In the last decade, bicycles are experiencing a kind of renaissance. The availability of lightweight materials, improved safety systems and increased convenience, as well as models with an electric motor make them an increasingly attractive means of transportation.

In addition, bicycles are becoming more and more beautiful. Small manufacturers, custom-made workshops and independent designers are rediscovering for us a modest two-wheeled vehicle, endowing it with the most modern forms and technologies.

Do you have a bicycle and does it suit you "perfectly"? Would you like to have another one? If you are willing to pay 20-30% more than you would have to pay for the same car of conventional mass production, then you have the opportunity to buy a two-wheeled miracle from Panasonic, created based on your height, weight and decorated in your chosen color scheme. And such bike can be obtained within three weeks (and even two if you are in Japan). All this was made possible by a process known among experts as the Panasonic Individual Customer System (PICS), which can be translated as "Panasonic's Individual Approach System". This process involves computer systems, robots and small teams of professionals who develop exclusive bicycle models at the company's factory and have been producing bicycles under the Panasonic brand since 1987. After the introduction of the system of individual order in the Japanese market, the company became the object of close international attention as a classic example of mass production of individual orders, as production in accordance with the order per unit. Today only 21 specialists work at the factory. It is equipped with an automated design system and is able to produce 8,000,000 different variations based on 18 basic models of racing, road and mountain bikes. At the same time the customer is given the opportunity to choose any of 199 types of color design, and the bike can be made for the buyer of any height and weight. The system works this way.

The customer visits his local Panasonic bike shop, where he is measured with a special device. The store owner then faxes all the data to the factory lab. There, the operator enters all the technical data into a computer, which automatically creates a unique drawing and displays a barcode. It takes about three minutes to create a drawing using an computer-aided design system. To imagine how fast it is, it is enough to compare this figure with the three hours it took a group of draughtsmen to complete this work without computerizing the operation. Next, the barcode is applied to metal parts with the appropriate technical characteristics, which will later become a bicycle with a specific specification. At different stages of the process, workers can use a barcode and a scanner to obtain information about specific customer requirements. This information, displayed on the screens of electronic terminals, is fed directly to computer-controlled equipment, which is connected by a local computer network. At each stage of production, the computer, reading the code, learns that this component belongs to a particular bike, and indicates the work, how to attach it, or a painting machine - what color pattern to use. Despite the widespread use of computers and robots, the process of creating a bicycle is not fully automated. So, for example, welding of gear wheels and final assembly is carried out manually. In addition, the master puts the name of the future owner on each unit of production through a mesh stencil. The full cycle of production and assembly of one bicycle takes 150 minutes and the factory is capable to let out to 60 cars a day. It should be noted that at another factory of the same company, specializing in the serial production of bicycles (which, incidentally, is 90% of the annual production of the company), the production of a unit of production takes only 90 minutes.

Question:

1. Do you think that custom-made bicycles are an example of "mass customization"? Why? Give your arguments.

2. What are the operational advantages and disadvantages of such business model ?