Advanced Manufacturing Management: A Systematic Literature Review

One of the long-standing principles of phenomenological understanding is focused on the role of definition. Definitions are enablers in making something definite, distinct, or clear. This study aims to generate the definition of an emerging domain of Advanced Manufacturing Management using a literature review. First, an examination of Advanced Manufacturing Management (AMM) at an institutional level is provided, revealing institutions and courses that currently populate the domain. Second, a systematic literature review for AMM is conducted utilizing and triangulating between Web of Science, Science Direct/Elsevier, and Google Scholar. The results, supported by VOSviewer, suggest a dire need for a formal definition and conceptual foundations of AMM. Third, a proposed conceptual foundation that can enable a balanced development of AMM addressing the philosophical, theoretical, epistemological, ontological, axiological, axiomatic, methodology, methods, and applications aspects is suggested to support and holistically advance manufacturing and its problem domain. This conceptual foundation supports an alternative level of thinking, decision, action, and interpretation appropriate for the AMM problem domain, simultaneously advancing its science, engineering, applications, and practice. The article concludes with several challenges for the AMM field, a path forward for developing and advancing AMM as a field capable of providing a robust approach to dealing with emerging manufacturing-related issues.