Extending Group Technology to the identification and the analysis of enterprises networks

Dario Antonelli , Agostino P.M. Villa (1) , Irene Cassarino (2)

1 Dipartimento di Sistemi di Produzione
2 Dipartimento dei Sistemi di Produzione ed Economia dell'Azienda

The paper proposes a practical tool for the identification and analysis of industrial networks among a set of enterprises already linked by trade relationships. The methodology extends the Group Technology (GT) and the Production Flow Analysis (PFA) approach, widely applied in organizing the production inside industrial plants. The main advantage of this approach is the small set of data needed to get a feasible solution. An heuristic procedure, sketched at several degrees of analysis, allows not only the identification of the industrial network, but also, with the contribution of other analytical and theoretical studies, the exploitation of potential or existing organizational structure. If properly supported by other studies covering remaining aspects (social, political) of industrial organization, the tool could be practically useful in recognizing possible improvements in the organization of a given set of enterprises, or also could be used as an investigation instrument for public bodies in exploiting existing or hidden potential industrial networks

Mots clés: Physical Sciences

Dario Antonelli, Agostino P.M. Villa, Irene Cassarino. Extending Group Technology to the identification and the analysis of enterprises networks. International Journal of Production Research, 2007, 45 (17), pp.3881-3892. ⟨10.1080/00207540600844035⟩. ⟨hal-00512929⟩