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INTRODUCTION
In this article the authors develop the theme of repetitive manufacturing compared with intermittent manufacturing in manufacturing firms. The ever growing interest in repetitive manufacturing is due to the great possibilities that such a system offers in achieving simultaneously efficient and efficacious performance. The opportunities offered derive from easier application of the just-in-time (JIT) philosophy 1-4!.
The increasing attention that is paid to repetitive manufacturing has led to meetings, debates, seminars, articles and book contributions in both the academic and industrial world. The main themes of debate today are the following:
* What are the characteristics of repetitive manufacturing compared with those in intermittent manufacturing?
* How does manufacturing management in the context of repetitive manufacturing differ from that used in intermittent productive systems?
* What are the characteristics of manufacturing planning and control systems in repetitive production systems?
* What are the possibilities for a firm presently working with intermittent production processes of working with repetitive processes and what action should be taken in this respect?
The first theme, that of the characteristics of repetitive manufacturing compared with those of intermittent manufacturing represents the object of this article. The second theme, regarding repetitive manufacturing management, will be the object of a further article by the authors. The arguments that will be developed therein are of particular interest for manufacturing firms that intend to evolve as far as possible towards repetitive manufacturing; in these firms management techniques have been conceived and developed for intermittent manufacturing environments like job shops. The greatest difficulties lie in the application of innovative management techniques within the shopfloor control subsystem 5,6!.
The third theme, regarding management information systems for repetitive environments, refers to the ways in which information systems used in repetitive manufacturing contexts are designed and used. Informatic procedures used in intermittent productive systems, which are obviously based on the management logics of productive systems like job shops, cannot be applied tout court to repetitive contexts 7,8,9!. The reference is to manufacturing planning and control systems, based on MRP 10!, which evolved from simple planning systems for material requirements to what is universally known today as manufacturing resources planning (MRPII) 11!, or rather manufacturing planning and control systems (MPCS) 12!.
The fourth debated theme regards the actions that...