Analysis of the congruence between manufacturing strategy and production system in SMME

A production system must reflect a company’s manufacturing strategy and the chosen competitive priorities. Tools to assess the congruence between the manufacturing strategy and the production system can hence support the companies’ competitive position. In this paper, the usability of an analysis model suggested by Miltenburg (1995), aiming at mapping manufacturing strategy and production system is investigated. The usability of the analysis model is investigated in terms of the ease to use it and in terms of the obtained results. The investigation is performed by means of empirical studies in two medium sized manufacturing companies. The result is that the model seems to be useable in the senses that, if knowledge about the underlying principles in the analysis model is at hand, it is possible to investigate the congruence between manufacturing strategy and production system. It is, however, believed that the analysis model needs some further development to be considered an easy to use tool for e.g. the SMME production manager.