Flexibility, trade-offs and learning in manufacturing system design

Nigel Slack

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2000, vol. 1, issue 4/5, 331-348

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. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=1357 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmtma:v:1:y:2000:i:4/5:p:331-348

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().