Product and employee development in advanced manufacturing: implementationand impact

As competitive intensity increases and the need for rapid, responsive and e fficient production rises, manufacturers need to develop effective strategi es that lever all a firm's resources into a competitive weapon. One challen ge managers face in today's dynamic global economy is to choose appropriate manufacturing practices and then to integrate them into a cohesive value-a dded strategy that will yield enhanced competitive performance. The sheer n umber and range of manufacturing 'strategies' that have emerged over the pa st 20 years exacerbate the challenge. The goal of this study is therefore t o look at four highly publicized manufacturing strategies and then examine their interrelationships and impact on firm performance: (1) integrated pro duct development, (2) employee development, (3) just-in-time manufacturing and (4) manufacturing automation. The responses of 158 managers from random ly selected US manufacturing firms were used to develop a covariance matrix to facilitate the use of a structural equations model via LISREL. The anal ysis indicates that employee and product development strategies are importa nt antecedents of just-in-time and automation strategies. All four advanced manufacturing practices have significant, positive impacts on organization al competitiveness.