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The importance of incorporating customer preferences into product specifications for successful customized product design has been well recognized. An approach based on the identification of customer need patterns is proposed in this paper for better understanding of customer preferences and accordingly to enhance the product definition for customization and personalization. A tree‐structured classification algorithm is formulated for the identification of customer need patterns. Accordingly, a two‐phase methodology is developed for effective product definition. A case study of power supply products is reported to illustrate the feasibility and potential of the proposed approach.

This paper presents a database system developed to provide a computerized environment for requirement management during the product definition phase. The scope of this database system is to facilitate and demonstrate a methodology for product definition by recognizing and adopting functional requirement patterns from previous product designs so as to address a broad spectrum of domain‐specific customer requirements and organize requirement information for product specifications. The database system improves the product definition process during design and redesign efforts by integrating customer and design information all together and by reusing this information. A prototype requirement management database system is implemented on a PC platform using Microsoft Access.

Proposes a pragmatic approach to product costing. The approach involves two stages, namely the preparatory stage and the production stage. In the preparatory stage, standard routings are first extracted from existing products. A generic activity hierarchy is established according to the analysis of standard routings, where cost drivers for each activity are identified and summarized by appropriate Cost‐related Design Features (CDFs). Then the Maynard Operation Sequence Technique (MOST) is employed to analyze each operation of standard routings to determine the associated standard time. Historical cost data are analyzed to induce the relationships between the CDFs and standard time, namely Time‐Estimating Relationships (TERs). By allocating plant‐wide overhead costs to standard routings, the unit price of standard time is established to indicate Cost‐Estimating Relationships (CERs). A library of material costs is also summarized from existing products. In the production stage, CDFs are first induced from the schematic of a new design. Then a “dummy process plan” for this design can be inferred and used to retrieve the associated TERs to determine its time estimate. Once a standard time has been estimated, CERs can be applied to compile the total product cost by adding the estimated material costs. A case study conducted in an electronics enterprise is also reported.

Mass customization aims at satisfying individual customer needs while keeping mass production efficiency. This paper discusses the employment of concurrent engineering for realizing mass customization. Concurrent design for mass customization (CDFMC) is put forward by extending the traditional boundaries of product design to encompass a larger scope spanning from sales and marketing to distribution and services. In addition, CDFMC advocates designing product families instead of individual products. The paper develops a concept of product family architecture (PFA) to support CDFMC via assisting different functional departments within a manufacturing enterprise to work together cohesively. The rationality of CDFMC lies in synchronizing market positioning, soliciting customer requirements, increasing commonality in product designs, and enhancing manufacturing scale of economy.

Customized product development is facing the challenges of maintaining mass producibility and exploring customer perception on target products. This paper reports an approach by combining virtual prototyping (VP) with design by manufacturing simulation techniques. By constructing virtual prototypes, accurate assessments of mass producibility and customer acceptance will enable better informed design of customized products. The primary goal of VP for customized product development is to provide a multidisciplinary design definition and rapid prototyping environment for concept development and a tailored, scenario‐based simulation environment for concept evaluation within a single facility. This design environment facilitates the capture and utilization of information generated during the design phase, and the simultaneous generation, at design time, of manufacturing, materials, costing, and scheduling data, together with visual evaluation of customer perception on target products, hence supporting the implementation of concurrent engineering.

Recognizing the rationale of a product family architecture (PFA) with respect to design for mass customization (DFMC), this paper discusses the fundamental issues underlying a PFA, including product information modeling, structural implications of product families, functional variety versus technical variety, class‐member relationships inherent in variety, modularity and commonality, PFA design spaces, and PFA composition. The background research is reviewed in terms of product architecture and modularity, product platform and product families, and product modeling and design process models. To organize product varieties in DFMC, a PFA should be described from three different perspectives, namely the functional (as seen from customer, sales and marketing viewpoints), behavioral (as seen from the product technology or design engineer perspective) and structural (as seen from the fulfillment or manufacturing and logistic perspective). Meeting diverse customer requirements and achieving volume economy simultaneously can be best achieved by synchronizing these three perspectives. In fact, the mappings between PFA views manifest the cooperative effort among different business functions, whilst three PFA views facilitate the integration of different phases of product development.

The growing importance of the service sector in almost every economy in the world has created a significant amount of interest in service operations. In practice, many service sectors have sought and made use of various enhancement programs to improve their operations and performance in an attempt to hold competitive success. As most researchers recognize, service operations link with customers. The customers as participants act in the service operations system driven by the goal of sufficing his/her added values. This is one of the distinctive features of service production and consumption. In the paper, first, we propose the idea of service operations improvement by mapping objectively the service experience of customers from the view of customer journey. Second, a portraying scheme of service experience of customers based on the IDEF3 technique is proposed, and last, some implications on service operations improvement are given.

In response to growing global warming issues and the constant increase of energy prices, housebuilders and housing manufacturers today are becoming more responsive to the delivery of net zero energy and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission sustainable homes than ever. Within this context, the sustainability may embrace housing economy and adequacy beyond the legitimacy in which the quality barely coincides with individuals' dynamic various needs, desires and expectations. Nevertheless, the industry's business operation tends to follow routines and the close system mode of operation often hinders the enterprises from adopting unfamiliar innovations which may be inevitable in realising the delivery and operation of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable homes.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for improving health services provided by the pre‐employment medical fitness check‐up system affiliated to Egypt's Health Insurance Organization (HIO).

Operations research, notably system re‐engineering, is used in six randomly selected centers and findings before and after re‐engineering are compared. The re‐engineering model follows a systems approach, focusing on three areas: structure, process and outcome. The model is based on six main components: electronic booking, standardized check‐up processes, protected medical documents, advanced archiving through an electronic content management (ECM) system, infrastructure development, and capacity building. The model originates mainly from customer needs and expectations.

The centers' monthly customer flow increased significantly after re‐engineering. The mean time spent per customer cycle improved after re‐engineering – 18.3±5.5 minutes as compared to 48.8±14.5 minutes before. Appointment delay was also significantly decreased from an average 18 to 6.2 days. Both beneficiaries and service providers were significantly more satisfied with the services after re‐engineering. The model proves that re‐engineering program costs are exceeded by increased revenue.

Re‐engineering in this study involved multiple structure and process elements. The literature review did not reveal similar re‐engineering healthcare packages. Therefore, each element was compared separately.

This model is highly recommended for improving service effectiveness and efficiency.

This research is the first in Egypt to apply the re‐engineering approach to public health systems. Developing user‐friendly models for service improvement is an added value.