Flexible manufacturing -- The hope for European industry

Abstract

It is suggested that a major strategic failure in European industry is its weakness in production and manufacturing technology. In this article it is argued that positive adoption of Flexible Manufacturing Systems provides the best hope for European firms to recover their manufacturing competitiveness. The author discusses the opportunities and problems encountered in computerising production and moving towards FMS from a strategic perspective, and concludes that it can only occur successfully if senior management are directly involved from a general systems perspective.