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Learning to Change: Opportunities to Improve the Performance of Smaller Manufacturers
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Manufacturing firms—large and small—face massive change and adjustments as they move from a stable, fault-tolerant environment of long production runs to a volatile world in which production runs are short, product characteristics are constantly changing, and defect-free on-time production at decreasing prices is a condition for survival. The necessary changes in the organization of production include everything from the layout of the shop floor to the distribution of authority between managers and workers. The magnitude of these transformations threatens to overwhelm the managerial capacities of firms regardless of their size. These dramatic changes in the requirements for successful manufacturing are happening during a period of steady increase in the number of smaller industrial firms1 and a trend toward facilities with fewer workers. Smaller manufacturers play an important role in the competitiveness of American industry. They comprise the bulk of manufacturing establishments, are integral parts of the supply chain for both commercial and defense products, and provide approximately 40 percent of manufacturing employment. Many of these smaller firms, however, are operating far below their potential. Their use of modern manufacturing equipment, methodologies, and management practices is inadequate to ensure that American manufacturing will be globally competitive.
NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS - Organizational Body
0-309-58606-2
NONE
Management
English
1993
1-153
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