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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine differences in manufacturing managers' perceptions of functional area power in manufacturing organizations to address the perception in the literature that manufacturing has little if any power in the organization.Design/methodology/approachSurvey data gathered from 129 manufacturing executives in the USA are used to examine their perceptions of differences in functional power in manufacturing firms. Relative rankings of functional areas for four types of power – position, expertise, resource, and political – are used to examine perceived differences, and the relationship between power and the role of the manufacturing executive in strategic decision making.FindingsContrary to prior assertions in the manufacturing strategy literature, it was found that the manufacturing and marketing areas are perceived by manufacturing managers to be the most powerful functions, switching in their dominant roles depending upon the type of power. In addition, a relationship exists between position, expertise, and political power and the role of the manufacturing executive.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough, this research includes a second respondent from a sub‐sample of firms, future research should examine not only the manufacturing managers' perceptions of intra‐organizational power, but also should dovetail the paper's findings with perceptions of managers in other functional areas as well.Practical implicationsManufacturing managers can take actions to enhance their role in business‐level strategic decisions and be proactive in increasing the power of their functional area.Originality/valueThis paper addresses intra‐organizational power, which has not been examined in the manufacturing strategy literature from the perspective of the manufacturing manager's perception.

This paper examines three key factors that help to explain the differences between high and low performing plants in process quality. The three factors are: first, the seniority of manufacturing personnel within the plants; second, the involvement of these senior managers in the business, rather than being confined to the role of a production/technology functional specialist; third, the contribution of a manufacturing strategy which includes quality as part of its content and which feeds into, and forms part of, the overall business plan within the plant. The paper argues that these three factors help to maintain the strategic importance of quality and, consequently, help to explain the subsequent quality performance within the manufacturing plant. The conclusions are that two distinct groups emerge ‐ one, Traditional, and the other, Enlightened ‐ which are different in terms of attitudes, commitment to, and capabilities in, quality.

Environmentally benign manufacturing /William E. Biles --Design for the environment /Jack Jeswiet --Organization, management, and improvement of manufacturing systems /Keith M. Gardiner --Manufacturing systems evaluation /Walter W. Olson --Prevention of metalworking pollution : environmentally conscious manufacturing at the machine tool /Steven J. Skerlos --Metal finishing and electroplating /Timothy C. Lindsey --Air quality in manufacturing /John W. Sutherland, Donna J. Michalek, and Julio L. Rivera --Environmentally conscious electronics manufacturing /Richard Ciocci --Disassembly for end-of-life electromechanical products /Hong C. Zhang [and others] --Industrial energy efficiency /Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan [and others] --Industrial environmental compliance regulations /Thomas J. Blewett and Jack Annis.

Software Defined Manufacturing (SDM) beschreibt ein Konzept zur Anpassung einer gesamten Produktion rein über Software. Dabei sind physikalische Produktionsmittel nahtlos in Informationsnetzwerken integriert und verfügen über ein virtuelles Abbild. Die Funktionalitäten der physikalischen Produktionsmittel sind dynamisch über Software definierbar, indem diese anhand der Anforderungen des zu produzierenden Produkts automatisch generiert und auf die physikalischen Produktionsmittel geladen werden kann.
 
Software Defined Manufacturing (SDM) describes a concept for adapting an entire production purely via software. Physical production facilities are seamlessly integrated into information networks and have a virtual representation. The functionalities of the physical production facilities can be defined dynamically by software, which automatically generates them based on the requirements of the product to be produced and loads them onto the physical production facilities.