The development of manufacturing strategy in a turbulent environment

Outlines the basic characteristics of a method for the development of manufacturing strategy which is being implemented in a medium‐sized manufacturing company in Brazil. The new method has been developed because the ones found in the current literature were considered to be inadequate for the requirements of the highly changeable Brazilian industrial environment, and also to provide formal means through which the manufacturing function of the company can have an effective proactive role in such a turbulent environment. Some of the tools developed, however, can also help companies which are in less turbulent situations. The process followed neither the traditional top‐down nor the bottom‐up approach. Rather, it was triggered at the middle‐management level. Some of the original tools which the proposed framework includes are: a method to ensure coherence between department level goals and firm level overall competitive objectives; the use of “contingency models” to favour the process of integration between functions; and the use of scenarios to allow for the proactivity of the functional areas. The implementation process partial results showed that before the reported implementation, company resources had been mistakenly allocated due to the lack of a well‐defined strategic direction.