The purpose of this paper is to analyze in a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms the relationship between agile manufacturing and the firm’s management capacities related to innovation and production flexibility. Complementarily the survey addresses the implementation of agile production and its measurement.,For data collection, a survey through mail to operations and human resource managers of manufacturing firms and telephonic interviews with managers from 25 selective firms was carried out. The population of the study included firms from the Sistema de Analisis de Balances Ibericos database with NACE codes 24–32 and at least 200 employees. Quantitative methods (linear hierarchical regression and mean differences) were used to test research hypotheses, and a qualitative method (interview analysis) was used to analyze an implementation and measurement model of agile production.,The results of the study show that high-agile firms use more intensively a comprehensive set of agile facilitators (design, manufacturing and supply). They also innovate and cooperate externally more on innovation than low-agile firms. The authors have found that external technological cooperation moderates the firm’s production flexibility.,The implications of this research indicate, on one hand, that firms interested in implementing agile production should focus on the agility management of supply chains, the skills and knowledge development of human resources and in the implementation of agile manufacturing technologies. On the other hand, firms in less cooperative environments should focus more on their internal manufacturing systems to reinforce the relationship between production flexibility and agility that offers broader scenarios to compete under this production paradigm. The main limitations of the research design are the use of cross-sectional data and the use of managerial perceptions to assess most of the variables.,This paper offers a model of agile production implementation that it is complemented with measurement indicators to analyze the firm’s evolution toward agility. The combination of multivariate analysis and managers’ interviews to obtain and validate results creates a value for managers interested in agile production.

中文翻译：

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敏捷的生产，创新和技术合作

本文的目的是在西班牙制造企业的样本中分析敏捷制造与企业与创新和生产灵活性相关的管理能力之间的关系。作为补充，该调查涉及敏捷生产的实施及其度量。对于数据收集，通过邮寄给制造业公司的运营和人力资源经理的调查以及与来自25个精选公司的经理的电话访谈进行了调查。该研究的人群包括来自Sistema de Analisis de Balances Ibericos数据库的公司，其NACE代码为24-32，并至少有200名员工。定量方法（线性层次回归和均值差）用于检验研究假设，研究结果表明，高敏捷性公司更密集地使用一套敏捷的促进者（设计，制造和供应）。他们还比低敏捷的公司在创新方面进行更多的外部创新和合作。作者发现，外部技术合作会降低公司的生产灵活性。这项研究的意义表明，一方面，对实施敏捷生产感兴趣的公司应将重点放在供应链的敏捷性管理，人员的技能和知识开发上资源和实施敏捷制造技术。另一方面，合作环境较弱的公司应更多地关注其内部制造系统，以加强生产灵活性与敏捷性之间的关系，这种关系为在这种生产范式下竞争提供了更广阔的前景。研究设计的主要局限性是使用横截面数据和使用管理层的看法来评估大多数变量。本文提供了敏捷生产实施的模型，该模型辅以测量指标来分析企业的发展敏捷。多元分析和经理访谈以获取和验证结果的结合为对敏捷生产感兴趣的经理创造了价值。