Manufacturing strategy perspective on flexibility: A case of select Indian Companies

Manufacturing managers in a broad array of industries may concur that achieving low cost and high quality is no longer enough to guarantee success. In today's fierce competitive scenario, companies are increasingly concentrating on flexibility as a way to achieve new forms of competitive advantage. This flexibility will enable them to respond to customer orders quickly, provide a broad product range, and introduce new products quickly. Flexibility has been recognized as an important competitive priority in manufacturing strategy literature. This research presents a manufacturing strategy perspective on flexibility from Indian industry point of view. The objective of the survey was to assess the status of flexibility in Indian manufacturing companies. In general, flexibility seems to be one of the important priorities for Indian companies. The issue of flexibility is mapped using a manufacturing strategy framework. Two dimensions of flexibility (structural and infrastructure flexibility) are identified and a sectoral comparison is made.