Determination of a Dedicated, Cost-Effective Agility in Manufacturing Networks

Abstract

Global manufacturing companies are operating their manufacturing networks in an increasingly uncertain and complex environment. Consequently, they have to adapt their networks much faster to changing conditions. Thus, agile manufacturing networks that are able to react and adapt quickly at reasonable cost to those conditions are required. One of the main challenges in this context is the balancing of cost- and investment-intensive measures to increase flexibility and transformability on the one hand and the impediment of the overall changeability/agility by the associated increased capital tie-up on the other. Hence, this paper presents an approach to quantify and evaluate the benefits and costs of changeability measures. By systematically discussing a reasonable trade-off between costs and benefits, a dedicated, cost-effective agility for a manufacturing network is determined, enabling companies to improve their network design in terms of cost-effective changeability and thus ensure their competitiveness in the long term.