The National Shipbuilding Research Program 1985 Ship Production Symposium Volume 2 Paper No. 8: The Reluctance to Implement New Technology: Industrial Engineering's Role

Although the U.S. has been a leader in technological development, it has fallen behind some other countries in the industrial implementation of these new methods. Recently issues of Industrial Engineering have addressed some issues as a lack of management commitment to Computer Integrated Manufacturing Systems (CIMS) factors limiting the growth of robotics in the U.S., and the reluctance of management to implement office automation. The paper will examine these issues and present some of the published hypotheses of why industrial management in the U.S. is reluctant to accept and apply the newer management concepts and technologies. the industrial engineers' responsibility in finding areas where new technologies will result in improvements, preparing the justification, presenting the plan to management to gain their commitment, and directing the implementation will be discussed.