The strategic importance of factory automation causes firms to pay attention to their complex and rapid environment changes. Factory automation is an important tool that may resolve cost, quality, delivery and flexibility which are considered as conflicting targets. Thus factory automation may be used to accomplish competitive advantages. But the manufacturing performances of factory automation depend on various factors. Many previous studies dealt with the relationships between performances of factory automation and relevant factors.
This study analyses the performances of factory automation by focusing on task environment among many factors. The task environment is important because this influences directly on firm's activity as external environment of management organization. Also, this is unique to each firm that is perceived subjectively by decision maker. There are two component.
This study uses attribute approach that emphasizes dynamism, complexity, munificence and perceived environment uncertainty. The objective of this study is to examine an effectiveness of factory automation by analysing degree of improvement in manufacturing performance according to the differences in characteristics of task environment. This study is based on an electric parts firm which has four overseas company.
The major findings of this research are summarized as follows:
First, competitive power is influenced by a stage of factory automation and sufficiency of resources such as pay-roll.
Second, competitive power is influenced by a range of factory automation and is required by technology for the process.
Third, the efficiency of factory automation is decreased by the characteristics of products.
In conclusion, the proposed framework serves as a basis for examining the specific linkages among factory automation technology, manufacturing strategy and task environment. This study contents that superior performance in factory automation will result when manufacturing strategy and manufacturing automation success factor are congruent with the competencies, constraints of firm's technology choice and task environment.
