Int. J. Production Economics 86 (2003) 47–62 Analysis of the structural measures of flexibility and agility using a measurement theoretical framework $ Ronald E. Giachetti a, *, Luis D. Martinez b , Oscar A. S ! aenz a , Chin-Sheng Chen a a Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA b Instrument Manufacturing, Beckman-Coulter Corporation, Miami, FL 33196, USA Received 29 June 2001; accepted 3 November 2002 Abstract Manufacturing firms have great interest in developing flexible and agile manufacturing systems. These manufacturing system strategies seek to leverage the inherent properties of the technologies and systems for competitive advantage. Measurement has always played a role in planning and managing these complex systems. Most measurement systems concentrate on operational measures of the system, however, many of the manufacturing strategies are based on structural properties embodied in the system architecture, technology resources, and system control policies. We present a measurement framework to analyze measures of structural properties of the enterprise system. The measurement framework provides a mathematical foundation for formalizing our intuition of what constitutes a measure. Our analysis reveals undesirable properties of some measures, mainly because they are developed without any formal basis. The measurement framework can provide a consistent basis for specifying and using measures, which will empower system designers to better incorporate desirable structural properties to align system design with enterprise strategy. r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Structural measures; Flexibility; Agility; Supply chains; Metrics 1. Introduction Manufacturing enterprises have long recognized the desirability of certain system properties such as flexibility and agility for potential competitive advantage. Enterprises with these properties are more able to cope with increased environmental uncertainty, adapt to the faster pace of change of today’s markets, and react within the smaller windows of opportunity for decision-making. The strategic decision makers must determine which properties the systems must exhibit, to what level the system requires those properties, and how best to incorporate those properties into the system. The aforementioned properties, called structural properties, are designed into the system architec- ture, operating policies, technologies, and organi- zations. Buzacott (1999) says structure is one of the classical issues to be addressed in manufactur- ing strategy. He defines structure as how indivi- dual system components relate to each other and how the relationships determine overall system ARTICLE IN PRESS $ This research is partially supported by research grant DMI 0075395 from the National Science Foundation. *Corresponding author. Tel: +305-348-2980; fax: +305-348- 3721. E-mail address: giachetr@fiu.edu (R.E. Giachetti). 0925-5273/03/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0925-5273(03)00004-5