Rob Honeycutt, founder of Timbuk2, the first company to bring mass customized bags to customers via the Internet, is launching a new mass customization venture. At Timbuk2, Rob created an online bag builder allowing customers to create their own bag out of millions of possible combinations, and ship product in 24 hours.
After selling Timbuk2 in 2005, Rob was looking for a new way to apply his skills in mass customization. He says, "What is really interesting for me are the manufacturing techniques. It didn't make sense to do another bag company, I wanted to find a new industry where this would be a good fit."
That fit comes in the form of a set of bluetooth earbuds, called "Elroy."
"We're going to be doing something specific that can't be done in Asia," says Rob. "While companies, like NIKE, do customization from offshore facilities, ultimately most of the impact of building something yourself online is lost when you have to wait weeks for delivery. The real excitement is when you build it and get it within a day or two."
Mass customization also offers a level of product variety that can't be done from offshore. Within the first year, it's projected that Elroy will be available in well over a million configurations. Where other brands offer the exact same product in every store, Elroy will turn that on its head and deliver different configurations in every retail location.
Elroy customization is not just a marketing trick. Rob will be using efficient Lean production systems to enable this customization. He's not only doing something different with the product, he's eliminating huge amounts of waste in the standard supply chain and thus creating a more profitable company with greater value prospects for customers. This is all being done in addition to bringing good jobs back into the United States to help revitalize our economy.
