Smart Product Design

I, Sundar Vishanth – G1401819D (MSc. Smart Product Design), have chosen the paper titled “Intelligent Design Systems for Apparel Mass Customization”, published by Dnyanada Satam, Yan Liu and Hoon Joo Lee in “The Journal of the Textile Institute” in February 2011, for the M6401 Product Design and Development class assignment.
Topic in Focus:
This paper focuses on the economic factors that may affect mass customization, the technological advancement in that field and the development of a new system for mass customization. It also analyses the global statistical economy data, the consumer expenditures and online sales of apparel.
What is mass customization?
It is the process of manufacturing products at a near large scale rate with the additional

Using these measurements, the customized clothes can be developed. A further advancement in this technology creates intelligent pattern alterations using wrapping technology on the scanned data. Using the silhouette data of the scanned person, the three dimensional image was converted into two dimensional flat patterns using specific tailoring algorithms hence enabling the system to create clothes of the required fit. [1,choi] A more interactive system designed allowed the user to modify the fit as per required and allow an easy means of communication between the manufacturers and the customers. The system allowed them to alter specific sections in the clothing like the perimeters and certain lengths thus defining the fit they required. [2,cho]
Digital Pattern Design: This method uses a method called draping. A 2D flat pattern is generated from the 3D design where the customer has to “drape” the 3D model according to his or her requirements. A complex algorithm would then convert this design to a 2D flat pattern for the cloth. The drawbacks that are stated are that this method of approach would not be able to deliver efficient 2D designs for complex apparel

A study had shown that when the customers are faced with a model of their intended design, the probability of them going through to buy the product was higher [3, Guay]. The intention was to enable the customers to view the final design with a certain accuracy in a short amount of time. There are three models – geometric based models, physical-based models and hybrid models [Ng and Grimsdale]. Geometric models consider only the 2D structure and layout without considering the material properties. Physical based model considers the cloth as numerous tiny elements and forces are calculated to simulate the behavior of the cloth [5, Ji]. A hybrid model is a combination of both the models. The hybrid model is preferred as the interaction between the cloth and the human body is the major characteristic that the people would want to visualize when it comes to fashion.
According to the paper, the effect of imposing mass customization in the fashion sector would lead to more profitability, reduced inventory and returns and a higher customer satisfaction. It also suggests that since the customers are more involved in the making of the product, they would be more involved in the purchase of the product. The drawback, as cited, is that the price of the product would increase since they are customized but the increase would