Title: Flexibility, trade-offs and learning in manufacturing system design

Authors: Nigel Slack

Addresses: Warwick Business School, Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK

Abstract: Three independent case-based research projects are examined, using similar methodologies, so as to understand the relationships between the nature of each manufacturing system|s redesign, their strategic context, the assessment of each system|s flexibility, their managers| perceptions of the trade-offs involved in the design and the degree of organisational learning. A model is proposed which suggests an interplay between three related sets of activities. These are a ||structuring|| activity, a ||suppositional|| activity and an ||assimilation|| activity. Parallels are drawn between these studies and other work on learning and technological competence.

Keywords: flexibility; learning; manufacturing systems; process capability; tacit knowledge; trade-offs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2000.001357

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2000 Vol.1 No.4/5, pp.331-348

Published online: 02 Jul 2003 *

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