The constantly changing environment, economic fluctuations, and product and services proliferation made the manufacturing plant’s strategic planning a crucial decision any firm should base its operations on. Strategic manufacturing planning (SMP) witnessed an increased interest among scholars and practitioners due to its role in defining the success of any manufacturing firm. This study found a lack of empirical research, in the food industry, on the combined effect of SMP and sustainability on industrial performance. Therefore, this paper investigates the interaction between SMP and sustainability practices, and its impact on operational performance metrics (OPMs). A survey questionnaire was developed based on previous studies and sent to 104 food manufacturing firms. The survey consists of four SMP constructs: comprehensiveness, focus, horizon, and intensity, three sustainability dimensions: economic, social, and environmental, and four OPMs: cost, quality, delivery, and employees’ morale and retention. The results show significant positive correlations (p < .05) between SMP, sustainability practices, and OPMs. Additionally, findings generated from polynomial regression, Sobel-statistics tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and response surface analysis reveal that sustainability practices play a major role in mediating the relationship between strategic manufacturing planning and operational performance (p < .001). This paper is unique in its depth and breadth since it is the first study that examines the comprehensive effect of strategic manufacturing planning and sustainability practices on the food industry performance. Furthermore, academicians and decision-makers can benefit from the developed model in determining the best practices to implement based on the targeted performance metric to be improved.

Keywords

Strategic manufacturing planning, Sustainability Practices, Operational Performance, Response Surface Analysis, Food Industry.