Strategic management of manufacturing – Proposal of a method that recommends production techniques to leverage different competitive dimensions

The manufacturing strategy literature is very wide. The approach of some concepts, such as the Strategic Business Units (SBU) and Competitive Dimensions, evolves towards the concept of Focused Factory by Skinner (1974) and culminates in the definition of different techniques, systems and tools that leverage each Competitive Dimension. However, the literature is much more restricted when it comes to determining which particular manufacturing technique should be adopted among different possibilities. This study aims at filling this gap by proposing a method, which directs decision-making when one needs to define the most appropriate production technique(s) to be adopted within a specific industrial reality. The research method adopted is Design Research. The final method proposed assists its user to select the production techniques that are best aligned with a given application reality. It seeks to go one step further in unfolding Production Strategy by supporting industrial managers to adopt techniques and practices that meet their main demands and specific conditions experienced in their daily routines.