An Information Infrastructure to Support the Prescription Process of Specific Customer-oriented Products

In order to address the market trends especially footwear companies are now forced to address the market and especially the individual customer with increased attention concerning the fulfillment of specific requirements. In that context, consumer needs and expectations of specific target groups such as diabetic persons are posing challenging opportunities. Reality has shown that the production of shoes for patients with diabetic foot is quite different from traditional footwear production. This occurs because each shoe has to be fully adapted for each patient and in accordance with a set of requirements prescribed by the podiatrist. This reality raises several procedural and information related constraints in the way the orthopedic manufacturer has to deal with the customer demand. Framed in this goal, the present work specifically addresses the information infrastructure support required for the diabetic foot patient's prescription process by proposing an overall approach based on web-based tools and innovative integration of technological solutions.