Manufacturing strategy through planning and control techniques of advanced manufacturing technology. (4th August 2014) - Paul, H.
With the recent economic restructuring in New Zealand, the tyre industry has been deregulated allowing imports of cheaper tyres. Firestone NZ thus faced increased competition from overseas. The company's survival depended on re–establishing its market leadership by competing effectively on price and quality. Firestone NZ needed a strategy comprising a set of well co–ordinated objectives and action programmes aimed at securing a long term sustainable advantage over competitors. This paper presents how Firestone NZ effectively integrated its manufacturing strategy with advanced manufacturing technological issues to evaluate and implement new technology to achieve competitive levels of performance. The company emphasised the 'soft' side of AMT, its manufacturing planning and control system for incremental gains in quality, cost and output.