Adaptation of a Focused Factory to a Mission Change: the Influence of Manufacturing Requirements and Capabilities

This paper examines how a focused factory adapts to a change in its manufacturing mission. We use the organizational nature of production operations to suggest that the effectiveness of adaptation will depend on how well the manufacturing requirements of the new mission match manufacturing capabilities at the production line level. We test our hypotheses using primary data from a well-known focused factory of the Copeland Corporation. The results suggest that the factors that influence adaptability derive from individual and organizational competence, and that the direction and extent of their influence depends on the systemic nature of the operational activity concerned. The results highlight important roles of carefully designed complexity in operations and of process-oriented decision making on the shop-floor in successful adaptation. This work contributes to our understanding of how factories and, more generally, business organizations overcome impediments to successful change.