With the increasing competition in

With the increasing competition in the computer market, Apple can no longer gain market share through their computer related products. In order to compete, Apple has to change their product line and to improve on their current products. Thus this lead to the creation of iPod (portable media / music player) and iPhone (smart phone). By entering into the music and communication industry, Apple is able to differentiate itself successfully from any other normal computer maker in the market.
As the production processes of Apple products are complicated and intricate, Apple will use contemporary manufacturing applications rather than the traditional manufacturing process to manufacture their products. It has to be noted that the extent of mechanization which Apple uses in the production process depends largely on the technical complexity of the products.
Mass Customization
As part of the contemporary manufacturing process which Apple is adopting, Apple is leveraging in the process of mass customization. The above mentioned process will assemble unique designed goods to meet the different demands of the customers in a fast and cost effective manner.
Apple products can range from desktop computers, laptops to portable media players. And each of the products will have several models to it. In terms of the portable media player which Apple carries, there can be several models. For example, the iPod Shuffle which only plays audio files and iPod Nano which can play audio files and view pictorial files. Within each model, a few versions can exist. In the instance of the iPod Nano, it can come in three versions; 2Gig, 4Gig and 8Gig.
By having different designed goods, it allows Apple to meet the different unique demands of the customers. To further meet the demand of individual customers, Apple has adopted the “build to order” concept. That means that Apple is able to custom make computers with different specifications to meet the requirements as requested by individual customers (who want something different from what Apple is offering to the market).