Economic-financial of AMT - a model of rationale, using the resource-based view

This article presents a model of rationale beneath the economic/financial justification in the selection of advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs) and the theoretical grounds used in the development of the model. The rationale consists of a theoretical contribution to the economic/financial justification process, addressing the practical performance of the process and its feasibility, usability and utility for practitioners and scholars, regarding the operations management and the manufacturing strategy. The literature presents the lack of "measurement" of the intangible benefits of the AMTs adoption as the main issue along with others related issues, such as the isolated short-term evaluation, the lack of the non-financial aspects treatment and the disregard of the AMT as a resource. The use of the overall context of the Maslen-Platts "manufacturing vision", containing the description of the manufacturing capabilities being constructed, establishes the parameter for the intangible benefits measurement", with the associated application of a strategic approach for the AMT selection. The rationale comes before the traditional criteria are applied, improving the quality of the economic/financial justification process by pre-approaching the AMT qualitatively and attributing an economic dimension related to the resource-based view applied.