Formulating a Three-step Manufacturing Strategy Based on Miltenburg Model (Case study: a mineral water company)

Applying any kind of manufacturing strategy, on the one hand, needs to identify and monitor the current state of the system at the internal and external levels. On the other hand, it needs to provide strategies for improving the system. In this paper, a three-step manufacturing strategic model introduced by using Miltenburg model and focusing on five manufacturing strategic goals (production system, manufacturing outputs, manufacturing leverage, production capabilities and competitive analysis). First, the production system determined based on four indicators of production’s volume and variety, kind of plant layout and material flow. Then, six manufacturing levers (human resources, organizational control and structure, sourcing, production planning and control, process technology and facilities) determined and capabilities of each one evaluated. Next, manufacturing outputs (delivery, cost, quality, performance) have been prioritized using the analytic hierarchy process technique to identify characteristics of the favorable production system. Furthermore, competitive analysis applied to verify the position of the company and its competitors in the market. In the final step, considering the results of previous steps, improvement strategies have been formulated so that the production system will change to favorable system. If the current system needs basic changes, the improvement process will be operational by focusing on improving the manufacturing levers. In order to display the capabilities of the proposed model, a mineral water company was selected as a case study. The results showed that the company's production system is Equipment-paced line flow production system (EPL(and the company's strategic output (calculated by AHP) is the cost. Achieving manufacturing strategy, objectives of organization and competitive analysis were conducted. Results showed that the current manufacturing system must change from ELP to continuous flow manufacturing system. Furthermore, adjusting the manufacturing levers is necessary - particularly human resources- to implement the new proposed system, effectively.