the Segmented Adaptive Production Control is presented to perform this task. The approach combines the two basic control principles push and pull. Using the mass-production character of the pull principle and merging it with the customer-oriented push principle, the basic approach of mass customization is applied to production control. The sophisticated system allows controlling the manufacturing of both, parts manufactured in mass production as well as customized parts, at the same work stations.