Congruence of manufacturing decision areas in a production system: a research framework

Abstract

Abstract A well designed production system secures environmental and internal fit. Environmental fit in a production system refers to alignment of manufacturing decisions to the external settings such as product and market. Internal fit implies that manufacturing decisions are mutually supportive. This paper develops a framework to analyse congruence of manufacturing decision areas in a production system. The framework considers six broad manufacturing decision areas. Based on the literature review, 54 decision types and alternative decision choices for each decision type are identified. The subjective and/or objective constructs to measure decision type are presented which should be useful in designing construct and in data gathering to conduct empirical research. Using the proposed framework, many research questions concerning the settings of several decision types for a specific type of production system can be generated and empirically tested. Keywords: manufacturing strategymanufacturing decision areascompetitive prioritiesproduction systemenvironmental fitinternal fit