Anticipates an Australian innovation (not mentioned here) that Nobel's Explosives later considers. This is an abridged version of ICI--Nobel's Explosive Co. (IMD028), which considers the Australian innovation.

SMIG, a division of G.D. Searle, was a fast growing high market-share company in the field of nuclear medical instruments. It manufactured two basically different product lines, one very successful and the other less so. Although marketing was separate for these product lines, manufacturing was not. As capacity is reached, the issue is how the company ought to expand and/or alter its manufacturing operations.

The structure and management of manufacturing should reinforce corporate priorities. The company's "manufacturing mission" is to help the company do what it wants to without wasting resources in lesser efforts. Any shift in corporate strategy usually requires changes in both the infrastructure and facilities of manufacturing. Approaches to the design of an appropriate manufacturing system range from a "product-focused" to a "process-focused" organization. While simplicity of organizational design is important, both can be allowed to operate in the same company if the operations are separated to avoid cross purposes. The proper choice between these organizational types smoothes a company's growth by lending stability to its operations.