Flexibility management and measurement of flexibility in Australian manufacturing industry

Flexibility is another competitive weapon that has proved its significance in this evolving manufacturing world of coping up with the ever changing and increasing customer requirements. Numerous industries of different nature have been aware of adopting principles of flexibility management to stay competitive. This study established a conceptual framework on the interrelationships of flexibility indicators as well as evaluating the flexibility levels currently being practiced by Australian industries. The outline of the mechanism of how the customer-supplier relationships have an impact on total chain of manufacturing would enable us to understand how flexibility could be built. As a result of the overall flexibility assessment in response to the current level of customer-supplier relationship, the current manufacturing flexibility of Australian industries according to the survey is approximated to be at medium level.