Mass Customization in Food Industries: Case and Literature Study

The food industry currently faces demands for more diverse products. This introduces a different competitive environment than the food industry has traditionally experienced. A possible solution to the change in customer demand is to apply the business strategy, mass customization, which enables customized products at prices near that of mass-produced products. Although mass customization has been utilized in several different industries, the food industry has not yet seen this business strategy widely adopted. This paper presents a literature review, which only reveals few works within mass customization in the food industry. The limited literature covers food manufacturing processes, product configuration, and supply chain. To examine the potentials and challenges of mass customization in the food industry, a case study of a food manufacturer is conducted. It becomes evident that the case company has challenges with mastering the capabilities required to achieve mass customization. The challenges identified in this study are (1) no product solution space development, (2) limited knowledge of raw material, (3) manual equipment adjustment, (4) dedicated software and hardware solutions, and (5) limited choice navigation. In light of the listed challenges and the limited literature in the field, it is clear that more research is imperative in order to enable mass customization in the food industry.