Designing and Explaining the Model of Manufacturing Flexibility in the Food Industry

The purpose of this article is to develop a model of manufacturing flexibility in the food industry. The present research is a mixed qualitative and quantitative research method. In qualitative research, the Grounded theory method is a tool for building a conceptual model of manufacturing flexibility. The statistical sample of this section includes 20 experts familiar with the subject of manufacturing flexibility. The sampling method in the qualitative section is the Snowball Sampling method. The method of data collection in this part of the interview is semi-structured. The method of data analysis in the qualitative part is a three-step process of open, axial and selective coding. The results of this section show the model of manufacturing flexibility paradigm. The data collection tool in the quantitative part is a researcher-made questionnaire based on sub-categories and concepts obtained from the qualitative stage. The method of data analysis in this section is confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The statistical sample in this section is 201 managers of food industry companies in East Azerbaijan province. The results show that environmental dynamics, increasing competitiveness and access to new markets are among the reasons for the need for manufacturing flexibility, in which automation and timely production are considered as industry strategies to achieve manufacturing flexibility; These factors have a direct effect on increasing organizational performance and customer satisfaction as a consequence of flexibility. The results also show that intervenors such as managerial factors, financial capability, etc. can influence strategies.