Flexibility

In today’s consumer and industrial markets, it is increasingly important for manufacturing companies to have flexible production facilities – to have a flexible factory (Szwejczewski and Cousens, 2006). Customer order patterns in both the industrial and commercial sectors have become more uncertain; the reasons behind this unpredictable demand are varied. Customers in industries as diverse as retail, computers and car manufacturing will only buy materials and components at the moment they are needed. New technologies can make old stock worthless overnight, and can also create urgent demand for what is novel. The most responsive operation will win the contract and in doing so, will set new expectations for flexibility – expectations that all competitors must subsequently aim to meet. Flexibility (alongside cost, quality and delivery) is now a strategic objective and can bring competitive advantage; companies need to be more flexible. This chapter covers the subject of flexibility and in particular the two types of flexibility: volume and mix.