Advanced manufacturing technologies in Kenya: the case of agro-based industries

Abstract

The world is rapidly changing to become a global village, which is necessitated by the advancement in information and communication technology. These days business is done online with the production and procurement being monitored on real time basis. The manufacturing firms have taken the challenge in technology by embracing the latest developments in the production systems. This research was carried out to identify to what extent the advanced manufacturing technology has been adopted by Kenyan manufacturing firms. The scope of the study included identifying what types of technologies are available in the market and the benefits the organizations are deriving from them. The barriers preventing manufacturers from adopting these technologies were also identified. The research reports the findings from the food processing, beverage and tobacco sectors. From the findings, it was identified that Kenyan manufacturing firms are responding to the changes in technology by adopting the latest manufacturing technologies. These include .Computer Aided Manufacturing, Computer Integrated Manufacturing Computer Aided Manufacturing among the available technologies. However it was identified that the scope of the adoption is quite low. The respondents singled out government policies, monopolies and ownership structures as the main barriers of adopting these technologies. The scope of the research have enlightened the practices in the manufacturing firms and further gives some areas of possible research being on the integration of information and communication technologies with the production practices.