An Agility Reference Model for the Manufacturing Enterprise: The Example of the Furniture Industry

Azouzi, Riadh; D’Amours, Sophie; Beauregard, Robert

doi:10.1142/9789814280280_0021

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Agility has been said to go "hand in hand" with mass customization [20] while other authors have claimed it is a related but different construct [19]. For example, Um [21] claims that agility is constrained by a parallel focus on economies of scale in many industries where efficiency is the focus, but that supply chain agility is requisite in high-level customization environments such as production of innovative or fashion products with short lifecycles.…”

Section: Agility and Customizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Agility has been said to be enabled by the introduction of new technology, which is driven by market interaction and product design [13,20]. To these authors, a given process best contributes to the agility of a manufacturing enterprise when it possesses several capabilities, including flexibility, responsiveness, and autonomy.…”

Section: Agility and Customizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent research, Um [21] found that, among highly customized manufacturers (approximately 11 percent of the sample were wood products companies), supply chain agility was not associated with business performance directly; actually it was negatively related. The author cited the costs associated with developing supply chain agility, including set-up and investment costs [20] as well as the operational costs of using small batches [47] to respond to customer requirement, as contributing to this negative direct relationship. However, improved customer service and product differentiation capability were both positively associated with supply chain agility, and both also led to higher business performance.…”

Section: Pulling Everything Together With Supply Chains-at the Frontimentioning

confidence: 99%

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Challenges and Opportunities for North American Hardwood Manufacturers to Adopt Customization Strategies in an Era of Increased Competition

Nicholls

Bumgardner

2018

Forests

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Much of the North American wood products industry was severely impacted by the recession of 2008-2009. In addition, many sectors within this industry face intense global competition. Against this backdrop, we examine economic opportunities for hardwood manufacturers to achieve greater competitive advantage via product customization, through a literature review and synthesis. We also discuss several related themes including agility, lean manufacturing, and clustering. We found that, in globally competitive environments, hardwood producers must be agile to adapt to economic conditions and dynamic customer demand. We discuss how some sectors of the hardwood industry have effectively exhibited customized production, and subsequently fared relatively well in the current economy. We conclude the synthesis by evaluating the importance of supply chains to achieving customization for hardwood producers. In the future, supply chains will need to be configured to rapidly respond to changing consumer demands, and pressure to provide more services will likely extend further back up the supply chain to hardwood sawmills. It is expected that sustainability practices, including green supply chain management, will impact operational and economic performance of hardwood firms as well.

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Section: Agility and Customizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Agility and Customizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Pulling Everything Together With Supply Chains-at the Frontimentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Challenges and Opportunities for North American Hardwood Manufacturers to Adopt Customization Strategies in an Era of Increased Competition

Nicholls

Bumgardner

2018

Forests

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“…Third, the boundaries to the transference of knowledge can be readily understood from the PMM framework. Finally, it has become cited by researchers who have provided expositions and critiques of the framework elements (Azouzi et al 2010). Table 1 compares the PMM framework with the other most-widely cited variety management and customisation classification systems.…”

Section: Variety Management Across Collaborative Network (Cns)mentioning

confidence: 99%

The application of a knowledge-based reference framework to support the provision of requisite variety and customisation across collaborative networks

Lyons

Everington

Hernández

et al. 2013

International Journal of Production Research

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The research described in this paper demonstrates how individual operational capabilities and the collective knowledge and expertise of a collaborative customer-supplier network can be harnessed to manage the challenges associated with the provision of a requisite level of product variety and customisation. It concerns the discussion and application of a previously published approach to the classification of collaborative networks, the justification of the extension to this approach and the use of the approach as a knowledge-based reference framework to demonstrate how product variety and customisation can be supported across different forms of collaborative customer-supplier networks. In addition, explanations are provided on how collaborative networks can be classified, on how their adaptive capabilities can be established, and on the characteristics and attributes that particular types of network require in order to handle their commitment to the provision of variety and customisation. IntroductionContinued success for many businesses is predicated on their ability to innovate new ideas and introduce new products. Global competition and the search for growth have created a business environment where sales can be rarely increased from a fixed range of products or markets. More often, sales growth is dependent on the ability of a business to stimulate an existing market or penetrate a different one by offering new choices. Consequently, product development has become more rapid, manufacturing systems have become more flexible and product proliferation and variety continue to increase. Differentiation of products has gone beyond the simple and prosaic categories of age, size, and gender to include regional and national tastes, aesthetics, and personal attributes and lifestyle. The management of the complexity associated with wide product diversity is often dependent on harnessing the knowledge and cooperative efforts of the members of a collaborative network (CN). This paper focuses on the utilisation of shared information and knowledge and the operational know-how involved in managing product variety across collaborative customer-supplier networks. More specifically, the aim of this research is to attempt to support decision-making in CNs by demonstrating how the effective execution of appropriate sales, production and supply-chain policies within and between network partners can be used to support the efficiency of the processes associated with the management of product variety. In addition, explanations are provided on how CNs can be classified, how their adaptive capabilities can be established and on how the characteristics and attributes that particular types of network require in order to handle their commitment to the provision of variety and customisation.Previous research on knowledge management in networks or supply chains is limited but where it does exist it has tended to focus on how (explicit) knowledge can be used to improve performance. Examples include Yuva (2002) and Wadhwa and Saxena (2005). T...

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“…The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: section 2 provides a background on manufacturing typologies and introduces the typology framework and the agility referenced model proposed by Azouzi et al (2007a, b). Section 3 presents the research methodology used.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploratory case studies on manufacturing agility in the furniture industry

Azouzi

Beauregard

D’Amours

2009

Management Research News

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the agility of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) in furniture enterprises, and explores the appropriateness of a typology framework that correlates the technology infrastructure of the enterprise with its manufacturing strategy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper uses a clear and rigorous case study design and protocol. Empirical data are collected using structured surveys of two strategically selected furniture enterprises. The collected data are used to analyze the fit between the technology infrastructure of the enterprise and its strategic goals, and how this fit correlates with the theoretical categories stated by the typology.FindingsThe case studies suggest that enterprise performance could be maximized if the competitive priorities and the customization strategy put in practice are in conformity with the available technology.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the case studies corroborate the all inclusive hypothesis suggested by the typology. The lack of triangulation of multiple data sources for more confidence about the results or the typology framework itself remains a limitation in this study. The two cases were representative to a certain extent of two out of the three theoretical ideal types stated by the typology.Practical implicationsThe explored typology can serve as a supporting tool for managers when making strategic investment decisions in their pursuit of a mass customization strategy within a specific market.Originality/valueThe originality comes from the way the properties that should be displayed by the technologies used in furniture manufacturing enterprises to develop agility are drawn together.

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An Agility Reference Model for the Manufacturing Enterprise: The Example of the Furniture Industry

Cited by 3 publications

References 0 publications

Challenges and Opportunities for North American Hardwood Manufacturers to Adopt Customization Strategies in an Era of Increased Competition

Challenges and Opportunities for North American Hardwood Manufacturers to Adopt Customization Strategies in an Era of Increased Competition

The application of a knowledge-based reference framework to support the provision of requisite variety and customisation across collaborative networks

Exploratory case studies on manufacturing agility in the furniture industry

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