An Overview of the Customisation Strategies Developed by Four Organisations of the House-Building Sector

Cecilia Gravina da Rocha1, Carlos Torres Formoso2 & Aguinaldo dos Santos3

1Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Postgraduate Program in Civil Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), 3rd floor, 99 Osvaldo Aranha Av., Centro, 90035-190, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Phone +55 51 3308 3518, [email protected]
2Professor, Postgraduate Program in Civil Engineering, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), 3rd floor, 99 Osvaldo Aranha Av., Centro, 90035-190, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil, Phone +55 51 3308 3518, [email protected]
3Professor, Nucleo de Design e Sustentabilidade, Federal University of ParanĂ¡ (UFPr), Rua general Pedro Carneiro, 460, 7th floor, room 717, 80060-150, Curitiba, PR, Brazil, Phone +55 41 3360 3313, [email protected]

Abstract

Mass customisation (MC) refers to the provision of customised products while striving to maintain the efficiencies of mass-production. Such concept has emerged in the manufacturing sector but can also be deployed by the construction industry to add more value to products. This paper analysis the customisation strategies developed by four organisations of the house-building sector using a conceptual framework. Such organisations have differences in terms of the scale of the product provided, the amount of years they have been operating, and the stage in the product development process that they are at. Two organisations are located in Brazil and the other two are located in the UK. This paper aims to explore how customisation strategies based on the MC approach can be pursued under different organisational contexts. An underlying proposition of this paper is that MC can add value to housing products and that it can be adapted and tailored to be used in different organisational contexts. The case studies with the four organisations aim to illustrate that. Such studies also provide an initial step in exploring how MC can be tailored to particular organisational contexts within the construction industry.

Keywords

Customisation, housing, decision making, strategies, design.

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Reference

Rocha, C. G. , Formoso, C. T. & Santos, A. D. 2012. An Overview of the Customisation Strategies Developed by Four Organisations of the House-Building Sector, 20th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction , -. doi.org/

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