A Service-Oriented Architecture for Mass Customization—A Shoe Industry Case Study

The ability of enterprises to react quickly to changes in the business environment is becoming imperative. mass customization (MC) is introduced as a competitive strategy for diversified markets by combining principles of mass production and individualization. Here, information systems (IS) are needed for supporting the entire value chain, especially for managing product and process complexity. Based on a dynamic view of enterprises working together, context-specific IT-services must be provided for successful MC. In software engineering, a similar concept called service-oriented architecture (SOA) is receiving lot of attention. By integrating all the elements of business networks (including organizations and IS) in a loosely coupled manner, technical representation of value processes can be established. In this paper, we present a SOA-based approach for MC and illustrate it with a case study from the shoe industry, based on a publicly-funded research project called "EwoMacs."

I. Introduction

The competitive environment of companies has increasingly intensified over the past few years due to globalization, high rate of innovation and scarcity of resources. Growing customer requirements and changes in consumer behavior are forcing companies to adjust to market changes quickly by having to redesign and change products constantly. Mass customization (MC) provides the conceptual framework for the combination of mass production and individual goods and services. With individual goods, which are adapted to customer requirements, the needs of diversified markets can also be supplied [1], [2].