Manufacturing Strategy

To stay competitive and meet market expectations in a global economy, both domestic and foreign companies must realign their manufacturing processes, make improvements, and increase their manufacturing capabilities. With large numbers of employees working in a network of domestic and foreign facilities, production processes are as varied as the products being produced. Manufacturing managers need a manufacturing plan or strategy that will bring structure to this complex environment. In Manufacturing Strategy: How to Formulate and Implement a Winning Plan, 2nd Edition, John Miltenburg offers a sensible and systematic method to: (1) evaluate domestic and foreign factories and international manufacturing and (2) plan the appropriate manufacturing strategy to be first in the market. Incorporating comments and suggestions from managers who used the first edition of Manufacturing Strategy, John Miltenburg expands and improves on his focus in the areas of: International Manufacturing — where the focus is on a company's international network of factories; Competitive Strategy — where managers must understand the role manufacturing strategy plays in their company's business strategy; and Manufacturing Programs — showing how programs such as quality management, six sigma, agile manufacturing, and supply chain management fit within the manufacturing strategy. Manufacturing Strategy gives managers a common language for dealing with manufacturing problems at both strategic and operational levels. It improves communication between manufacturing managers and those outside manufacturing (who will now have a better understanding of what manufacturing can and cannot do).

In many industrial companies, strategic developments are predominantly based on corporate marketing decisions with manufacturing being forced to react to these at the back end of the process. In Manufacturing Strategy, Terry Hill sets out to show how decisions over manufacturing should form part of the strategic direction of the company as a whole. Based on the first edition, the book has been updated with new material and new case studies including the service elements of manufacturing that reflect the author's ongoing programme of consultancy and research in this field.

Eighteen, mostly new, papers together with editorial comment by Voss (London Business School) give an overview and discuss strategy formulation and implementation, the international context, tools and frameworks--focus, flexibility, time-based competition, and the theory of constraints--and research needs. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Based on original research and case experience, this book presents a structured approach to making the important decisions for developing a make or buy strategy for manufacturing business.

This book assesses the state of international manufacturing strategy and clarifies how recent developments, for example regarding configuration, technology, and the environment, are impacting on its content and direction and on its relationship to manufacturing performance. In providing up-to-date coverage of the consequences of such forces and factors for international manufacturing, this book aims to expand the debate concerning international manufacturing strategy and cast light on its current evolution. International manufacturing is operating within a time of great flux. While offshoring of activities has dominated over recent decades, nearshoring and reshoring are increasingly being considered and observed in practice. At the same time, technologies such as 3D-printing are gaining traction and the role of ICT and data analytics is increasingly important in the international manufacturing landscape while digitization becomes more prevalent and the embrace of the Internet of Things (IOT) accelerates. Furthermore, issues related to the environment are figuring more prominently in international manufacturing considerations, and assumptions regarding the long-term cost of energy are being called into question. International manufacturing is also experiencing greater servitization.