Centre for Industry & Government

The Strategic Manufacturing Study

The debates surrounding manufacturing have become stale over the past twenty years. The same arguments are used repeatedly, and responses to manufacturing have become clichéd. The Strategic Manufacturing Study takes a fresh look at the importance of manufacturing to companies and to national economies. Through studying the reality of manufacturing and linking this to economics and policy, the project refreshes the debate on the importance of manufacturing and ensures that companies and countries are making well informed decisions when considering the manufacturing industries.

Key Findings

Many commentators use 'manufacturing' and 'production' to mean the same thing. However, manufacturing has evolved and now includes R&D, logistics, service provision and end of life management.

The project found that there are five key factors that tend to be overlooked by companies when they are making decisions on how to structure their global production network. These factors are:

• enhancing product and process innovation to act as a source and test bed for new concepts
• providing a source of distinctiveness, to allow companies to differentiate themselves through hard-to-copy production techniques
• enabling rapid and responsive customisation of products to support the swift introduction of new products and meet volatile market demands
• creating value-added services for businesses based on intimate customer and product knowledge
• offering a mechanism for value capture through the 'productisation' of intellectual property

Outputs

To read the executive summary and conclusions of Making the Most of Production click here.

To read the press release for Making the Most of Production click here .

Ordering the report

Making the Most of Production can be ordered from the Institute for Manufacturing (for £45 +p&p) by filling out this fax back form or by calling the Institute for Manufacturing on +44 (0) 1223 766141.

Sponsors

The Strategic Manufacturing Study was supported by the following organisations: