To evaluate the current ability of small and mid-tier manufacturing organizations to compete, AMR Research surveyed 334 U.S. manufacturing organizations via the Internet in October and November of 2005. The goal of this study was to identify major challenges that U.S. manufacturers face in developing agility in their supply-chain operations.
- The study was exclusively focused on the manufacturing sector, with roughly one-third of the sample from process manufacturers, and two-thirds from discrete manufacturers.
- Respondents were screened for active involvement in supply chain decision making, and represent a wide variety of roles from "C-Level" executives to Supply Chain and Operations Management.
- A variety of company size are included: 38% of the sample were from organizations with greater than 10,000 employees, with the balance from companies with fewer than 10,000 employees. Except where otherwise noted, the results presented here exclude the larger company segment, and are focused on just those respondents that work in organizations with fewer than 10,000 employees.