The Big Dream: Custom To Order

Time is hosting an editorial by Ron Bloom, a former White House staffer, that is downright Pollyannaish on the potential of the US car market. Whether you buy into his vision or not (increased electric power yes, US manufacturing jobs coming home not so much), and there's really something for everyone, I found one particular point that merits a closer look.

Finally, we will see dramatic changes in the way that we manufacture cars. Our production methods today are still largely based on the methods developed by Henry Ford, but we are fast moving to a world of customized, on-demand manufacturing where the consumer can build their car from the ground up, sending their plans directly to the factory floor for rapid assembly.

To be clear, I am a fan of this vision. I have long love affair with this vision. Yet I can't reconcile the timing involved. Consider the sequence.

1. The buyer will visit a site or similar input to place an order for a vehicle customized their taste. 
2. The manufacturing plant will receive the order and fire up the machines and people necessary to put it all together. 
3. The finished product will be shipped to the buyer's location. 

Let's look into each of these steps.

1. How will the buyer conduct their shopping prior to purchase, will the manufacturer be expected to create a sample line and ship them out and wait? 
2. Since people, energy and materials are expensive how are the manufactures going to muster and apply these force efficiently without stretches of expensive downtime?
3. What will it cost to deliver a one off vehicle to a third tier rural dealer and how long is the buyer willing to wait for delivery?

Timing is usually an issue of sacrifice and compromise within the product triangle of speed, price, and reliability. How close can you get to the user's assumed timeline? Where your system diverges, compromise. 

That's not to say this isn't a model that could work in the right conditions, very large or exotic jobs where getting it right justifies the margins that make customization a legitimate value. Porsche has been running a successful made-to-order program for some time. Could it be executed as a general sale process? Certainly not.