Challenges of Modular Product Families and Product Personalization - An Interview Study

Modular product architectures have so far solved the conflict between the differentiation demanded by the customer and the standardization preferred by the company. However, customers are becoming increasingly demanding and individual needs can be met less and less adequately with predefined modules. The interview study presented in this paper examines in more detail whether and in how far companies also consider this as a challenge and whether and in how far the strategy of targeted product personalization is a solution. This study shows, in particular, that the expansion of size series through individual parameterization is indeed often carried out, but is not planned and marketed as product personalization. The two greatest challenges of product personalization are seen in the reorganization of the company's structure, strategy and processes, and the targeted planning of personalization scopes in the product architecture. Personalization only succeeds if it is profitable and the implementation costs can be paid off. However, there has not yet been sufficient support for investigating the potentials of personalization for the own product family. The need for future research is highlighted.