A FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTING
APPROPRIATE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS IN DEVELOPING
ECONOMIES
BY
DR. SAMUEL C. OBI
DEPARTMENT OF AVIATION &
TECHNOLOGY
INTRODUCTION
Industrial Revolution began in
England, spread to many European countries and the United States, and
influenced the world with an impact few other phenomena in world's history had.
Its effects during and after colonization reverberated across the continents,
particularly after World War II, with the West (Developed Nations) maintaining
a leadership position in the numerous technical inventions and innovations
which accompanied it (McGinn, 1991 ). In the aftermath, many nations were left
with little or no technical framework on which to industrialize their
economies. These nations are what have been traditionally referred to as
Developing, or Third-World Nations. Because some developed countries also have
pockets of developing economies, such as the Amish community and Native
American reservations of North America, all Third-World nations and these
pockets of underdeveloped economies are collectively referred to as developing
economies in this article. While some are more developed than others,
developing economies are found in every continent of the world, but the
majority of them are in the continents of Africa, Asia, and South America.
Historically, developed countries have
offered some technical assistance to these economies through various channels
to strengthen their industrial base, a process commonly referred to as
technology transfer. McGinn (1991 ) reported that despite the efforts of the
West to help these economies, especially since the end of colonialism, the gap
in technical know-how between the two economies continues to widen. One of the
reasons for this was identified by Middleton and Rassan (1995) who reported
that in Africa (just like in most developing economies) "Most postcolonial
'economic development' has failed, owing to its being controlled by 'experts'
who have assumed that African societies are the same as those of industrialized
nations..." (p. xxxii). While some economies, such as Japan, assimilated
much of the technical assistance from the West after World War II and
flourished, many economies did not fare that well; in fact, in some cases
disastrous consequences resulted because the transferred technology was not
compatible with the receiving economy (Salomon & Lebeau, 1993). Sometimes,
political and economic instability, plus natural and other man-made disasters,
have contributed to the erosion of the "manufacturing base" of many
developing economies, resulting in millions of people turning back to
"stone age" techniques as means of production.
Technology transfer includes such
activities as "machinery and equipment exports, contract awards, personnel
training, and technical programs" (Karake, 1990, p. 100), all of which are
within the realm of Industrial Technology (IT) and related program
professionals. Since many IT professionals are also technology transfer agents
in that they visit and/or train people in developing economies, and sometimes
help in implementing the technologies, this article is intended to act as an
aid to those individuals so that they will be more informed about the nature of
the undertaking. It draws from documented experiences and the author's
Third-World background to sketch a practical framework for implementing
appropriate manufacturing systems in developing economies.
COMPONENTS
OF MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS
The term system itself means any collection of component elements that work
together to perform a task (Encarta, 1996). In this respect, a typical
manufacturing system consists of production methods or procedures, facilities
or equipment, tooling, material handling, quality assurance, production
control, and people (Seymour, 1995). DeGarmo, Black and Kohser (1997) defined a
manufacturing system as a collection of men, machine tools, and material-moving
systems,
collected together to accomplish specific manufacturing or fabrication
sequences resulting in components or end products.
Other than product and material
components which are suggested, four groups of related components can be
identified from these definitions:
1. Equipment and facilities component: machines,
tooling, equipment and facilities.
2. Production methods component: procedures,
production methods, quality assurance, and production control.
3. Material handling component: material
handling or material moving systems.
4. Labor component: people or men.
It is important to recognize some of
the differences in the four groups of manufacturing system components with
regard to the two kinds of world economies (Table 1 ). Such a comparison will
help to reveal some of the basic differences in the two economies.
It is equally important to consider
the nature of the products produced in the two economies. Unlike developed
economies where products are often market driven, the most underlying factors
which system implementers should consider first are what Salomon & Lebeau
(1993); Malik (1983); and Richardson (1979) referred to as trying to satisfy
the basic needs of the people in the economy: education, employment, environment,
food, health, housing, and self reliance. For example, while the activities of
most of the workers in developed economies are industrial in nature, the
traditional economy of some 90 % of African populations has been one form of
agriculture (Middleton & Rassam, 1995). This suggests that when determining
products to be manufactured in such an economy, factors such as available local
resources, employment,
Table 1
Some Basic
Differences in Manufacturing System Components in Developed and Developing
Economies.
____________________________________________________________________________
System
Component Characteristics
______________________________________________
Developed
Economy Developing
Economy
____________________________________________________________________________
Equipment
& facilities Modern Iron
age
Production
methods Scientific Crude
Material
handling Mostly
automated Mostly
manual
Labor Highly
trained Poorly
trained
Expensive Cheap
____________________________________________________________________________
food, and
parts for maintaining farm implements should be considered to truly serve the
interests of the economy. The product should be a major part of these basic
needs and should first be considered before any other step is taken.
Factors
Influencing Manufacturing System Components in Developing Economies
A closer examination of the
individual system components within the context of their application in
developing economies reveals why technology transfer sometimes fails to take
hold, and why developed and developing economies are so far apart in
manufacturing industrial productivity
and quality. It also helps to shed some light on what the nature of appropriate
manufacturing systems for developing economies should be.
McGinn (1991 ) reported that
technology transfer has some major problems. Three such problems which are
pertinent to this study are: (a) Incompatibility of transferred technic
(hardware) and recipient country's (economy' s) social-cultural-environmental
system, (b) infrastructure support systems either not available or staffable
locally or not affordable by locals, and (c) little or no feasibility studies
and market surveys which genuine technology transfer demands.
These problems will be briefly
reviewed along with factors influencing each of the manufacturing system
components.
Equipment and Facilities Component
Acquisition, type and use of machine
tools and facilities by developed economies differ from developing economies'
point of view in several important ways: cost of equipment, cost of
maintenance, cost of training workers, technical know-how available,
complexity/simplicity of equipment, constant power supply in the economy, parts
availability, and all the infrastructure needed to support the technologies.
The sophistication and quality of these machines make them practically
impossible for many developing economies to acquire in terms of their cost,
maintenance requirements, and the degree of training required to operate them
(Salomon & Lebeau, 1993; Schmitz, 1982). Except in cases where governments
or big organizations are involved in acquiring such machines, transferring such
technologies today remains a dream still to be fulfilled for many developing economies.
Some possible solutions to this
problem might include acquiring simpler, less expensive machines, and making
equipment donations when possible. Because of their low cost and simplicity to
operate, Singer (1977) suggested that consideration should be given to the
acquisition of older types of equipment by developing economies. Singer's
recommendation is important in that older equipment tends to be more labor
intensive, something many developing economies can afford.
Production Methods Component
Production methods employed in many
developing economies can at best be described as crude when compared with those
practiced in many developed economies today. In some developing economies, many
processes are not controlled, and when they are, their standards or tolerance
requirements are not close to what developed economies use. As a result, it is
difficult to produce a product that can stand the test of international
competition, except in economies, such as Mexico, where governments or foreign
firms are directly involved in the production methods. At the root of this
problem are issues, such as: lack of proper experience and/or training of the
local labor force; social and cultural road blocks in accepting foreign
concepts and methods; lack of necessary skills, knowledge and tools to achieve
acceptable quality standards, etc.
This situation has created one of
the socio-cultural issues confronting many technology transfer efforts. Salomon
and Lebeau (1993) alluded to it when they warned that a technology does not
operate as a separate and independent whole, but should move together with
society or not at all. Clearly, the economy must be part of any manufacturing
system implementation undertaking in virtually every level. Socio-cultural
problems must be solved by providing proper training for the local workforce on
essential production methods. Moreover, whenever the local labor force is not
familiar with any aspect of the production methods, then engineers,
technicians, and supervisors must be brought in to make the factory work and to
train local workforce (Salomon and Lebeau, 1993).
Material Handling Component
Unlike developed economies where
material handling infrastructure is readily available and, in many cases,
automated, material handling is critically hampered in many ways in developing
economies. Non-availability of good operable vehicles, poor transportation
network systems, scarcity of critical raw materials, lack of constant power
supply, and poor or absent infrastructure maintenance system can frustrate any
attempt to implement a good manufacturing system. Likewise, the cost of
installing and maintaining good robotics, automated guided
vehicles
(AGVs), and conveyor systems or other vehicles can be astronomical for many
developing economies.
However, the cheap available labor
force can be substituted for the expensive robotics, AGVs, conveyor systems and
other material-moving vehicles where possible, and where training can be
achieved. The economy's existing means of transportation can also be used to
help solve some material-handling problems. Whether it is a horse-drawn
carriage or a human-drawn truck, these vehicles can help, to some extent, in
moving materials to where they are needed. In some developing
economies with poor transportation systems, these manual means of material
handling have, in many cases, become more preferable to modern means.
Labor Component
Although labor is something most, if
not all, developing economies have in surplus, most of their working age
population is untrained and unskilled in modern production processes and
know-how. The ones engaged in manufacturing-related tasks are hardly what their
counterparts in developed countries are, considering high quality standards
involved, sophistication of processes employed, and level of skill and know-how
required to perform modern manufacturing tasks. One of the reasons for this is
because any culture whose economy is not historically based on mathematical
rationality is not readily prepared to adopt the scientific approach (Salomon
and Lebeau, 1993). As a result there is little or no modern manufacturing
techniques in many developing economies. It is then, not surprising why the
world's developing economies have very high unemployment rates and low
industrial productivity and quality.
However, labor can be a major
advantage which developing economies have on their side. Labor is incredibly
cheap in virtually all developing economies. This author has actually witnessed
instances where the daily wage was less than $5 per head in some African and
Asian economies! This holds true for many developing economies around the
world, especially in Mexico, where (as a result of NAFTA) American
manufacturers are taking advantage of the cheap labor there to fight domestic
and international competition. Because of its monetary advantage, system
implementers should always consider how to best use this surplus and cheap
labor to help leverage other expensive or scarce component(s). The system
should be designed to be as much
labor intensive as possible (Salomon & Lebeau, 1993; Malik, 1983).
Moreover, labor force can be trained to perform many tasks necessary to achieve
virtually any standard.
But embedded in the labor component
are many cultural issues. In recognition of the world's cultural diversity, it
must be assumed that cultural obstacles are real, but can be solved to a great
extent with adequate training whenever encountered.
Recommendations
Some recommendations for
consideration by manufacturing system transfer agents who are (or may be)
involved in system implementation in developing economies are presented here.
Table 2
contains a summary of the factors that influence manufacturing system
components (including products) with regard to their application in developing
economies. Each component in the table is influenced by several factors in
positive or negative ways. The factors in parentheses are the ones that appear
to favor developing economies in one form or the other, such as: inexpensive,
readily available etc., while the rest do not appear to favor them particularly
in the area of cost.
Although
most of the factors in the figure do not appear to favor developing economies,
it should be noted that this is a general characteristic of the situations in
developing economies, and therefore, may not properly represent every one of
the world's developing economies in their specific situations. It is highly
recommended that each economy be studied, and its specific situations be
mapped, as shown in Table 2, before any decisions are made. Moreover, the fact
that some factors do not favor developing economies does not mean that there is
no solution to the situation: it simply means that more or alternative
resources may be directed to that component in order to acquire it.
Table 2
Factors
Influencing Manufacturing System Components in Developing Economies
______________________________________________________________________________
Equipment Production Material
& Facilities Methods Handling Labor Products
______________________________________________________________________________
Acquisition cost Know-how (Manual (Availability) (Food related)
substitute)
Maintenance cost Training cost (Material (Cost) (Job related)
availability)
Training cost Quality standards (Material (Basic education) (Education
cost) related)
Availability of Available skills Transport. Training/skill (Health
equipment parts network related)
Power supply Cultural issues Operable Cultural issues (High
vehicles demand)
Environmental Automated (Self
reliance systems
oriented)
Power
supply Environmental
Environmental
______________________________________________________________________________
It appears that developing economies
do not have much going in their favor in the areas of equipment & facilities, production
methods, and, to some extent, material
handling. Their strongest areas appear to be in labor and products
components. On the basis of the findings from this study, the following
recommendations are made for consideration when planning to implement a
manufacturing system in a developing economy. Here, the recommendations are
"ordered" sequentially but may be applied as needed.
1. A
comprehensive study of the economy should be undertaken to identify critical
factors such as basic needs of the people (potential products), available
materials, level of education and skills of the laborforce which are related to
the project. The product(s) must be identified before any plan to system
implementation is originated. (Exceptions would be where governments or
corporations specifically transfer such a technology for specific purposes,
such as for investment, in which case they often bring along their own resources).
2. The
product should meet the basic need(s) of the people of the economy, such as:
food, employment, education, housing, local needs, etc. The product also should
be a part of, or related to, the needs of the economy, and should be
manufactured from available local materials, except where they are not
available locally, or where they can be imported more cheaply. (Exceptions
would be where governments or corporations specifically transfer such a
technology for specific purposes).
3. A chart
similar to Table 2 could be designed using the data from the market study to
help system implementers visualize the economy's areas of strengths and
weaknesses. This will help them to make important decisions relating to the
project.
4. The
local laborforce should be used as much as possible from the very beginning of
the project. Although most developing economies have some type of education
system usually supported by their national governments, additional training may
be necessary to bring the workers up-to-date in the technical areas. The system
should be designed to be as much labor intensive as possible to use surplus and
cheap labor supply to leverage other expensive components.
5. The
system should be designed to be as environmentally and culturally friendly as
possible. The local workforce should be informed about safe working habits and
keeping the environment safe. Socio-cultural issues relating to the economy
should be carefully guarded against and avoided. For example, some workers
would like to wear their native attire which might be in violation of the
safety requirements of the system implementers, or prefer not to work on their
religious holidays. Local etiquette should be followed as much as possible to
avoid any social problem that may adversely affect the progress of the project.
Training may be needed when foreign production methods are introduced.
6. Trained
personnel and necessary resources should be provided for maintaining the system
once implemented, or there is the risk of shutdown and closure once the
implementers leave the economy.
7. Because
of the available cheap labor, manual and/or other mechanical substitutes should
be employed in place of expensive automated systems whenever possible. Although
they are not as good and efficient as those in developed economies, the
available communications and transportation systems should be employed as much
as possible. Even in their handicapped condition, many developing economies
have local mechanics and technicians who can keep their vehicles and equipment
operable.
8.
Consideration should be given to acquisition of simple, less expensive and
older equipment when there is little capital available. Equipment donations
also should be considered.
9. It is
very important to have a stand by electric generator and/or other power supply
substitutes for operating the facilities, since constant power supply is very
rarely achieved in many developing economies.
Conclusion
While the world' s developed nations
have modernized their manufacturing systems, and are thriving most developing
economies have little or no manufacturing base due to few resources. Although
the West is trying to help these economies, the pace of progress has been
hampered by lack of capital, technical know-how, and socio-cultural reasons.
This situation has created a major roadblock for technology transfer agents for
many years.
This study has endeavored to reveal
how components of a manufacturing system can be creatively transformed into
appropriate technology for developing economies. The practice of technology
transfer demands knowledgeable individuals who can balance what developing
economies have against what they lack, and creatively devise a way to overcome
the roadblocks inherent in the process.
Industrial Technology professionals
are part of the solution to this global problem since many of their programs
contain manufacturing systems which students from all over the world study. IT
professionals have been and will continue to be part of the technical solutions
in a world that is getting smaller every day. This is a new challenge which
should be bravely overcome as we march into the twenty-first century.
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