Studies on the information potential energy and the information difference in Networked Mass Customization

The reason of Mass Customization coming into being is that the manufacture abilities afforded by the producers can not meet the individuation demands in the market. That is information asymmetry between the producers and the consumers. Based on the analyzing the information of demands, the attribute information of product, the reason and influence of the information asymmetry of the formers, this paper defines the basal definitions about the information asymmetry degree (IAD),the information potential energy (IPE) and the information difference (ID). The information character of each stage in the course of discrete manufacturing mass customization is described with the IPE and the ID. It is discussed that the IPE and the ID existing dynamically are one of the indispensable conditions which ensure the manufacturing system operating availability. Networked Mass Customization (NMC) is beneficial to information flowing smoothly across the stages in the system. It conduces to adopt the methods and techniques, as modularization, standardization, Quality Function Deployment, Product Data Management, Business Process Reengineering, supply chain management, to optimize resource following the restrictions of time and cost, which results in the ID depressing gradually and the IPE tending equation to meet the individuation and the diversification of the market.