This book shows leading-edge strategies to:

* Implement a business model that offers an unbeatable combination of responsiveness, cost, and the products that customers want when they want them.

* Achieve substantial cost advantages from eliminating inventory, forecasting, expediting, kitting, setup, and inefficient fire-drill efforts to customize products.

* Efficiently mass customize products for niche markets, countries, regions, industries, and individual customers.

* Substantially simplify supply chains - not just "manage" them - to the point where parts and materials can be pulled into production without forecasts, MRP, purchasing, waiting, or warehousing.

* Supply OEM assemblers or resupply stores rapidly on-demand and avoid carrying expensive inventory. Eliminate out-of-stocks from underproduction and avoid all the problems of overproduction: obsolescence, write-offs, returns, and discounting to sell obsolete merchandise.

* Ship directly to customers or stores and be the first to market with new technologies since distribution "pipelines" do not have to be emptied first.

* Grow sales and profits by expanding sales of standard, customized, derivative, and niche market products, while enhancing sales to existing customers.