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Pattern description
Pattern description
Within user manufacturing, a customer is both the manufacturer and the consumer. As an example, an online platform provides the customer with the necessary support in order to design and merchandise the product, e.g., product design software, manufacturing services, or an online shop to sell the product. Thus, the company only supports the customers in their undertakings and benefits from their creativity. The customer benefits from the potential to realize entrepreneurial ideas without having to provide the required infrastructure. Revenue is then generated as part of the actual sales.
Inventive problems
Inventive problems
It is necessary to invest in new products development in order to create the new products
There is no need to invest in new products development in order to reduce costs.
The product characteristics should be standard in order to scale up production.
The product characteristics should be unique in order to match the needs of each customer.
The company should perform a lot of customer relations operations and receive feedback in order to produce products that fully meet the needs of customers.
The company should minimize the number of customer relations operations to reduce costs.
Application examples
Application examples
US-based company Threadless is an online community of artists with an E-commerce website. Its co-founders Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company in 2000 with US $1,000 of their own money. Threadless designs are created, evaluated and chosen by an online community. Each week, about a thousand different designs are submitted online and then put to a public vote. After seven days the staff reviews the top-scoring designs. Based on the average score and community feedback, some ten designs are selected weekly, to be printed on clothing and other products. They are sold worldwide through the online store and the company’s retail store in Chicago. Designers whose work is printed receive US $2,000 in cash and US $500 in Threadless gift cards. Each time a design is reprinted, the respective artist receives an additional US $500.
Danish toy manufacturer Lego applied it very successfully to the toy industry. The Lego Factory service provides the online design tools, manufacturing infrastructure and a sales platform. Customers utilise this flexible production technology to realise their creative ideas and bring their product to the online marketplace. The platform embraces its customers’ creativity and ideas, without being concerned about a possible failure of the product to sell: Thus Lego benefits from custom-products that exactly match customers’ perceptions. The company calculates which bricks are needed for a model and sends them directly to the customer’s home.
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