Manufacturing flexibility is critical for survival in industries characterized
by rapid change and diverse product markets. Although new
manufacturing technologies make it possible to accomplish flexibility,
their potential remains unrealized by firms whose organizational
elements do not possess adaptive capabilities. We use the brain as a
metaphor to generate insights on how firms might design flexible
production systems. We chose the brain as a metaphor because it is a
self-organizing system capable of responding rapidly to a broad
range of external stimuli. The brain as a metaphor suggests that flexibility
can be enhanced by employing practices that promote distributed
processes occurring in parallel manner. Such practices lie in
contrast to those employed by production systems built on scientific
management principles that promote localized processes in a sequential
manner. By exploring these contrasting modes of operation, we
argue that the brain as a metaphor opens up new avenues for theory
development related to the design of flexible production systems.Information Systems Working Papers Serie