Evaluation of postponement structures to accommodate mass customization

For the most general model, a numerical experiment was designed to investigate how different factors affect the performance of the TP and FP structures. Through this experiment we show that higher arrival time and process time variations make the FP structure more favorable while increases in the number of products and higher interest rates make the TP structure more favorable. We also offer guidance to managers using either structure on where to allocate resources for performance improvement. For example, to improve the customer waiting times under the FP structure, increasing the coverage of the generic component and reducing the number of products provide larger benefits than reducing the variability of the arrival and process times.