First there was mass production, and the stores overflowed with identical, machine-made goods. Then along came niche marketing, and producers began creating specialized goods for narrow demographic groups. Now the age of mass customization has begun, and one pioneer is an energetic 54-year-old engineer named Chris Jorgensen whose company, MySki, sells made-to-order skis on the Web.
MySki's "customizer" technology - developed by Jorgensen and his team at Customized Internet Technologies of Los Altos, California - allows MySki to produce for a market of one. The site (www.myski.com/) considers a skier's quirks and experience level, recommends a few appropriate models, and then helps users custom-design their own skis, right down to the graphics. (Why are standard ski graphics so hideous, anyway?) Simply click on alpine, telemark, or powder; enter your height, weight, and skill level; then choose the colors, and select a logo. You can preview your new boards in 3D/VRML or just wait 14 to 30 days for the powder hounds at the Evolution Ski Company in Utah to sand 'em down, box 'em up, and ship 'em to your doorstep.
"MySki is just a prototype," says Jorgensen, who is already working on his next site, MySnowboard, to be followed soon by MyBike, MyFurniture, and, eventually, MyName-the-product-and-he'll-customize-it-on-the-Web. While Evolution skis are made the old-fashioned way - by hand - some of Jorgensen's MyProducts will be produced entirely by machine. MyFurniture, for example, will be run by a completely automated system that feeds customers' design specs directly into the manufacturing machine. MySnowboard customers will use a small app to create their own designs, which will be digitally transferred to the printer.
In addition to his "you want it, you got it" philosophy of customization, Jorgensen argues that commercial Web sites should feel as local as the corner store. "Companies believe that being on the Web automatically makes them global," he explains. "But commercial sites need local links, they need to speak the local language." MySki will soon be available in 25 countries and in a dozen languages, making it, quite literally, the ski shop of the global village. Now, how do you say "Think snow!" in Japanese?
SCANS
Have It My Way
