20 years ago I started my career as a Technical Project Manager/Lead Architect for EDS and was working on Bill-of-Material solutions for the Automotive Industry (e.g. Opel).
During my self-declared summer-sabbatical, I was musing over what I want to do next and felt that (if possible) I would like to work again in a business domain and (if possible) maybe (again) in manufacturing.
I am happy to report that it worked out just fine!
A couple of month ago I was approached by Brandvis Ltd and they were looking for a Chief Architect with manufacturing background to help them with the implementation of their next-generation mass-customization platform. For the time being the platform is targeted at the garment industry (or to be precise at high-visible, high-performance, technical workwear or Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)). The Brandvis Software Solution allows you to customize these garments and (if necessary) certify the garments (in real-time) against the relevant standards.
The software that is behind the solution needs to be tightly integrated with underlying Bill-of-Material information and also with the Supply-Chain that is driving the manufacturing process. What we (Brandvis) have right now is a good start, but lots remains to be done. I am really looking forward to the adventure of building this.
Ultimately/Potentially the Brandvis Solution might evolve into a general-purpose solution to deliver on the promises of the holy-grail of manufacturing: the implementation of a general-purpose mass-customization solution.
Mass-customization is a very interesting and exciting concept and you can expect that I will start to talk about it more on this blog.