Flexible Manufacturing and Economic Recovery—Wood Products in Western New York

This paper examines the potential impact on a regional economy of introducing flexible manufacturing techniques into the wood products sector. The first section of the paper discusses the notion of flexible manufacturing networks (FMN) and more broadly defined flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) in this sector. The second section reviews the technological potential, and institutional constraints on the development of networks in the region. The third section explains how input-output analysis may be used to assess the potential impact of a manufacturing network and describes an extended social accounts framework for the forest products industry in Western New York. Following this, two possibilities, an ‘FMS route’ and an ‘FMN route’ are compared with a continuation of the present situation—and a potential strategy sketched.