Editing Manufacturing (section)

==Manufacturing strategy==
According to a "traditional" view of manufacturing strategy, there are five key dimensions along which the performance of manufacturing can be assessed: cost, [[Quality (business)|quality]], [[dependability]], flexibility and [[innovation]].<ref>Hayes, R. H., Wheelwright, S. C. and Clark, K. B. (1988), ''Dynamic Manufacturing'', New York: The Free Press, quoted in Wassenhove, L. van and Corbett, C. J., [https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp1991/91-25.pdf "Trade-Offs? What Trade Offs? (A Short Essay on Manufacturing Strategy]", p. 1, ''[[INSEAD]]'', published April 6, 1991, accessed September 27, 2023</ref>

In regard to manufacturing performance, [[Wickham Skinner]], who has been called "the father of [[manufacturing#Manufacturing strategy|manufacturing strategy]]",<ref>R. Sarmiento, G. Whelan, M. Thürer and F. A. Bribiescas-Silva, [https://arrow.tudublin.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1057&context=buschmanart "Fifty Years of the Strategic Trade-Offs Model: In Memory and Honor of Wickham Skinner"], in IEEE Engineering Management Review, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 92–96, 1 Second Quarter, June 2019, {{doi|10.1109/EMR.2019.2915978}}, accessed August 22, 2023</ref> adopted the concept of "focus",<ref>Skinner, W., "[https://store.hbr.org/product/focused-factory/74308 Focused Factory]", ''[[Harvard Business Review]]'', published May 1, 1974.</ref> with an implication that a business cannot perform at the highest level along all five dimensions and must therefore select one or two competitive priorities. This view led to the theory of "trade offs" in manufacturing strategy.<ref name=wass>Wassenhove, L. van and Corbett, C. J., [https://flora.insead.edu/fichiersti_wp/inseadwp1991/91-25.pdf "Trade-Offs? What Trade Offs? (A Short Essay on Manufacturing Strategy]", p. 2, ''[[INSEAD]]'', published April 6, 1991, accessed September 27, 2023</ref> Similarly, Elizabeth Haas wrote in 1987 about the delivery of value in manufacturing for customers in terms of "lower prices, greater service responsiveness or higher quality".<ref>Haas, E. A., "Breakthrough Manufacturing", ''Harvard Business Review'', March/April 1987, pp. 75–81</ref> The theory of "trade offs" has subsequently being debated and questioned,<ref name=wass /> but Skinner wrote in 1992 that at that time "enthusiasm for the concepts of 'manufacturing strategy' [had] been higher", noting that in [[academic paper]]s, executive courses and [[case studies]], levels of interest were "bursting out all over".<ref>Skinner, W., "Missing the Links in Manufacturing Strategy" in Voss, C. A. (ed) (1992), ''Manufacturing Strategy – Process and Content'', Chapman and Hall, pp. 12–25</ref>

Manufacturing writer Terry Hill has commented that manufacturing is often seen as a less "strategic" business activity than functions such as marketing and [[Strategic financial management|finance]], and that manufacturing managers have "come late" to business strategy-making discussions, where, as a result, they make only a reactive contribution.<ref>Hill, T., [https://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4266/1/WRAP_THESIS_Hill_1990.pdf Manufacturing Strategy: Developments in Approach and Analytics], University of Warwick, 1990, accessed 28 September 2023</ref><ref>Hill, T. (1993), ''Manufacturing Strategy'', second edition, Macmillan, chapter 2</ref>