La. Martinvega et al., INDUSTRIAL PERSPECTIVE ON RESEARCH NEEDS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN MANUFACTURING ASSEMBLY, Journal of manufacturing systems, 14(1), 1995, pp. 45-58
Citations number
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Categorie Soggetti
Engineering, Manufacturing","Operatione Research & Management Science","Engineering, Industrial
This paper investigates whether investments in research and developmen
t (R&D) could have a significant impact on reducing the cost and/or en
hancing the effectiveness of manufacturing assembly. It also recommend
s a research agenda that from an industrial perspective would result i
n the highest return on investment in assembly R&D. The assessment was
conducted on 24 product line across companies ranging in size from $1
0 million to $2 billion in annual sales. Approximately 64% of the asse
mbly dollar value surveyed corresponded to Department of Defense (DoD)
products. A needs and trends analysis was conducted to determine the
perception of industrial participants regarding their current investme
nt, need for investment, and cost impact potential of assembly activit
ies. Findings for government contractors versus commercial firms, for
prime contractors versus subtier contractors, and for electrically int
ense versus mechanically intense operations are presented. The researc
h methodology also included analysis of qualitative data from open-end
ed questions and interviews. This resulted in identification of three
major assembly issues: R&D opportunities, R&D inhibitors, and technolo
gy transfer. These findings are also summarized.