A strategy-based evaluation of advanced manufacturing technology

Economic justification procedures are a barrier to adoption of investments because of their inability to recognize the "non-financial" benefits of such investments. Hence, the focus of investment management research is in developing methodologies that evaluate investments that promote a firm's competitive strategy. In this regard, a representative investment scenario facing an alpha test site is selected for this research because of the financial and non-financial variables impacting the investment decision. State-of-the-art investment management principles are utilized to develop a new conceptual investment management framework. This framework links investment alternatives with the firm's manufacturing capabilities as defined by the firm's business plan. A strategy-based investment evaluation methodology is developed on this platform. Further, a prototype strategy-based Knowledge-Based Expert System (KBES) is developed to provide a simplified interactive facility for non-expert users to apply this methodology. Currently the strategy-based methodology is being tested and implemented at several U.S. firms which are seeking to improve their investment evaluation processes.