Smart product design and production control for effective mass customization in the Industry 4.0 concept

The paper presents a general concept of smart design and production control as key elements for efficient operation of a smart factory. The authors present various techniques that aid the design process of individualized products and organization of their production in the context of realization of the mass customization strategy, which allows a shortened time of development for a new product. Particular attention was paid to integration of additive manufacturing technologies and virtual reality techniques, which are a base of the so-called hybrid prototyping.