Technology and the manufacturing process

This paper provides an appreciation of the effects of technology on the manufacturing process. Essentially, it is argued that technology is increasingly becoming an essential and endogenous part of the manufacturing process. Internal and dynamical processes related to the introduction and the absorption of technology are also leading manufacturing systems to be more complex, hierarchical, integrated and far more sensitive to external disturbances. It is also argued that technology induces its own growth process, triggering a process of perpetual technological challenge and change. The paper explains both how and why technology is inducing such changes and how it can be dealt with.