Article ID: | iaor19951706 |
Country: | United States |
Volume: | 40 |
Issue: | 11 |
Start Page Number: | 1444 |
End Page Number: | 1454 |
Publication Date: | Nov 1994 |
Journal: | Management Science |
Authors: | Ettlie John E., Penner-Hahn Joan D. |
Keywords: | planning, measurement |
In this exploratory, empirical study of of modernizing durable goods plants, it was found that typical measures of flexibility (e.g., number of unique parts and part families) are independent. More importantly, plants and firms with greater strategic manufacturing focus, regardless of specific emphasis (e.g., cost or quality), scheduled fewer part numbers on new flexible automation systems. This suggests that product focus and strategic focus are related in plants producing discrete parts. When flexibility is emphasized as a strategic manufacturing focus, new automation systems are significantly more likely to have shorter change-over times per part family. In general, part family-changeover time