A system to support the enhancement of strategic flexibility in manufacturing enterprises

doi:10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00063-0

European Journal of Operational Research

Volume 109, Issue 2, 1 September 1998, Pages 362-376

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0377-2217(98)00063-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are finding it necessary to change their corporate strategy with increasing frequency, as a result of more rapid changes either in the demands made by customers or in the company's view of business. However, it is only possible to respond to these pressures for change if the information systems of the organisation are capable of helping the companies meet these new requirements. The aim of the work described here is to develop a decision support system (DSS) that will help companies to enhance their strategic flexibility, that is to increase the ability of their systems to support a broader range of corporate strategies. The development of this system is discussed. Particular attention is paid to describing the structure of the DSS and the manner in which the extensive fieldwork carried out with UK manufacturing businesses has provided information about the appropriate factors and parameters to be included in the system. Possible further development of the DSS is briefly considered.

Introduction

A previously reported (Price et al., 1992) set of projects was carried out by the authors on the design of a production management information system for SMEs. The original aim of these projects was to produce a generic, PC-based decision support system (DSS). During the research, however, it became clear that they had revealed some key concerns of smaller manufacturing enterprises (SMEs) (Muhlemann et al., 1990; Sharp et al., 1990; Afferson et al., 1992; Price et al., 1992; Sharp et al., 1994), namely:

1.
The high rate of strategic change in the manufacturing sector was driven by significant strategic changes in supply chains. Relationships between companies were being reconstituted on a European or, even, a global basis.
2.
There was an increasing need to integrate the, often disparate, management information systems run by many companies together with their manufacturing management systems. There was a clear tendency to integrate across different plants very often in different countries.
3.
Changing supply chain relationships implied that more and more firms need to be able to interchange data with their customers.
4.
During the development of the generic system it became clear that our collaborating companies were not only interested in the use of the system to support manufacturing management, but were also interested in its potential as a means of enhancing their knowledge of manufacturing concepts and good practice. The action learning framework developed to exploit this potential has been described by Muhlemann et al. (1995).

Section snippets

Strategic flexibility and competence development

Our deductions from the results of these projects were that:

1. Manufacturing companies now face a need to increase their strategic flexibility, because of the severe and increasing pressures on them for change. These frequently link with the firm's customers who demand such changes as: improved product features, more rapid product development, greater reliability and better service. Manufacturers want to respond to developments in their markets as these become apparent, and may wish to

The development of a strategic flexibility DSS

Once we had arrived at the notions of strategic flexibility and competence, it was clear that our previous projects had established that many companies would be interested in using a DSS that would help them to enhance their strategic flexibility. The DSS is somewhat unusual in that its purpose is to support a process (a sequence of decisions) rather than a single decision.

A project, in collaboration with a number of manufacturing firms, was established to undertake the development of that DSS.

The research project

In order to obtain the information needed to build a system which fulfilled the design objectives above, it was necessary to engage in a set of linked activities. These activities are described briefly below.

Literature search: An initial literature search was conducted with the objective of providing information on key issues and important relationships concerning strategic flexibility. To make an effective high quality search of on-line databases and manipulate the data obtained, it was found

The structure of the DSS

The structure of the DSS is depicted in Fig. 1, which shows the five main sections of the workbook, the modules that comprise them and the links between them. The Section 5.1gives an overview of the system. Section 5.2facilitates an audit of a company's position. Section 5.3Section 5.4Section 5.5constitute the advisory part of the DSS, the operation of which is based on the audit findings.

Implementation of the system

As noted in the design principles the system was implemented in Microsoft Office, as a set of linked Word 6.0 documents and Excel 5.0 spreadsheets. The implementation of individual modules is discussed in the Appendix A.

Use of the system

The authors considered the best method of presenting information on users' experience of the system and concluded that, within the restrictions on space, providing a short account of the way in which one company used the system was probably the most effective approach. The company in question is part of a global medical manufacturing group. It is a leading supplier of “single use” medical products e.g. tracheal tubes. The firm's products are sterile and mainly used in intensive care units and

Conclusions

It was realised that a number of Manufacturing Management Information System design projects conducted by the authors had actually revealed a desire by manufacturing companies to enhance their strategic flexibility. A project was commenced to design a DSS, based on the idea of successful pursuit of strategies being underpinned by the possession of certain competences, which could be used by manufacturing companies for this purpose. This project required the integration of a number of different

Unlinked References

Neeley et al., 1996, Primrose, 1991

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) under grants: GR/E/04042 and GR/F/71331 and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under grants GR/K18269 and GR/K26226.

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A system to support the enhancement of strategic flexibility in manufacturing enterprises

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Strategic flexibility and competence development

The development of a strategic flexibility DSS

The research project

The structure of the DSS

Implementation of the system

Use of the system

Conclusions

Unlinked References

Acknowledgements

Information and Software Technology

European Journal of Operational Research

Computers and Operations Research

European Journal of Operational Research

Omega

European Journal Of Operational Research

Computers and Industrial Engineering

European Journal of Operational Research

Orthogonal main-effect plans for asymmetrical factorial experiments

Technometrics

Generic manufacturing information systems development via template prototyping

European Journal of Information Systems

How to rank computer projects

Harvard Business Review

Towards a system for classifying business strategies

Academy of Management Review

Measuring manufacturing flexibility: An empirical investigation

European Journal of Operational Research

The strategic value of flexibility: Reducing the ability to compromise

American Economic Review