Approaches to the factory of the future. An empirical taxonomy

An empirical analysis of the patterns in which companies invest in advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) such as computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, and flexible manufacturing systems is presented. Data for this analysis are gathered from 202 manufacturing plants chosen from industries generally considered to have relatively high investments in technology.Three general types of AMTs are identified from the literature: design, manufacturing, and administrative. Multiple item scales are developed to measure each type of AMT. These scales are shown to be reliable instruments, and are used to develop an empirical taxonomy which validates existing conceptual typologies of AMTs. A cluster analysis reveals four distinct groups of companies with respect to their approaches toward investing in AMTs. TRADITIONALISTS do not invest heavily in any of the three types of AMTs. GENERALISTS have moderate investments in each technology type. HIGH INVESTORS have the highest investment in each of the three technology types. The most interesting group may well be the DESIGNERS, which have low investments for manufacturing and administrative AMTs, but have the second highest investment in design-related AMTs.An analysis of the four technology groups reveals that while plants do differ in terms of plant size and integration, they do not differ significantly in terms of industry membership or performance. This suggests that successful firms can be found in each of the groups and that good strategies may be found that are consistent with each of these approaches. Therefore, the taxonomy is fairly robust, and further research must analyze companies within these groupings in order to identify the contingencies or other factors that may act in conjunction with technology to separate high and low performing firms. The data from our study clearly suggest that investments in technology alone are not a causal factor for performance improvement.