Timothy W. Simpson

Pine's book, in my opinion, is THE seminal work on mass customization. While many people warned of the pitfalls of mass production, Pine was the first to embrace the paradigm of mass customization and articulate how it redefined businesses in a variety of industries. His book was instrumental in motivating my research on product design and realization in graduate school and has been a constant resource since joining Penn State. In addition to influencing my research, it has impacted my teaching in several ways. I frequently quote vignettes and cases from his book in my undergraduate and graduate classes, and I spend several lectures comparing and contrasting mass production and mass customization in my graduate course using the concepts and principles discussed in his book. For anyone working in product design and realization or striving to improve customer satisfaction, Pine's book is a must read.