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for both parties best interest. For the company, those events play a key role in product development,
representing an opportunity to learn about customers’ needs, as well as to guide them through the
decision‐making process. The physical prototypes built by the company can also be considered as an
effective practice for communicating with the customer, by showing standardized units and also
making available samples of finishing and fittings. In addition to the physic prototype, a virtual
prototype seems to be a good alternative to bring light to the decision‐making process during the
presentation of customisation options. The combined use of virtual prototype and a CM seems to be an
improvement opportunity for supporting decision‐making, for instance by using Building Information
Modelling (BIM). Additionally, BIM could support information management, visualization and
collaborative processes involving different sectors.
One of the main improvement opportunities identified in figure 1 is how the company uses visual
management to make information about customisation available to customers, so that they become
aware about the options available to make decisions. Moreover, SBP tool can be used for mapping the
overall customisation process, making explicit and connecting the underlying support processes
throughout the organization that drive and support customer‐focused service execution [22]. A road
map for the customers can be summed up from the SBP overall process, including all steps in the
customisation process, and what will be offered in each of them, how much it will cost, which decisions
they will need to make, and when, among others. Another possible discussion is related to the
appropriate moment to offer customisation units, and better understand the productivity‐flexibility
trade‐offs involved in the definition of those moments.
5. Conclusions
This paper discusses the process underpinning the development of a CM and investigates the
definition and offer of customisation units through different CODP in a house building company. Based
on the preliminary results of the investigation, the following guidelines have been proposed: (i) design
a road map for customer and company, including all steps in the customisation process and what will
be offered in each of them – improving the relationship company‐customer; (ii) define the solution
space using data from the previous projects or potential customers regarding customers’ preferences
on customisable attributes; (iii) structure the database of the customisation process according to set of
concepts related to the customisation strategy: solution space, customisation units, among others; (iv)
understand the appropriate moment to offer customisation units; (v) propose a choice menu to guide
the selection of the customisation units through the configuration process; (vi) use physical and virtual
prototypes (i.e. Building Information Modelling) to bring light to the decision‐making process during
the presentation of customisation options; (vii) use moments of interaction with customers as
opportunities for learning about their needs as well as guiding them through the decision‐making
process; and (viii) enable the collaborative work between sectors, standardizing and improving the
share of information.
Moreover, it is important to recognise the emerging nature of customisation demands, and then
the importance of understanding and connecting the activities that occurs between different players
with their own requirements and constraints. This means the companies need to take a more holistic
approach in the customisation process, and that the reductionist approach found in the literature about
CMs seems to be ineffective in the residential building market, due to the complexity of the product
and the long‐term impact of decisions.
There are still many elements from the definition of MC strategy to be discussed and researched,
such as the underlying ideas from current best practices, the definition of the solution space and
customisation units, and understanding of interdependencies between customisation units. This paper
has scratched the surface of the necessary process to define a CM.
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ZEMCH 2019 International Conference l Seoul, Korea