Tailor-made approach brings rewards

For Haier Group, one of China's largest electronic and electronics goods manufacturers, the one-model-fits-all approach is no longer an option.

People now want air conditioners or refrigerators to fully blend in with their home decor and style.

Wang Youning, general manager for home air conditioner products at Haier, says that customization will be the key to success in China's home appliance industry, which is facing pressure from rising inventories and higher costs.

"Customization is changing every part of our life," he says. "When it comes to the home appliance industry, it is even more so, because today a customer wants more than an air conditioner or a purifier, he also wants it to be part of a home's decoration."

To meet the demand of people who want to personalize their shopping experience, Haier is adopting the model of "mass customization" to provide specialized products.

The Qingdao-based group built an "online factory" in Zhengzhou, Henan province, to allow customization of production by empowering online consumers to control the manufacturing process based on their desired specifications. Though the "mass customization" model presents a challenge to the production process, the factory in Zhengzhou is capable of addressing the problem with its high-level of automation, says Zhang Weijie, director of engineering and technology at Haier.

When a customer places an order online, a specialist will work with him to develop customized plan together, according to Zhang.

"Even names, photos and logos can be added to the model. We have to adapt to the modern trend of industrialization, otherwise we will be left out of the market," he says.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 04/10/2015 page20)