In this paper, we consider the problem of selecting appropriate technologies and capacities for the design of paint manufacturing plants. A number of factors are considered, including cost-effectiveness, responsiveness to demands, and resilience to variability in the manufacturing process. These factors, along with the fact that there exist radically different paint manufacturing strategies, imply a complex decision-making process. We propose an approach based on an initial optimisation which uses an aggregate manufacturing representation to generate initial cost-effective and responsive alternatives, followed by a detailed analysis to study the resilience and flexibility characteristics of the most promising ones. These can then be combined to reach a decision on the best achievable compromise.