TY - JOUR
T1 - Agile manufacturing
T2 - a management and operational framework
AU - Sharifi, H.
AU - Colquhoun, G.
AU - Dann, Zoe
AU - Barclay, Ian
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - Manufacturing companies are now operating in fast-moving commercial environments where unanticipated threats and opportunities are the order of the day. Agile manufacturing in such environments means understanding the environment and being flexible, cost effective and productive with consistent high quality. Each company will respond in a different way to deploy its own agile characteristics. This paper describes research that tackles the problem of identifying what characteristics constitute agile manufacture and proposes a framework for evaluating and developing agile manufacturing. Manufacturing enterprises involve people, organization, technology, processes and information, and no commonly accepted practical reference framework exists to investigate, analyse and evaluate the ability to deal with change. The research is based on a wide-ranging review of agile manufacture and manufacturing architectures. From this review, a conceptual agile manufacturing model was developed and used in a study of 18 manufacturing companies. Subsequently, a framework for analysing and developing a company's agile characteristics is described. The paper concludes by discussing three case studies in detail and proposing the key characteristics of agile manufacturing.
AB - Manufacturing companies are now operating in fast-moving commercial environments where unanticipated threats and opportunities are the order of the day. Agile manufacturing in such environments means understanding the environment and being flexible, cost effective and productive with consistent high quality. Each company will respond in a different way to deploy its own agile characteristics. This paper describes research that tackles the problem of identifying what characteristics constitute agile manufacture and proposes a framework for evaluating and developing agile manufacturing. Manufacturing enterprises involve people, organization, technology, processes and information, and no commonly accepted practical reference framework exists to investigate, analyse and evaluate the ability to deal with change. The research is based on a wide-ranging review of agile manufacture and manufacturing architectures. From this review, a conceptual agile manufacturing model was developed and used in a study of 18 manufacturing companies. Subsequently, a framework for analysing and developing a company's agile characteristics is described. The paper concludes by discussing three case studies in detail and proposing the key characteristics of agile manufacturing.
U2 - 10.1243/0954405011518647
DO - 10.1243/0954405011518647
M3 - Article
SN - 0954-4054
VL - 215
SP - 857
EP - 869
JO - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture
JF - Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture
IS - 6
ER -