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Flexibility configurations: Empirical analysis of volume and product mix flexibility

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  • Hallgren, Mattias
  • Olhager, Jan

Abstract

In this paper we address flexibility and investigate the relationship between volume and product mix flexibility. One view of flexibility is that of being a capability in itself; another view is that of flexibility as an enabler, providing the manufacturing system with properties on which other competitive capabilities are built. In this research, the latter view of flexibility is used, where flexibility acts as a second order competitive criterion. The aim is to differentiate between two dimensions of flexibility important to the manufacturing value chain, i.e., volume and product mix flexibility, and to investigate how different flexibility configurations are related to various manufacturing practices. A clustering research approach is used to identify groups of companies based on flexibility configurations. The groups are then analyzed with respect to characteristics and impact on operational performance. For the empirical investigation, we use empirical data from the high performance manufacturing (HPM) study, including three industries and seven countries--a total of 211 plants. We find that flexibility configurations based on high or low levels of volume and mix flexibility combinations show significant differences both in terms of operational performance, and in terms of emphasis put into different flexibility source factors.

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  • Hallgren, Mattias & Olhager, Jan, 2009. "Flexibility configurations: Empirical analysis of volume and product mix flexibility," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 746-756, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:37:y:2009:i:4:p:746-756
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    21. Guodong Lyu & Wang-Chi Cheung & Mabel C. Chou & Chung-Piaw Teo & Zhichao Zheng & Yuanguang Zhong, 2019. "Capacity Allocation in Flexible Production Networks: Theory and Applications," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(11), pages 5091-5109, November.
    22. Dotun Adebanjo & Pei-Lee Teh & Pervaiz K Ahmed & Erhan Atay & Peter Ractham, 2020. "Competitive Priorities, Employee Management and Development and Sustainable Manufacturing Performance in Asian Organizations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-22, July.
    23. Enrico Teich & Thorsten Claus, 2017. "Measurement of Load and Capacity Flexibility in Manufacturing," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 18(4), pages 291-302, December.

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