Small Firms, Advanced Manufacturing Technology and Flexibility

Engineers believe that the greatest advantages of the computer-controlled, flexible 'factory of the future' lie in the integration of previously separate manufacturing processes, and the integration of the manufacturing function with that of design and marketing [1]. They also tend to be pessimistic about the ability to overcome the immense technical problems involved in this integration [2,3]. Investment in advanced manufacturing technology in Britain has, on the whole, been in discrete machinery. The most important of these technologies certainly in numbers sold is Computer Numerical Control Machine Tools. In a survey conducted by the Policy Studies Institute it was estimated that by 1985 27,000 CNC machine tools would be in use in the UK [4]. By way of comparison, the British Robot Association calculate that by the end of 1985 there were 3,200 robot units in place in the UK [5], and the number of Flexible Manufacturing Systems which link CNC machines and robots installed and planned in 1985 was estimated to be 90 [6]. Use of CNC is spread throughout industry, from aerospace to the manufacture of pumps [7]. They are used in all sizes of industrial concern. Northcott and Rogers [8] found that 31 per cent of firms in the 500-999 employees category, 22 per cent in the 200-499 employees category and 21 per cent in the 20-199 category used CNC. Small firms defined as those