Strategic capacity management: meeting technological demands and performance criteria

Although manufacturing determines mostly the current performance of companies, few companies deal systematically with the issues related to strategic capacity management. Besides decisions on outsourcing and acquisition of resources, this involves triggering process innovation, process development and improving performance by adapting organisational structures. Action research in companies reveals the importance of capacity management at a strategic level as well as the implementation at tactical and operational levels. The methods as proposed in this paper provide industrial companies with tools for implementing their manufacturing strategy. Through matching product configurations with product–market strategies and product development, they point to areas of improvement by deploying performance evaluations and the determination of performance requirements. These improvements lead to decisions on investments for resources, resource utilisation and development of processes, including initiation of manufacturing technologies.