STABILIZE THE DEMAND

Authors
Citation
H. Mather, STABILIZE THE DEMAND, IIE solutions, 27(11), 1995, pp. 41-43
Citations number
NO
Categorie Soggetti
Engineering, Industrial
Journal title
ISSN journal
10851259
Volume
27
Issue
11
Year of publication
1995
Pages
41 - 43
Database
ISI
SICI code
1085-1259(1995)27:11<41:STD>2.0.ZU;2-L
Abstract
During the past fifteen years, manufacturers have focused much of thei r energy on increasing the flexibility of their factories. Vast improv ements have been made, applying just-in-time (JIT) and world class man ufacturing (WCM) concepts. Today, some companies can deliver custom pr oducts in only a few days-compared to weeks or months just a few years ago. It is obvious, however, that there is a limit to manufacturing f lexibility, at least from a cost-effective standpoint. At some point, extreme flexibility is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. W hen you reach this stage, it's mandatory to ask yourself what other ch oice you have. But maybe you should ask this question sooner, before y ou unnecessarily spend money increasing flexibility beyond what is nee ded.