Part -1:

1. Using television receivers as an example, how could three different brands be perceived by different consumers as being the best quality brand in the market?

2. Explain how constraints in manufacturing are interrelated with a company's decisions regarding volume and variety.

3. Why would a company's cost of manufacturing and procurement tend to increase as the firm changes from an MTP to an MTO strategy? Why would inventory costs tend to decrease?

4. How does a firm's marketing strategy impact its decisions regarding the appropriate manufacturing strategy?

5. Many people think of lean systems as being incompatible with mass customization and flexible manufacturing. Why is this conclusion incorrect?

6. What are the key elements of design for manufacturing and for logistics'?

Part -2:

1. Why do you think Levi Strauss eventually dropped its program for mass customization?

2. What alternative approaches would you recommend to Levi Strauss to more precisely match customer requirements?

3. What are the critical success factors for M&Ms BMW, and Reebok in their mass cus-tomization strategies?

4. Choose a product that is important to you personally. How could a manufacturer imple-ment the critical success factors you identified in the previous question to mass custom¬ize the product you selected?