Implementing sustainable mass customization in real industrial environments : development of an operative reference framework

This thesis aims at supporting manufacturers to adapt to global competitive pressures by developing an innovative reference framework towards a customer oriented and sustainable manufacturing. This framework will constitute the backbone architecture for the subsequent integration of the two related pillars of the final SMCS solution (Design Tools and Assessment Model). To this end, thesis vision is to define and research a new production paradigm, Sustainable Mass-Customization, while also presenting Customization as one of the main driving forces behind the future success of Sustainability. At the Design Tools level, SMCS reference framework will provide the means for Data Models harmonization defining a coherent data infra-structure (Reference Model) where the Extended Product, Sustainable Factory and Supply Chain Data Models developed will be plugged. Thus, the research objective is to translate Ecological, Economical and Social concepts and their relationships with Mass Customization into a set of three concrete Sustainability Data Libraries constituting the shared foundation for the new extended models of Product, Sustainable MC Factory and Supply Chain of the Design Tools. At the Assessment Model level, the Reference Framework will act as an Information Manager, exposing to the Assessment Module a set of services to access the Reference Model and its plugged extensions in a structured manner. In other word this reference framework will consider the integration of sustainability strategy and mass customization strategy for a new product development process and considering the whole life cycle of the product. Therefore it will have a general look on main required activities for product, manufacturing system and the whole supply chain considering the above mentioned strategy.