Development of a framework for agile manufacturing
| Published date | 07 October 2019 |
| Pages | 161-169 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-05-2019-0022 |
| Date | 07 October 2019 |
| Author | Rahul Kumar,Kanwarpreet Singh,Sanjiv Kumar Jain |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Environmental technology & innovation |
Development of a framework
for agile manufacturing
Rahul Kumar
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Punjabi University, Patiala, India
Kanwarpreet Singh
Punjabi University, Patiala, India, and
Sanjiv Kumar Jain
Ambala College of Engineering and Applied Research, Ambala Cantt, India
Abstract
Purpose –In the past, the insufficiency of the traditional business practices to meet vibrant customer
demands in continuously changing business environment has severely affected organizational
competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to develop and propose a new framework for smoother and
effective implementation of agile manufacturing by identifying and integrating a set of significant agility
principles and techniques.
Design/methodology/approach –The present work proposed a framework for agile manufacturing by
deploying the comparative analysis of 17 frameworks published in peer-reviewed journals.
Findings –The proposed conceptual framework constitutes of eight pillars for agile manufacturing
implementation. The proposed framework relies on a strong foundation of leadership support. The roof of the
proposed framework of agile manufacturing is supported by the pillars constituted of seven elements, an
industry must deploy for successfully implementing agile manufacturing, namely, human resource-related
issues, organizational culture-related issues, supplier-related issues, customer-related issues, innovation,
concurrent engineering and information technology.
Originality/value –This work is the first attempt, in the best knowledge of the authors, to employ
comparative analysis for critically analyzing a wide range of agile manufacturing frameworks. The findings
of this study will assist researchers and managers in agile manufacturing implementation in more a smoother
and effective way in manufacturing industries.
Keywords Agile manufacturing, Business performance, Manufacturing industry
Paper type Literature review
1. Introduction
Globalizationhas intensified the competitionamong manufacturers and fueled thecustomers
to expect more and more innovative products with superior quality and at lower cost(Dubey
and Gunasekaran, 2015 ; Thilak et al., 2017). This situation has motivated manufacturing
industry for casting offtraditional paradigms such as craft production and mass production
and sparked the urgent need to adopt an advanced paradigm named as “Agile
manufacturing”to meet the implicit demand of the consumers (Matawale et al., 2016).
Agility in an organizational structure is indispensable requirement for success and
competitive advantage (Vazquez-Bustelo et al., 2007). The hypercompetitive business
environmentencourages a manufacturer toadopt agile manufacturing, butit faces significant
challenges, such as inefficiency of top management, slow decision-making process, lack of
appropriate technologies, poor usages of information system in organization, organizational
structure and culture, poor relationship formation and management with suppliers (Hasan
et al., 2007; Mukherjee et al., 2015; Potdar et al., 2017a). Agile manufacturing generates
numerous benefits for manufacturing organizations (Hormozi, 2001). Agile manufacturing
positivelyimpacts organizational performance in cost, quality, deliveryand flexibility, market
share (Adeleye and Yusuf, 2006; Vazquez-Bustelo et al., 2007; Gore et al., 2009; Hallgren and
Olhager, 2009; I nman et al., 2011; Leite and Braz, 2016; Nabass and Abdallah, 2019).
Organizational agile capabilities play a considerable role in new product development
World Journal of Science,
Technology and Sustainable
Development
Vol. 16 No. 4, 2019
pp. 161-169
© Emerald PublishingLimited
2042-5945
DOI10.1108/WJSTSD-05-2019-0022
Received 2 May 2019
Revised 7 June 2019
Accepted 24 June 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2042-5945.htm
161
Framework
for agile
manufacturing
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