It starts with the customer: but after that, for the auto industry supply chain, things get really hairy.(Industry profile: Automotive)

Manufacturing Business Technology, April, 2006 by Parker, Kevin

How do consumers want to buy automobiles? Do they want to order the car of their dreams and then wait for it to be built? Or would they rather go to a dealership, find a reasonable, affordable fit, and drive it home that day? In many parts of the world, it's common to wait for a purchased car to be delivered.

In the U.S., immediate--if not total--gratification has been more the norm. Things change, though, and major automakers are succeeding, or failing, based on their responses to how consumer sentiment is changing, and how good they are at influencing entrenched interests--like their dealership net works--to change along with it. If cars will be more often sold as customized--or at least highly configured--products, then automakers need to...

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