Obviously, for the correct application of each work model, it is necessary to establish a specific organisational scheme, a human structure which enables the implementation and development at a practical level of the operating premises for the model concerned.

In this sense, the organisational scheme typical of the period characterised by artisan production is a model centred on the artisan themselves. The entire management of the production process is centred on the person who possesses the necessary knowledge to transform raw materials into a finished product from start to end. The productive capacity of this model is directly proportional to the number of artisans and their individual skills.

The industrial revolution entailed a technological change which completely modified the production models of the time. In this evolutionary process which transformed a model centred exclusively on the figure of the craftsman to one aimed at mass production, the need to design a human structure became evident which would unequivocally explain the roles and functions to be carried out by each of the people who made up the company. To a certain extent, it was necessary to group people into sections or departments specialising in certain operations (sales, engineering, etc.) following the same scheme applied in the production area (machining, finishing, etc.).

One of the first examples of human and functional organisation was developed and applied in both the military and civilian organisations by the Scottish engineer Daniel McCallum. His tree-like organisational scheme was consolidated years later by the theories of Peter Drucker and diligently applied at General Motors. The good results achieved by the automobile giant between the 1920s and 1960s made it a benchmark for the mass production model to the point that it was the company to imitate both economically and in terms of management systems. For this reason, in the vast majority of Western companies, the organisational charts are very similar to each other and share a scheme very similar to the one developed by General Motors in its golden age.

The functional organisation chart is the most efficient organisational format for a mass production oriented model, as it favours people’s specialisation in a reduced number of operations and integrates them into departments or sections. For the correct management of each department, departmental objectives are determined which, if correctly defined, help to optimise each of the stages that make up the internal process. Unfortunately, it is very common for these objectives to be out of sync with the client’s needs, to the point that there are highly efficient processes which are nevertheless incapable of satisfying clients’ needs.

The model focusing on internal efficiency is valid as long as we are in a seller’s market, an environment in which the supply side has the levers of control over material flows in terms of volumes, batches and product variants. However, this model, which was applied systematically throughout the 20th century, begins to show its weaknesses when the control of flows is in the client’s hands: when the product evolves in a very short time or when demand is unstable. In this environment, the model shows its weaknesses in terms of excess inventories and a high volume of obsolete products.

The costs of overproduction became commonplace in many sectors from the 1980s onwards, largely due to the rapid evolution of some sectors, e.g. consumer electronics, which launched new versions every year, making all available products obsolete.

Mass customisation represents an evolution of the previous model which aims to maintain low production costs and high efficiency, combined with the flexibility needed to provide the products and services the client requires.

The new model was successfully applied in some sectors, proving in many cases the increased benefits it could offer. However, its correct implementation requires a new human organisation capable of responding to the client’s needs quickly and effectively. It is not only a change in the production environment, but also affects the entire organisation: in the same way that a hierarchically organised organisational chart efficiently adjusts to a mass production model, mass customisation requires a process-oriented structure that delegates autonomy and decision-making capacity to those functions which develop a process from start to end.

Process management is the organisational model created to respond to the organisational needs of mass customisation. It is a management model that moves all the functions of the hierarchical organisation chart down to the process level, modifying the decision-making structures to bring them to the operational level, to the level of the process itself.

Similarly, a ‘lean 4.0’ approach requires this fully process-oriented organisation that, going one step further, is able to launch each of the operations that make up the process at the optimal time to meet the client’s needs (when the information is available, the needs are known, etc.).