Effects of combining product-centric control and direct digital manufacturing: The case of preparing customized hose assembly kits

The case study presents the effects of combining product-centric control and direct digital manufacturing (DDM) in the preparation of customized assembly kits. The theoretical contribution of the paper is in describing a combinatorial innovation in operations and production management: how to use product-centric control to make DDM highly efficient when there are many generic and partly generic production resources. Evidence is found of many beneficial outcomes such as waste reduction, simplified planning, and improved customer responsiveness for the case of preparing customized assembly kits for hydraulic hoses.