Impact of scale on performance and technology in process-intensive industry

Two surveys are performed to determine production methods, competitive strategies, and scale disadvantages for a group of small manufacturing plants. Detailed comparisons of economic, operational, and development activities are presented to identify differences between industry production standards and small-scale plants. As a group, the small-scale plants had similar production costs to the standard-scale plants. The small-scale plants experienced lower average unit fixed costs as a result of lower capital investment and indirect labor expenses. The small-scale plants operated closer to their theoretical efficiency levels than the standard-scale plants. The procedure used to collect and analyze data is referred to as the direct comparison method. The direct comparison method involves conducting detailed one-to-one comparisons of production systems at the plant-level. A pattern of operational trends are reported that contribute to the economic performance of small-scale plants. The small-scale plants compensated for scale disadvantages by having greater technology independence, conserving capital, conducting internal development, and promoting process competence.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1999

Author dc:creator

• Nystrom, Jeffrey D. (Jeffrey David), 1970-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Thomas W. Eagar.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/9378

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/9378