Strategic model for justification, adoption and implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies

Abstract

Summary form only given. In the last decades the world economy has been undergoing an intense globalization process, resulting in a growing internationalization of production and a highly competitive market. For companies to survive and prosper they must use new technologies for competitive advantage. Thus, the companies can develop, transfer or buy several types of technologies, among them the advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT). This work has as an objective to propose a strategic model for choice, justification, adoption and implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies, as well as the responsible factors for the success or failure of such implementations and its relationships with the other elements of the organization. Through a strategic approach, the choice of AMT should conform with the competitive strategies and consequently with the manufacturing strategies of the company. In this way, AMT can be taken advantage of in its potential total, besides generating a synergy among several elements of the organization. The implementation of AMT should be seen as a part of a process. To implement them, it is not enough to change the lay-out of the factory and to arrange a physical space for installing them and to put them to work. The technology should be based on the business strategies or competitiveness of the company.