Z E M C H 2 0 1 2 I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o n f e r e n c e
20
decisions concerning all customisation units are simultaneously made
. It must
be emphasised that the tree presented in
is tentative and almost hypothetical
due to the fact that the customisation process of Company 3 was not clearly established
when this investigation was undertaken. This tree has several vertical levels and only
one horizontal level. This implies that the client has to consider simultaneously several
customisation units, which may create burden of choice, since there are several
customisation units that need to be considered at the same time and the client might go
back and forth in selecting the items for each of these. Yet, having all customisation units
in a single branch provides the client with an overview of all the customisable items of a
product.
Figure 7: Configuration sequence in case study 3 (Rocha,
2011)
The configuration process in this study seems to work if the client selects the same items
in each of the customisation units for all the dwelling units of a scheme. For instance, if
the client selects thirty dwelling units and all of these have the same specification in
terms of the roofing, windows and doors, external cladding, and kitchen and bathroom
fit-outs. Yet, the configuration process does not enable clients’ to configure sub-sets of
dwellings with different specifications. This might be necessary, for example, if a client
wishes to create different streetscapes for a scheme. The main problem is that
C6 –
types of dwelling
is mixed up with the other customisation units in a single branch, when
in fact it should be defined prior to them.
illustrates how the configuration process could be changed to address these
problems. In the first level, the client would select the types of dwellings. In the second
level the client would create sub-sets of dwelling units that would have the same features
in terms of finishing, fixtures, roofing, and windows and doors. In other words, the items
selected in C1, C2, C3, C4, and C5 would apply to all dwelling units forming each sub-.
Ultimately, if clients would like each dwelling unit to be different from the others in terms
of specifications, they could assign each of these as a sub-set.
