Balancing Mass Customization with Service

Summary

Manufacturers are increasing offering mass customization but this can lead to overwhelming the customer and bogging down operations. What is the right balance and how to achieve this?

Content

I work at an electronics components manufacturer called AirBorn and we currently have 12 product lines, with anywhere from 6-12 product families each. With each product family, we offer customers a wide range of options, which leads to tens of thousands of possible part numbers. We build everything to order so regardless of the part, customers must wait 4-30 weeks to receive their orders. The company has always had a "yes we can do it" mentality and while this mentality may sound good in the world of service, it is actually detrimental to our service. Because though we offer a wide