During the recent years, the manufacturing world has been witnessing the application of agile manufacturing paradigm. The literature review reported in this paper was carried out to study this progression. This literature review was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the literature was reviewed to trace the origin of agile manufacturing paradigm and identify its enablers. Further, during this phase, the applications of agile manufacturing reported in literature arena were reviewed. It was also discernable that certain research works have been initiated to apply agile manufacturing paradigm in pump industry. During the second phase, the researches reported on applying agile manufacturing in pump industry were reviewed. At the end of this review, it was found that so far the implementation of agile manufacturing in pump industry has been examined by the researchers by considering only certain components of pumps. In fact, the holistic implementation of agile manufacturing in the pump industry is yet to be examined by the researchers. In the context of drawing this inference, this paper has been concluded by stating that high scope exists in examining the infusing of agility characteristics in designing and manufacturing of pumps.
The field of manufacturing emerged in the world during ancient days when humankind began to shape the naturally available components to fulfill specific needs. Particularly, the humankind that lived during ancient days would have sharpened the stones for killing animals. Thus, the manufacturing field has ancient day roots. On further development, the manufacturing field expanded to produce little more sophisticated products like utensils and furniture. In order to manufacture these little more sophisticated products, the humankind began to adopt manufacturing paradigms. The first paradigm that the manufacturing world adopted was craft production. Craft production paradigm enabled the humankind to produce products in low volume by employing few people. After the industrial revolution, the manufacturing field witnessed the emergence of mass production paradigm. Mass production paradigm enabled the humankind to produce products in large volume by employing many people. Mass production paradigm dominated the manufacturing scenario till the 1960s. Thereafter, the manufacturing world began to witness competition. In order to face this competition, the companies started adopting lean manufacturing paradigm which focused on eliminating wastes which occurred during the mass production. From the 1980s, the world began to experience the intensification of competition. In order to face this kind of intensified competition, the world witnessed the emergence of agile manufacturing paradigm. Agile manufacturing paradigm focuses on manufacturing products based on the dynamic demands of the customers. Furthermore agile manufacturing paradigm enables an organization to supply products according to the choice and specifications of the customer. This capability is addressed by their researchers under the term “mass customization.” Today, the companies which have been able to mass-customize the products produced by them through the installation of agile manufacturing paradigm have been able to thrive in the market. Though agile manufacturing has been adding certain industries to face the competition, its application in many other industries is not significantly reported. This situation warrants the need to not only review the literature for studying the state-of-the-art researches on agile manufacturing but also explore its exploitation in an industry in which it is yet to find in-depth application. In this regard, pump manufacturing industry was chosen as the candidate industry for studying the application feasibility of agile manufacturing paradigm. The literature review reported in this paper was carried out in two phases. In the first phase, the state-of-the-art researches on agile manufacturing were studied. In the second phase, the scope applying agile manufacturing concepts in pump industry was studied. The details of carrying out the activities under these two phases are presented in the subsequent sections of this paper.
The literature review being reported here was begun by gathering papers reporting researches on agile manufacturing. Then, the meaning, definition, and emanation of agile manufacturing reported in these papers were studied. After reviewing this information, the enablers of agile manufacturing were identified. Subsequently, the different industries where agile manufacturing has been successfully applied were identified and studied. At this stage, the scope of the literature survey being reported here was restricted to studying the research activities on applying agile manufacturing in the pump industry. Subsequently, a search was made in the literature arena to identify the paper reporting research activities in this direction. This search resulted in the identification of three papers reporting the researches on applying agile manufacturing in the pump industry. These papers were studied in detail. The details of these activities are briefly reported in the following sections of this paper.
The world began to experience globalization from the 1990s. The globalization resulted in the entry of products produced by different countries into the local markets. This scenario fueled the global competition between companies situated in various parts of the world [
In the early period, mobile phone manufacturers produced large sized mobile phones with the provision for telephoning and utilizing other few facilities like calculator and calendar. Today, those manufacturers have brought out mobile phones under different names like tablet and iPad, which are incorporated with facilities like high resolution camera and high speed internet technology. Thus, the mobile phone manufacturers are capable of quickly responding to the dynamic demands of the customers. This is due to the fact that mobile phone manufacturing companies are incorporated with a type of production paradigm that is agile in nature. In the year 1990, a group of researchers coined the term “agile manufacturing” after seeing this kind of developments [
The formation of agile forum at Iacocca Institute in Lehigh University resulted in a considerable number of researches in effecting agile manufacturing in different companies. Initially, these researchers began to work on discovering the meaning of agile manufacturing. The common meaning recognized by researchers is that agile manufacturing is a manufacturing paradigm that enables the companies to respond to the dynamic demands of the customers quickly [
After the formation of agile forum at Iacocca Institute at Lehigh University, USA, the researchers made efforts to define agile manufacturing. These efforts of the researchers resulted in several definitions of agile manufacturing in the literature arena. Few authors like Gunasekaran and Yusuf [
After developing the definitions of agile manufacturing, researchers began to carry out studies for determining the enablers that would aid the companies with implementing agile manufacturing principles. These researches have been repeatedly reported in literature arena. The agility enablers pinpointed by the authors in these research papers are enumerated in Table
Agility enablers reported in literature arena.
Paper number | Papers reporting agility enablers | Number of agility enablers identified | Agility enablers |
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1 | Vinodh et al. [ |
2 | Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Rapid Prototyping Technology (RPT). |
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2 | Yusuf et al. [ |
4 | Core competence management, Virtual Enterprise (VE) formation, capability for reconfiguration, and knowledge driven enterprise. |
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3 | Narasimhan et al. [ |
4 | Partnership arrangement, close relationships with suppliers, JIT production, and advanced technologies. |
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4 | Vinodh et al. [ |
5 | Organizational structure enabler, manufacturing management enabler, employee agility enabler, technology enabler, and manufacturing strategy enabler. |
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5 | Gunasekaran [ |
7 | VE formation tools/metrics, physically distributed teams, and manufacturing, rapid partnership formation tools/metrics, Concurrent Engineering (CE), integrated product/production, business information system, rapid prototyping tools, electronic commerce (EC). |
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6 | Vinodh and Kuttalingam [ |
9 | CAD, Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM), Computer Numerical Control (CNC), computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), Rapid Prototyping (RP), Rapid Tooling (RT), Reverse Engineering (RE), VE, Information Technology (IT). |
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7 | Dowlatshahi and Cao [ |
10 | Core competencies, VE, RPT, CE, multiskilled and flexible people, continuous improvement, team working, change and risk management, IT, empowering. |
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8 | Sreenivasa and Devadasan [ |
25 | Artificial Intelligence (AI), internet, inter- and intraenterprise activities, Standard for Exchange of Products (STEP), CE, virtual manufacturing, component based distributed shop floor control system, tabu-enhanced genetic algorithm approach, customization, RPT, IT, AI, web technology, innovative total quality function deployment (ITQFD), management responsibility, manufacturing management, employee status, technology and manufacturing strategy, RPT, Computer-Aided Design of Experiments (CADOE), activity based costing (ABC), CAD/CAM, CAD, and RPT. |
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9 | Eshlaghy et al. [ |
25 | VE, EC, RPT, improvement, multiskilled and flexible people, team working, CE, change and risk management, integrated information system, continuous improvement, flexible infrastructure, supply chain, improved manufacturing technology, core competence, capability for reconfiguration, knowledge management, innovation, agile strategy, agility process, reward system, culture, reengineering, leadership, collaborative relationships, uncertainty and essential changes, people leverage, and IT. |
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10 |
Vázquez-Bustelo et al. [ |
53 | Top management support, employee involvement and empowerment, team working, job rotation (multifunctional workforce), training and education, knowledge workers, decentralized decision making, entrepreneurial firm culture, reward schemes to encourage innovation and based on both financial and nonfinancial measures, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Materials Requirement Planning (MRP), Robotics, automated guided vehicle (AGV), automated storage and retrieval systems, CNC machines, CAD/CAM, RPT tools, intranet internet and world wide web, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), EC, visual inspection, manufacturing cells, virtual reality software, Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), computer-aided process planning (CAPP), group technology (GT), Point of Sales (POS) data collection, bar codes, automatic data collection, real time communication/execution systems, Design for Manufacture/Assembly (DFM/A), strategic alliance/based on core/complementary competencies, virtual firm/organization, rapid partnership formation, integration of functions from purchasing to sales, global supply chain management, customer integrated processes for designing, manufacturing, marketing, and support, strategic relationship with customers and suppliers, internal and external cooperation, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), formation of cross function product development teams, concurrent design of products and processes, multidisciplinary team working environment, intelligent engineering design support system, customer and supplier integrated multidiscipline teams, global access to databases and information, Knowledge Based Systems (KBS), knowledge management systems, sensitive information protection, organization structure that promotes innovation, training and education, learning organization, knowledge acquisition from internal and external resources, and core competence management. |
An overview of the contents of Table
Several researchers have endeavored to implement agile manufacturing paradigm in different industries right from its conceptualization. This resulted in appearance of many research papers reporting the experiences of implementing agile manufacturing in various industrial sectors in the literature arena. During the literature review being reported here, a total of 48 research papers on industrial application of agile manufacturing were found. The nature of researches is highlighted in Table
Papers reporting agile manufacturing research on different manufacturing companies.
Serial number | Industry in which agile manufacturing was implemented | Papers reporting the implementation oriented research in agile manufacturing domain | Candidate product | Research reported in the paper |
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1 | Electronic industry | Vinodh et al. [ |
Several products | Several technologies and models have been applied to achieve agility |
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2 | Pump industry | Vinodh et al. [ |
Pump products | Research to infuse agility through the integration of CAD and RPT |
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3 | Aerospace industry | Gunasekaran et al. [ |
Aircraft components | Developed and used an agility audit questionnaire for assessing the agility level of the company |
Mondragon et al. [ |
Studied the impact of information systems in achieving agility | |||
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Sreenivasa et al. [ |
Developed a 30-criterion agility assessment tool | |||
4 | Air dryer industry | Sreenivasa et al. [ |
Regenerative air dryer | Reported a research on theoretically mapping air dryer capabilities from agile manufacturing perspectives |
Sreenivasa et al. [ |
Reported a research to enhance the total agility level (TAL) in the company | |||
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Mondragon et al. [ |
Engine and transmission parts | Studied the impact of information systems in achieving agility | ||
5 | Automotive industry | Frayret et al. [ |
Motor coach | Demonstrated the effectiveness of a method called “NetMan approach” in acquiring agility characteristics in organisations |
Vinodh and Kuttalingam [ |
Sprocket | Investigated the application of CAD and Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) as enablers of agile manufacturing | ||
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6 | Machine tool industry | Wang et al. [ |
— | Proposed a multiagent and distributed ruler based approach to carry out production scheduling in agile manufacturing system |
Cheng et al. [ |
Journal bearings |
Proposed an architecture for implementing agile manufacturing principles by integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and internet technology | ||
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7 | Chemical industry | Guisinger and Ghorashi [ |
— | Described the increasing application of agile manufacturing practices in the specialty chemical industry |
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8 | Casting industry | Yang and Li [ |
— | Researched on evaluating the agility of a company by using the multigrade fuzzy assessment method |
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9 | Household products manufacturing industry | Sharifi and Zhang [ |
Domestic cookers | Designed a conceptual model of agility to enhance the agility of the company |
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10 | Fabrication industry | Fung et al. [ |
Steel frames | Proposed an infrastructure for exercising adaptive production control in an agile manufacturing environment |
Bar chart of industrial applications of agile manufacturing.
The highlights of the researches reported on implementing agile manufacturing researches in electronic industries are a little more elaborated in Table
Papers reporting agile manufacturing research in electronics manufacturing industry.
Serial number | Papers reporting the research in electronic switch industry | Candidate product chosen for research | Research reported in the paper |
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1 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Electronic switch | Designed a model named agile innovative total quality function deployment (agile ITQFD) |
2 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Designed a tool for quantifying agility in organizations and test its practical compatibility | |
3 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Developed a decision support system named decision support system for quantifying agile criteria (DESSAC) | |
4 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Proposed Computer-Aided Design of Experiment (CADOE) to enable the companies to implement agile manufacturing | |
5 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Research on integrating CAD and CAM to achieve agility in Salzer | |
6 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Research on exploring the interfacing of CAD and CAM to infuse agility in organization | |
7 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Proposed a model named as total agile design system activity based costing model (TADS-ABC) | |
9 | Vinodh [ |
Integrated agility and sustainability to gain business benefits | |
10 | Vinodh et al. [ |
A new concept agile customization program by combining mass customization and agile manufacturing principles | |
11 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Designed and implemented total agile design system (TADS) model | |
12 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Integrated fuzzy logic and analytic hierarchy to identify a group of concepts | |
13 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Assessed agility of an organization using multigrade fuzzy approach | |
14 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Research on achieving agility by carrying out finite element mold analysis | |
15 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Research on examining the possibilities of acquiring design agility characteristics through the aid of CAD | |
16 | Vinodh et al. [ |
Research on using information technology as an enabler of implementing agile manufacturing | |
17 | Deif and ElMaraghy [ |
Developed a system called agile manufacturing planning and control (agile MPC) system | |
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18 | Hooper et al. [ |
Explored the operational issues of agile costing systems by conducting a case study in a PCB manufacturing company | |
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19 | Khoo and Loi [ |
Computers | Examined the way of enhancing agility in the manufacturing computers using “product modularity” approach |
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20 | Mondragon et al. [ |
Studied the impact of information systems in achieving agility | |
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21 | Sharifi and Zhang [ |
Electronic components | Designed a conceptual model of agility which consisted of three elements, namely, agility drivers, agility capabilities, and agility providers |
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22 | Zandi and Tavana [ |
Semiconductors | A research on evaluating the best electronic-customer relationship management (e-CRM) network for achieving agility |
A few authors have reported researches on implementing agile manufacturing in pump industry. These researches are briefly described here. Vinodh et al. [
A case study on assessing the agility level of a traditional pump industry was carried out by Vinodh et al. [
Devadasan et al. [
In total, the researches reported in the above papers specified that several agile criteria need to be strengthened in the pump manufacturing industry in several stages. The results of the literature review indicated that the assessment tool which is designed based on agility criteria is useful in determining the gaps to be filled in pump manufacturing industry to adopt agile manufacturing.
The literature review reported in this paper was carried out with the motivation behind following the progression of agile manufacturing in the manufacturing world. This literature review was first started by evaluating the looks into investigated agile manufacturing in the literature arena. It was discovered that, to start with, researchers tried exertions to pinpoint the significance and meaning of the term agile manufacturing and its related terms. In the wake of this intersection, the researchers worked towards figuring out the influences of agile manufacturing. During the current phase, the researchers are endeavoring to infuse agility in the manufacturing of traditional products. Throughout the conduct of the literature review reported in this paper, it was observed that just a couple of researchers have worked toward implanting agility in the manufacturing of pumps. Actually, in the researches reported in these papers, just an advance has been made to infuse agile characteristics in the manufacturing of certain components of pumps. Similarly, an exhaustive methodology of infusing agile characteristics while manufacturing pumps has not been addressed in those papers. An interesting observation made while conducting this literature review was that many researchers have attempted to infuse agility characteristics in electronic industry. It is presumed that this has happened so, as the electronic products generally hesitate for digitization. The digitization enables the development of new products in an agile manner through virtual analysis using computers. However, in the case of other products, particularly those developed before digitization technologies emerged in the world, the practice of achieving agility through digitization has been a challenging task. Hence, the modern researchers have begun to make attempts for digitizing these kinds of traditional products. Among these products, the pump fell within the scope of the literature review reported in this paper. Hence, during the conduct of the literature review reported in this paper, the progression of agile manufacturing happening toward infusing agile manufacturing in pump industry was traced. At the end of tracing this progression of agile manufacturing, it is pointed out that there are possibilities of carrying out investigations on infusing agility characteristics while designing and manufacturing of pumps. This sort of research attempts will help the traditional pump manufacturers to generate profit like the way the cell phone manufactures have garnered.
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.
The authors would like to thank the anonymous referees for their valuable suggestions.