Customization Drives Complexity - Why It's Hard to Design, Sell, and Produce "Simple" Products
Jim Brown - September 9, 2003

The Customization Challenge

Imagine walking into a car showroom and saying "I want the late model sedan, but please give it to me with four more inches of legroom in the front, the tachometer moved to the left of the dash, and with an additional trunk release lever on the passenger side." What you would find is that the automotive industry, while they offer many features and options on their products, has significant limitations in providing truly customized products. But these types of requests are commonplace for highly configurable products like windows, doors, kitchen or bath cabinets, office furniture, and some industrial equipment like hydraulic valves...