Agile Manufacturing

Introduction
Manufacturing industry is on the verge of a major paradigm shift. This shift will take us away from mass production, way beyond lean manufacturing, into a world of Agile Manufacturing

What is Agile Manufacturing?

Agile manufacturing is a method for manufacturing which combine our organization, people and technology into an integrated and coordinated whole.

Why do we need to be agile

Global Competition is intensifying. Mass markets are fragmenting into niche markets. Cooperation among companies is becoming necessary, including companies who are in direct competition with each other.

Why do we need to be agile cont:

Customers are expecting:
1. Low volume products 2. High quality products 3. Custom products

Very short product life-cycles, development time, and production lead times are required. Customers want to treated as individuals

Keys to agility and flexibility

To determine customer needs quickly and continuously reposition the company against its competitors. To design things quickly based on those individual needs. To put them into full scale, quality, production quickly. To respond to changing volumes and mix quickly. To respond to a crisis quickly.

Agile manufacturing concepts

Customer-integrated process for designing, manufacturing, marketing, and supporting all products and services. Decision making at functional knowledge points not in centralized management Stable unit costs, no matter what the volume Flexible Manufacturing-ability to increase or decrease production volumes at will.

Agile manufacturing concepts cont.

Easy access to integrated data whether it is customer-driven, supplier-driven, or product and process-driven Modular production facilities that can be organized into ever changing manufacturing nodes. Data that is rapidly changed into information that is used to expand knowledge. Mass customized product verses mass produced product.

Four core concepts

1.
2.

3.

4.

A strategy to become an Agile Manufacturing enterprise. A strategy to exploit agility to achieve competitive advantage. Integration of organization, people and technology into a coordinated interdependent system which is our competitive advantage. An interdisciplinary design methodology to achieve the integration of Organization, people and technology.

Nuts and Bolts

Enriching the customer
1. Replace large centralized with distributed clusters of mini-assembly plants located near customers.

Cooperating to enhance competition.

1. Internalcross-functional teams, empowerment. 2. Externalmanaging the supply chain.

Nuts and Bolts

Organizing to manage change and uncertainty
1. Rapid reconfiguration of plant and facilities. 2. Rapid decision making-shallow empowered.

Leveraging people and information.

1. Distribution of authority, resources, and rewards.

Transition to Agile manufacturing?

Make the break with the things that are wrong with the way we do things today. Examine and define the underlying conceptual framework on which Agile Manufacturing enterprises will be built.

Making the transition cont.

Explore and understand the nature of the mass production paradigm and the nature of the cultural and methodological difficulties involved in the transition to Agile Manufacturing. Define a methodology for designing a 21st century manufacturing enterprise.

Real world example:

The Industry: Japanese car makers The goal: To produce the three day car, (three days from customer order for a customized car to dealer delivery)

Real world ex. Cont.

The Challenges:

1. Break dependency on scale and economies of scale (reducing setup costs in key). 2. Produce vehicles in low volumes at a reasonable cost. 3. Guarantee the three day car. 4. Replace large centralized with distributed clusters of mini-assembly plants located near customers. 5. Be able to reconfigure components in many different ways.

The challenges:

Real world ex. Cont.

The Challenges:
1. 2.

3. 4.

Make work stimulating. Turn the customer into a prosumer, an ugly neologism that means proactive something; the idea is that the customer will take an active role in the product design by, for example, configuring options at a computer in a dealer showroom. Streamline ordering systems and establish close relationships with suppliers. Manage the massive volumes of data generated by the production system so as to be able to analyze that data quickly and agilely

Summery
Agile Manufacturing enterprises will be capable of rapidly responding to changes in customer demand. They will be able to take advantage of the windows of opportunities that appear in the market place. With Agile Manufacturing we will be able to develop new ways of interacting with our customers and suppliers. Our customers will not only be able to gain access to our products and services, but will also be able to easily assess and exploit our competencies, so enabling them to use these competencies to achieve the things that they are seeking.