The boundaries of manufacturing system have been ex te nded from factory to the international manufacturing network, supply network, va lue network and virtual network in recent decades, driven by intensified competi ...The boundaries of manufacturing system have been ex te nded from factory to the international manufacturing network, supply network, va lue network and virtual network in recent decades, driven by intensified competi tion, fragmented market, globalised collaboration, and advanced technology. However, as the manufacturing system evolves into more and more complicated net work relationship, the fundamental concepts of manufacturing strategy focusing o n a product family and bridging its market, competition and factory system have rarely been adapted to face new challenges from extended system, although the st rategy formation processes are widely discussed from both perspectives in terms of top-down and bottom-up. Coming into the new economy, as manufacturing industry and system have changed their role in both company and society, manufac turing, especially physical fabrications and assembly, has become less critical than ten years ago, and the compatible manufacturing strategy has been also chal lenged by the new rules based on knowledge development and by the new business m odel based on value creation. Manufacturing strategy has to find a position and mechanism contributing itself to the corporate strategy and competitive advanta ge. This paper seeks to answer the question what networked manufacturing systems can imply to the manufacturing strategy, by clarifying some key challenges to the c lassical manufacturing strategy theory, especially from networked manufacturing system and value-based manufacturing strategy perspectives. The paper is based on some preliminary case observations in several multinationa l corporations in aerospace, automotive, engineering and electronics industries. Original objectives are targeted on an evolutionary process of manufacturing system from factory-based system towards globally collaborated inter-firm netw ork, seeking to explain why manufacturing companies evolve into more and more un controllable relationship. The preliminary findings are seriously challenging t he traditional concept of firm and the theory manufacturing strategy developed b y Skinner (1969). Some key findings from the preliminary work include: - value creation is more dependent upon a proposition in the value net than crea tion of competitive edge for existing product line-which ask manufacturing stra tegy should focus more on a higher value - in manufacturing system, leveraging other companies resources seems to be more important than owning these resources - which implies networked virtual enterpr ise is preferred architecture - in inter-firm collaboration, understanding the dynamics and keeping a balance are more and more critical in the spectrum of collaboration from one end of cor porate hierarchy towards another end of free market-which means that a cont ingency picture is more needed than a single supply or virtual network model - from evolution perspective, deeply understandings about internally vertical in tegration, outsourcing, sub-contracting, and manufacturing hollowing-out are n ow more and more important than the single competence knowing how to do them-wh ich means an up-grading towards know-why These new challenges ask new solutions for industry. They imply not only new sy stem architecture of manufacturing system based on an inter-firm relationship b ut new strategy process with a context-based contingency framework. The paper summaries some existing researches and develops a theoretical framework for the new networked manufacturing system. As a preliminary case study, the paper also suggests a further research plan in the future.展开更多
文摘The boundaries of manufacturing system have been ex te nded from factory to the international manufacturing network, supply network, va lue network and virtual network in recent decades, driven by intensified competi tion, fragmented market, globalised collaboration, and advanced technology. However, as the manufacturing system evolves into more and more complicated net work relationship, the fundamental concepts of manufacturing strategy focusing o n a product family and bridging its market, competition and factory system have rarely been adapted to face new challenges from extended system, although the st rategy formation processes are widely discussed from both perspectives in terms of top-down and bottom-up. Coming into the new economy, as manufacturing industry and system have changed their role in both company and society, manufac turing, especially physical fabrications and assembly, has become less critical than ten years ago, and the compatible manufacturing strategy has been also chal lenged by the new rules based on knowledge development and by the new business m odel based on value creation. Manufacturing strategy has to find a position and mechanism contributing itself to the corporate strategy and competitive advanta ge. This paper seeks to answer the question what networked manufacturing systems can imply to the manufacturing strategy, by clarifying some key challenges to the c lassical manufacturing strategy theory, especially from networked manufacturing system and value-based manufacturing strategy perspectives. The paper is based on some preliminary case observations in several multinationa l corporations in aerospace, automotive, engineering and electronics industries. Original objectives are targeted on an evolutionary process of manufacturing system from factory-based system towards globally collaborated inter-firm netw ork, seeking to explain why manufacturing companies evolve into more and more un controllable relationship. The preliminary findings are seriously challenging t he traditional concept of firm and the theory manufacturing strategy developed b y Skinner (1969). Some key findings from the preliminary work include: - value creation is more dependent upon a proposition in the value net than crea tion of competitive edge for existing product line-which ask manufacturing stra tegy should focus more on a higher value - in manufacturing system, leveraging other companies resources seems to be more important than owning these resources - which implies networked virtual enterpr ise is preferred architecture - in inter-firm collaboration, understanding the dynamics and keeping a balance are more and more critical in the spectrum of collaboration from one end of cor porate hierarchy towards another end of free market-which means that a cont ingency picture is more needed than a single supply or virtual network model - from evolution perspective, deeply understandings about internally vertical in tegration, outsourcing, sub-contracting, and manufacturing hollowing-out are n ow more and more important than the single competence knowing how to do them-wh ich means an up-grading towards know-why These new challenges ask new solutions for industry. They imply not only new sy stem architecture of manufacturing system based on an inter-firm relationship b ut new strategy process with a context-based contingency framework. The paper summaries some existing researches and develops a theoretical framework for the new networked manufacturing system. As a preliminary case study, the paper also suggests a further research plan in the future.
