Working towards agile manufacturing in the UK industry
Introduction
In today's competitive environment businesses are undergoing profound changes. There is a world-wide spread of education and technology, leading to intense and increasingly global competition and accelerating rate of marketplace change. There is a continuing fragmentation of mass markets into niche markets as customers are becoming more demanding with increasing expectations. Also, there is a spread of collaborative product manufacture with suppliers and customers, joining together to add value within the supply chain.
In order to cope with these changes, companies are striving to improve their manufacturing performance. Halberstam [1]and Lamming [2]discuss the problems encountered by companies applying mass production techniques as they try to keep pace with the changing market requirements. Monden [3]discusses how the Toyoto Production System gave Japanese companies a manufacturing advantage whilst Womack et al. [4]introduced the term “Lean Manufacturing” which was introduced to improve manufacturing companies' competitiveness. Also, Deming [5], Juran [6]and Oakland [7]identified how total quality management, long regarded as a partner to just-in-time (JIT) [8]was maturing as a successful management philosophy.
Clearly, there appears to be many manufacturing panaceas, with much description about their philosophy. Although, there is no one definition of lean manufacturing, with most agreeing that lean enterprise includes external activities such as supply chain management, distribution and design [9]. The manufacturing trilogy of JIT, total quality and team involvement should be at the core of every lean enterprise according to Bicheno [10]. To be a world class factory requires all three; they are mutually supportive. However, in looking beyond the factory floor, a lean enterprise also requires supplier involvement, distribution logistics, IT/IS, effective design and attention to service. Therefore, JIT [11]can be thought of as largely within the plant whereas lean manufacturing extends the boundaries.
Section snippets
Agile manufacturing
Since Goldman et al. [12]at Lehigh University in the USA introduced the term “agile manufacturing” organisations have striven to gain competitive advantage from such a philosophy. In 1991 Goldman and Priess [13]established the agility forum with significant US government funding, together with additional balancing funds from US industry, which had the support of 35 staff and consultants [14]. A lean company may be thought of as a very productive and cost efficient producer of goods or services,
UK manufacturing and agility
Many reports have demonstrated that the only way to achieve a positive balance of trade is through manufacturing [26]. UK manufacturing has been under tremendous pressures in recent years, and its state has been an emotive subject. According to Hamel and Parahalad [27], between 1975 and 1991 UK manufacturing's output went up by only 10% in real terms, and during the early and mid 1980s British companies demonstrated a scant ability to create new markets at home or abroad. In effect, they
A conceptual model to work towards agile manufacturing
Goldman et al. [12]identified the key drivers of the transformation to becoming an agile manufacturing enterprise. They conceptualised a manufacturing enterprise capable of competing effectively in such an environment, reaching a plateau with the following accomplishments:
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The articulation of a vision of mature agile manufacturing enterprises as the inevitable successor to mass production enterprises for many kinds of products.
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The identification of the structural parameters of an agile
Measuring agility
Organisations may ask what precisely is agility and how can it be measured. Most are unsure as to how they will know when they have it, as there are no simple metrics or indices currently available. Therefore, organisations may well ask how they can develop both analytical and intuitive understandings of “agileness” in their particular operating environments. Dove [31]outlines how the investigation of these questions continues in various forums, with some answers and tools beginning to take
Research methodology: Development of questionnaire
The questions were formulated using the key principles of questionnaire design as discussed by Jankowicz [54]. Sections from the books by Goldman et al. [23]and Goldman et al. [55]provided the direction for constructing the questions, whilst Dove [56]and Kidd, [57]gave advice with the content for the questions. Fifty questions were constructed in the form of a statement related to the agile manufacturing philosophy. Each answer had a five point Likert scale, ranging from strongly disagree to
Data analysis
Questionnaires were sent to 110 leading UK manufacturing companies. Correspondence was received from 48 different organisations, of which 42 had completed the questionnaires. Data from the questionnaires (all the responses to 50 questions per questionnaire) was fed into a spreadsheet, which tabulated the results. The detailed results of the survey are presented by Desai [58]. Key results have been extracted from the data in order to evaluate the ten enablers identified in the conceptual model
Conclusions
The research reported in this paper has offered yet more of an insight into the management philosophy, or as others would prefer, manufacturing paradigm of agile manufacturing. In doing so, quantitative data has been gathered to assess the positioning of a selection of department of trade and industry identified practitioners of best practice, in their pursuit of agile manufacturing. In establishing their position, a number of constructs have been identified as enablers of agile manufacturing.
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