| Various global changes in American business and manufacturing have forced a review of accepted thinking. The last great change in business paradigms was the move from the American System to the system of Mass Manufacturing. For many years now, multiple scholars, industry researchers and business executives have been working on pieces of a replacement paradigm to the well-accepted thinking and philosophy of mass manufacturing.;This dissertation examines and helps refine a proposed manufacturing framework that is purported to be the replacement of mass manufacturing, namely Agile Manufacturing. The objective of this effort is to provide a comprehensive description and theoretical formulation for 'Agile Manufacturing' and 'Agility'. Agility refers to the nimbleness of a company to quickly assemble its technology, employees, and management via a communication and information infrastructure in a deliberate, effective, and coordinated response to changing customer demands in a market environment of continuous and unanticipated change.;The approach utilized is to develop a systemic, normative model based upon an analysis and interpretation of manufacturers at various stages of agility. The experiences of these manufacturers are supplemented by data collected through in-depth interviews, personal observation and correspondence, and through a thorough review of literature on Agility and related sub-topic issues. A within case and cross-case analysis is presented to illuminate the fundamental dynamics. A grid is constructed that summarizes the relationships that appeared evident over the course of the research. The grid relates each case investigated to the proposed antecedent variables on agility as well as to key variables used in other depictions of agility.;This research provides a step towards the generation of an agile implementation methodology. The research also builds on previous studies to provide a basis for increased understanding of the transition from mass manufacturing processes and practices to agile manufacturing processes and practices.;A portion of the research summarizes the current climate of the aerospace industry and addresses the unique factors that have propelled the industry's dramatic transformations over the past decade. In further analysis of the aerospace industry, the method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is applied to suggest a possible quantifiable measure of agility. The method utilized relates individual company performance to a piecewise linear production frontier which is an empirically estimated production function based upon multiple inputs and outputs of each company in a selected sample based upon publicly reported financial data of companies primarily in the U.S. aerospace industry. |
