Multi-criteria logistics distribution network design for mass customisation

Nowadays, companies are trying to offer high level of personalisation as expected by the customer while trying to reach economy of scale in production even with small volumes. This competitive strategy is known as mass customisation and requires not only flexibility of the production system at a lower cost but also specific logistics solutions to manage high level of differentiation. In this paper, a multi-criteria decision making methodology is proposed for the selection and evaluation of logistics distribution networks in a customised environment, basing on an analytic network process (ANP). This method helps the decision maker to select the best configuration of logistics distribution as a first step of the design process. A real case application is included to demonstrate the achievable results.