Manufacturing Strategy Linked to Product Life Cycle

number: 002-0302) The article deals with the decision problem faced when a firm is producing items with different life cycles, and/or in different cycle phases. Then, deciding on a Manufacturing Strategy (MS) becomes especially difficult, because usually different manufacturing processes are considered optimum for different products. An analysis of the suitable manufacturing process can result in that a coexistence of more than one should be implemented. This may signify a higher investment, and thus costs. The higher the number of suitable manufacturing processes required the more complex the definition of an adequate Manufacturing Strategy is. One could design the MS based on the analysis of all existing alternatives that permit to combine different manufacturing processes if there existed the process and clear criterion to choosing among them. There are some partial solutions in this matter pointed out in the literature, such as focused facilities or lean manufacturing. Unfortunately, no framework that permits to include, analyse, compare and decide among different solutions was found, nor any proposal for deciding which one of them to use when. Therefore, this paper first presents briefly these solutions and explains how they interact. Then, a generic decision methodology and criteria to define the Manufacturing Strategy for a firm with products presenting different life cycles are proposed and described.

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