The Manufacturing Contribution to Innovation

• Main Author: DE MEYER, Arnoud
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1991
• Subjects: product innovation; manufacturing; manufacturing environment; manufacturing managers; Operations and Supply Chain Management; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/3831; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/4834/viewcontent/ManufacturingOperationsEuropeWhereNext1998_EMJ_afv.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The description of the contribution of manufacturing to the innovation process is often limited to the task of providing the necessary information to enable the development function to create a design which is easy to manufacture, and to be instrumental in the fast ramp-up of the production process. Though these are important tasks, it is argued in this paper that there is a third aspect of manufacturing’s contribution to innovation, namely the creation of a manufacturing system which is favorable to product innovation. This goes far beyond the design of an appropriate production process, but requires the creation of a general manufacturing environment which is amenable to product innovation. This thesis is tested with data from a large survey of senior manufacturing managers.