The Flexible Manufacturing Mission—Some Implications for Management
| Date | 01 September 1985 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb057417 |
| Pages | 20-22 |
| Published date | 01 September 1985 |
| Author | Douglas K. Macbeth |
| Subject Matter | Economics,Information & knowledge management,Management science & operations |
The Flexible
Manufacturing
Mission—Some
Implications
for
Management*
by Douglas
K.
Macbeth
University
of
Glasgow,
UK
Manufacturing industry
is
important
to
national prosperity.
Existing batch production methods
are not
always
ap-
propriate
to
satisfy market needs
in
internationally com-
petitive world markets. These require higher levels
of
pro-
duct innovation, quality
and
reliability while ensuring that
product delivery and customer service,
as
well
as
price,
are
competitive.
The convergence
of
various evolutionary streams
of
technological development leading
to a
flexible integrated
manufacturing system, which meets
the
desired criteria
while providing economic manufacturing,
has
been taking
place over
the
last
few
decades.
Such systems require
a
vision
of an
extended development
path
and
must
be
managed from
the top by
decisions about
the manufacturing mission
and the
form
of
information
system which
is
appropriate.
Management attitudes towards,
and
interest
in, the
total
manufacturing system must, however,
be of a
much higher
order
to
ensure that
the
integration
is
effective and thus pro-
vides
a
competitive weapon
in the
corporate strategy
armoury.
The Existing Situation
Manufacturing
is
important
to the
United Kingdom.
For all
that
job
losses
in
manufacturing have been continuing
for
decades, with
an
alarmingly increasing rate since 1979/80,
it
is a
sector which
in
1981 still employed approximately
25
per cent
of the
total employed labour force
and
produced
approximately
25 per
cent
of UK
Gross Domestic
Product[1].
*This article
has
been reprinted from
the
International Journal
of
Operations
and
Production Management,
Vol. 5 No. 1, 1985.
As
a
trading nation Britain
has
recently moved into deficit
on
its
non-oil manufacturing trade balance
for the
first time
since
the
start
of the
industrial revolution. This
is
due main-
ly
to
increasing competition from other countries
in the
Organisation
for
Economic Co-operation
and
Development,
for high value added products, and from
the
newly develop-
ing countries
at the low
value added
end of the
market[2,
3,4].
The OECD summarises
the
possible reasons
for
this
as:
"Historically
low
investment ratios, management inefficiency,
inadequate marketing policies and restrictive labour practices
and labour disputes which hindered innovation
and
technological progress
... It
also seems likely that non-price fac-
tors such as delivery times, design and quality worked increas-
ingly against British goods in world markets. Comparatively
low
levels
of
research and development expenditure probably
con-
tributed
also".
[5]
The increasingly dynamic marketplace
is
creating
a
require-
ment
for
a form
of
manufacturing system which
is
complete-
ly different from
the
traditional organisational
and
opera-
tional batch manufacturing systems which typically account
for
75 per
cent
of
Western manufacturing businesses.
The
combined effects
of
greater competition
and
more
discriminating customers create
the
kinds
of
demand
on the
system which
are
illustrated
in
Table
I.
This table also
in-
dicates
the
main features
of a
typical batch manufacturer,
highlighting
the
mismatch between process
and
market.
Table
I.
Market Needs
and
Batch
Manufacture Response
Typical Batch Manufacture
Stable product range
Needs
of the
Market
Real product variety
or
customisation
Large work-in-progress stocks Product innovation
Low number
of
stock-turns
Long production runs
High queueing time
Reliable/Short delivery time
Competitive price
High quality
and
reliability
Cutting time only
1-2 per
cent
of total factory
time
Production schedules reactive
to sales pressure
Post-process quality control
influenced
by
pressure
for
output
Extended time
to
phase-in
new products
New Forms of Manufacturing System
While traditional methods have been found wanting,
an
evolutionary process
has
been taking place involving
a
con-
vergence
of
different streams
of
technical developments
in
computer hardware
and
software. Figure
1
illustrates this
pattern
and
places
it
against
an
approximate timescale.
A major feature
was the
development
of
Numerical Control
(NO
of
machine tools
at
Massachusetts Institute
of
Technology
in 1952. The
principle
of
controlling relative
movements
of
workpiece
and
tool path
by
means
of two
or more axis spatial movement values (numerically coded)
20 IMDS
•
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
• 1985
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