Mass Customization and Personalization: A Way to Improve Sustainability Beyond a Common Paradox

Abstract

While the entire world is measuring the energy spent in saving the environment, and sustainability is one of the trendiest words, the real meaning of the term and the way of making it more concrete is still not clear.

Which is the perception of “sustainability” among academics, industrials, and common people? This perception appears as basis of a generally accepted paradox that brings the market players discussing about “recycling and renovating” and not measuring real users’ needs.

The present paper tries to also understand how historically the market has produced the above paradox based on the economic value that dominates the global community.

The analysis of the confusion about “end-of-life” and “beginning-of-life” of a product among consumers demonstrates the generation of a collective contradiction. The paradox of our society is in fact based on the consciousness of the “end-of-life” of the mass-produced products but with total ignorance of the waste energy for products never sold (“beginning-of-life”).

The paper proposes a change in production paradigm as a possible solution to go beyond the paradox. Where today mass production (MP) is still the dominant paradigm, mass customization (MC) and personalization is becoming more accepted and feasible also, thanks to the technological developments and innovations.