The Factory in the Post-Industrial Era

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Alexander Tsigkas

The factory in the post-industrial era
Variety instead of Flexibility
Mass Customisation: the production system of the future
Alexander Tsigkas
Democritean University of Thrace
Department of Production Engineering and Management
Vas. Sofias 12, 67 100 Xanthi, Greece [e-mail],
WWW home page: http://www.duth.gr

Abstract. The world has become and it continues to become more complex as we move well into the 21th century. In this paper sociological-historical, technologicalindustrial and architectural aspects are addressed and combined to discuss the phenomenon of Mass Customisation as a paradigm shift, where its individual parts find their meaning and deep character only in this context. Only in this context Mass
Customisation can be understood, otherwise it creates confusion. If the context changes, then traditional factories and organisations, based on the principles and the ideology implicit in the society of mass production, are out of focus. If Europe continues to base its policies and strategies on profit and cost only, as a single dimension problem, then refocusing is imminently needed, otherwise confusion will be increased and not lessened.
Profit and cost mathematics are not enough and sufficient to describe a complex world.
Based on Rechtin words that "profit is a matter of definition and cost is not an absolute", it looks as if the world is left to swing to its conventions of the 19th century economics and it is about to flop if refocus does not occur soon. In this new world the former East
Europe, can play a very important role. This part of Europe should not try to copy habits and traditions of its counterparts in the West (only a euphemism) but to lead the needed transformation into a pluralist post-industrial era.
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Tsigkas AC (2006) The factory in the post-industrial era variety instead of flexibility, mass customization: the production system of the future. In: Second conference CE

References: [1] Tsigkas, A. (2005) “Mass Customisation through Value Adding Communities”, 3rd World Wide Conference on Mass Customisation and [5] Kondylis, P. (2000) “From the 20th to the 21th century, Intersections in the politics of the planet”, for the Greek edition, Themelio, Athens, Greece [6] Maier, M, Rechtin, E. ( 2000) “The Art of System Architecting”, second edition, CRC Press [7] Schultz, D. (2006) “The competition in a saturated market”, Magazine Wood & Furniture, March 2006 (Greek translation of the article) [8] Jencks, C. (2002) “The New Paradigm in Architecture”, Yale University Press, New Haven and London Framework for an Demand Design (ODD)”, 2nd Interdiciplinary World Congress on Mass Customization and Personalization, TU Munich, 2003 Tsigkas AC (2006) The factory in the post-industrial era variety instead of flexibility, mass customization: the production system of the future