"An Empirical Study of Flexibility in Manufacturing"

"An Empirical Study of Flexibility in Manufacturing" (with Michael Cusumano and Charles Fine), MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 37:25-32, 1995

Despite the popularity of flexible manufacturing systems, managers suffer from inadequate frameworks to help incorporate flexibility into their strategic planning. Through a study of thirty-one plants in the printed circuit board industry, the authors progress toward such a framework, define types of flexibility, and examine the relationships among them. Their findings have implications for technology, production management, human resource management, supplier relationships, and product development.