Customization will become an important way for a manufacturer to add vale. Increasing numbers of products Ð from shoes to chairs, from newspapers to magazine to music albums Ð will be created on the spot to match the exact desires of a particular person. And often the item will cost no more than a mass-produced one would. In many product categories mass customization will replace mass production, just as a few generations ago mass productions largely replaced made-to-order.
Predictor: Gates, Bill
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “The Road Ahead,” Microsoft CEO Bill Gates writes: ÒComputers will enable goods that today are mass-produced to be both mass-produced and custom-made for particular customers. Customization will become an important way for a manufacturer to add vale. Increasing numbers of products Ð from shoes to chairs, from newspapers to magazine to music albums Ð will be created on the spot to match the exact desires of a particular person. And often the item will cost no more than a mass-produced one would. In many product categories mass customization will replace mass production, just as a few generations ago mass productions largely replaced made-to-order.Ó
Biography:Bill Gates, the most influential technology entrepreneur of the late 20th century, was the primary author of the prediction-packed 1995 book “The Road Ahead” and is the founder and CEO of Microsoft Corporation. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: Shopping
Name of publication: The Road Ahead (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 8: Friction-Free Capitalism
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 166
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne