İleri İmalat Teknolojileri Kullanımı Üzerine Bir Araştırma

Dünyada, küreselleşmeyle birlikte pazarlarda yoğun rekabet yaşanmaktadır. Bu rekabet ortamında işletmelerin başarılıolmaları, müşterilerin istek ve ihtiyaçlarının istenilen yer, zaman, miktar, kalite ve en uygun maliyetle karşılayabilme yeteneklerini sürekli olarak geliştirmelerine bağlıdır. İleri imalat teknolojileri; yaşanan bu yoğun rekabet ortamında işletmelerin ürün ve süreç teknolojilerini geliştirmelerinde kullanılan en önemli gelişmelerden biridir. Daha düşük maliyet, daha kaliteli ürün ve artan verimlilik için işletmelerin yeteneğini artıran ve müşterilere uygun ürünlerin hızlıdağıtımınısağlayan ileri imalat teknolojileri kullanımızorunlu hale gelmiştir. Bu bağlamda Manisa Organize Sanayi Bölgesi’nde faaliyette bulunan işletmelerde ileri imalat teknolojileri kullanım düzeyini ve kullanım amaçlarınıaraştırmak amacıyla bu çalışma yapılmıştır. Araştırma amacıçerçevesinde hazırlanan anketler Manisa Organize Sanayi Bölgesi’nde üretim faaliyetinde bulunan işletmelere uygulanmışve değerlendirmeye uygun 29 anket elde edilmiştir. Anket formlarındaki cevaplar kodlanarak "SPSS For Windows 15.0. Sürümü" ile analiz edilmiştir. Araştırma bulguları ışığında aşağıdaki değerlendirme ve önerilerde bulunulmuştur: İşletmelerin büyük bir çoğunluğunun KOBİniteliğinde olmasınedeniyle her ne kadar ileri imalat teknolojilerinin finansmanında bir takım zorluklar yaşasalar bile ileri imalat teknolojilerinigenelde orta düzeyde ve üstünde kullandıklarıgörülmektedir. Araştırmaya katılan işletmelerde ileri imalat teknolojilerinin kullanımında üç yıl öncesine belirgin oranda bir yükselme görülmektedir. Araştırmaya katılan işletmelerin ileri imalat teknolojilerini kullanma düzeylerinin işletmelerin performanslarıüzerine olumlu bir etkisinin olduğu görülmektedir. İşletmelerin ileri imalat teknolojilerini kullanma amaçlarıarasında kaliteyi artırmak, maliyetleri azaltmak ve rekabet gücünü artırmak ilk sıralarda gelen önemli amaçlardır. İleri imalat teknolojilerinin uygulanmasından beklenen faydaların elde edilmesi büyük ölçüde örgütsel yapıdaki işletme içi ve dışı değişikliklerin de yapılmasına, nitelikli işgücünün işletmede istihdam edilmesine, var olan personelin teknoloji kullanımıile ilgili eğitiminin sağlanmasına ve özellikle de üst yönetimin ileri imalat teknolojileri kullanımıkonusunda kararlılığına ve gerekli desteğin sağlanmasına bağlıdır.

As a result of globalization, intensity of competition has been increased in world markets. Success of the companies in such competitive environment depend on continuous improving capabilities of meeting the expectations of customers in correct place, time, amount and quality at lower cost. Advanced Manufacturing Technologies AMT are one of the most important developments in product and process technology improvement in intensive competition. Nowadays, it is necessary to use Advanced Manufacturing Technologies that increase the capability of producing and delivering customized products to provide lower cost, higher quality products and increased productivity. Ever increasing global competition has increased the interest on application, development and transfer of advanced manufacturing technologies. While advanced manufacturing technologies increase companies’ capabilities for lower cost and ensure quicker deliveries of customized products, they also help developing new manufacturing strategies. Advanced manufacturing technologies are commonly expected in manufacturing industry as one of the most important developments in business world. On the other hand, use or transfer of advanced manufacturing technologies require organizational changes and applications of connected techniques. Advanced manufacturing technologies include technologies for product and process development, planning, control and manufacturing processes as well as the technologies to organize those activities and processes. While computer-controlled manufacturing tools and machines are called manufacturing technologies, activities to collaborate manufacturing technologies such as Total Quality Management and Just in Time are called management technologies. Technological transformation process, which is used to achieve aims and targets of a business are the indicators of the organizational technologies. In simple terms, the techniques which are used to transform organizational inputs to outputs are defined as management technologies. Advanced manufacturing technologies are provide positive values to manufacturing activities by allowing lower cost, more productive and affective production, and better quality. Advanced manufacturing technologies have some tangible and intangible advantages. Tangible advantages include decreased inventory level, less space requirement for inventories, faster return of investments, and lower unit cost. Competitive advantage, flexibility, better product quality, and quicker response to customer demand are some intangible advantages of advanced manufacturing technologies. Organizational arrangements and advanced manufacturing technologies can provide competitive advantage over mass production. Advanced manufacturing technologies help solving a number of problems in organizations. For instance, use of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing technologies decrease design and manufacturing times for new products. Nevertheless, some difficulties in AMT use and some failures have raised scepticism on the use of advanced manufacturing technologies. Recent studies highlight that such failures have not been directly caused by advanced manufacturing technologies but because of unsuccessful implementation process to the organizations. In order to take full advantage of advanced manufacturing technologies, it is important to understand that AMTs are not individually sufficient and human resources must be adopted to this process. It is also important to recognize that advanced manufacturing technologies require vast amount of investment so that they can be economically feasible only in higher production levels. Therefore, in this study; type, performance, utilization level, and aim of advanced manufacturing technologies in use have been investigated for the industrial establishments in Manisa Organized Industrial Region. Success rate and implementation problems have been also examined. Participants of the research are the only manufacturing companies in Manisa Organized Industrial Region, and 29 manufacturers have completed the questionnaire. The data has been prepared and analyzed in "SPSS for Windows Version 15.0.". The findings of the research suggest the following suggestions: Majority of the participants are deep-rooted SMEs. Half of the participants are exporters and therefore competing in international markets. Hence, use of advanced manufacturing technologies is almost a necessity for those companies. Most of the participants state that there is a strong competition in their industry. Understanding the competitive nature of the industry show that participants realize that they need to take advantage of advanced manufacturing technologies in order to strength their competitive power. Majority of the participants state that they have make-to-order or hybrid manufacturing systems. Such manufacturing systems require flexibility, which is crucial in a highly competitive environment. Participants of the research find themselves in a better position than their competitors in customized manufacturing in terms of reliability and quality. Although most of the participants are SMEs and face difficulties in funding advanced manufacturing technologies, such findings highlight that they successfully use AMTs at middle or higher levels. Adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies has been significantly increased in participant manufacturers. This finding emphasize that in order to be successful in a competitive environment, companies take advantage of advanced manufacturing technologies to reduce costs and to increase product quality and productivity. The participants assert that the level of advanced manufacturing technologies use positively affect the business performance. Thus, it is expected from manufacturing companies to make full advantage of advanced manufacturing technologies in order to improve business performance. Participants of the research affirm that they use advanced manufacturing technologies to improve competitive power, to increase quality and to reduce costs. Increase in quality and reduce in costs improves competitive power. In fact, the most important reasons to use advanced manufacturing technologies, reported in the literature, are also increasing quality, reducing costs and improving competitive power. Lack of educated and qualified personnel is the most important problems about the use of advanced manufacturing technologies. Most of the participants state that advanced manufacturing technologies brings competitive advantage over their competitors. In today’s global competitive environment, use of advanced manufacturing technologies is crucially important for manufacturing companies. Nevertheless, advanced manufacturing technologies can only provide competitive advantages over the competitors if; large scale internal and external structural changes in organization are made, highly qualified employees are employed, existing employees are trained, and especially full senior management support is provided