Definition
As the whole world is aligning itself to new standards, the industry has to meet the challenges and realign itself to satisfy the customer's demands. Thus arise various production techniques and competitive management standards. A concept which arose in U.S.A in1990 called AGILITY is the subject of this seminar. This seminar aims to throw light into the concept and philosophy of agility and how it can be used in manufacturing. It also helps to learn the pillars on which it is built. Some case studies are also included to show the effect of various pillars.

INTRODUCTION

The world as a whole is now adjusting itself to the competitive realities of a new set of competitive standards. In the old economy competitive success was based almost exclusively on the ability to improve productivity .In the new economy, organization and nations compete in quality, variety, customization, timely response etc. So manufactures must be able to develop and produce customized products rapidly to meet ever changing customer needs to be ahead of others.

Methods to meet these requirements are the basics of agile engineering. Agile Engineering or Manufacturing is a new concept of management originating from USA aimed at carving a new path for business enterprises. The emphasis is to make the organization quick shift in style of working to adopt the changes in market environment in order to remain the business leader ahead of competitors. Thus the ability to use and exploit a fundamental resource-knowledge and imagination is the impetus behind agile organizations.

HOW DO WE GET TO WHERE WE ARE TODAY?

The industrial revolution led to mass production practices and the scientific definition of cost accounting system. That period represented seller's market, where demand was greater than capacity. Price was based on the cost of production and expected profit. The fixed of capital was amortized for a long period of time, but variable costs were high and needed to be managed. The solution was simple -treat manufacturing as a cost driver by focusing on local optimization, breaking down to tasks into small simple steps and producing high volumes of standard products at the lowest possible cost. Consequently labor was de-skilled.

The computer revolution dramatically changed the market characteristic. Today it's the buyer's market where capacity is higher than demand. Price is dictated by the market and is not based on producer's expected profit. Manufactures must develop a balance between the external and internal measures. Their focus is changing to global optimization from local optimization by determining what customers want and delivering the right product.g

The Japanese who dominated the market at the middle of the 20th century had developed their own paradigm called "LEAN MANUFACTURING" .As the customers were shifting towards the Japanese the US introduced "AGILE ENGINEERING" IN 1991 so as to compete with them.