Application of discrete event simulation to the activity based costing of manufacturing systems

In the last two decades traditional cost accounting practices have been unable to respond to the changing information needs of manufacturing management. Activity Based Costing (ABC) is a method which can solve many of the limitations of traditional cost systems. This method of accounting involves the breaking down of the individual activities and costing of the amount of time spent on each step of the manufacture of a product. This paper illustrates how Discrete Event Simulation may be used to evaluate the ABC of a manufacturing system. A visual interactive simulation software WITNESS is used to model a semi-automated Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly line. The PCB assembly line case study demonstrates how ABC can be applied to a manufacturing system using simulation modelling techniques. The paper also discusses further applications of ABC in the manufacturing environment and includes a case study on the operational quality cost.     

煤业集团实现零库存模式探析

阐述了当前煤矿实现零库存的重要性、迫切性,结合淮南矿业集团多年的管理实践,对煤业集团实现零库存的优势进行了分析,并就零库存实现途径和方式,提出具体建议,为企业发展开拓了更多的利润空间。     

基于集团层面的煤矿安全质量标准化体系建设与实践

总结了多年煤矿安全质量标准化工作的具体实践,介绍了淄矿集团具体实施煤矿安全质量标准化工作的方案及其策略。     

Diffusion and Performance of Modular Production in the U.S. Apparel Industry

This article examines the determinants of the diffusion of team production systems (modular assembly) and the impact of these systems on firm performance relative to traditional assembly systems in the apparel industry. The article draws on an extensive survey providing detailed information on a wide range of manufacturing practices and retail relationships in the U.S. apparel industry. We find that recent diffusion of modular practices is driven primarily by the product market. We also show that modular systems affect business-unit performance (particularly operating profits) where they are combined with complementary investments in information systems linking apparel suppliers with retail customers.     

The Adoption of High-Involvement Work Practices

This article provides a theoretical framework for understanding why high-involvement work practices are adopted more rapidly by some organizations than others. Drawing on evolutionary economics and innovation literature, we identify three key drivers: (1) the level of complementary human resource practices and technology; (2) performance achieved with previous practices; and (3) factors that alter the cost of introducing new practices. Empirical analyses of a unique longitudinal data set of forty-three automobile assembly plants worldwide provide support for hypotheses about complementary HR practices (but not complementary technologies) and partial support for hypotheses about past performance and factors that alter adoption costs.     

A comparison of product costing practices in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing and continuous production process manufacturing

Research into product costing practice has not studied whether there are differences in product costing practice between different types of manufacturing. This paper compares the product costing practices of operating units in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing, and continuous production process manufacturing. The results show that there are few differences in product costing practices between these two manufacturing methods. Similar proportions of operating units in these two manufacturing environments use similar methods to treat overheads and have similar experiences of activity-based costing. The only area of difference is in the use of overhead rates where significantly more units in discrete-part and assembly manufacturing use a direct labour hour rate and significantly more units in continuous production process manufacturing use units produced and production time-based rates.     

Feel free to feel comfortable—An empirical analysis of ergonomics in the German automotive industry

The purpose of this paper is to examine ways to improve ergonomics on the manufacturing shop floor. In particular, the impact of certain ergonomic practices on companies' economic and social objectives is investigated empirically. In order to do so, a survey has been conducted among manufacturing managers of 55 companies in the German automotive industry. The managers have been asked about their estimations on harmful tasks within the production process and on the effectiveness of various practices in the context of ergonomics and health. Worker-oriented and work-oriented practices of ergonomics are operationalized using factor analysis. By means of a cluster analysis, companies with a high degree of implementation of ergonomic practices are identified. The analysis shows that plants with a higher implementation degree of ergonomic practices show a better performance in terms of economic and social objectives. Furthermore, the results reveal that work-oriented practices lead to better performance with respect to the investigated economic and social objectives, whereas worker-oriented practices play a supporting role only. Finally recommendations for manufacturing companies with regard to the field of ergonomics are derived from the empirical results.     

Risk management, project success, and technological uncertainty

In times of increased competition and globalization, project success becomes even more critical to business performance, and yet many projects still suffer delays, overruns, and even failure. Ironically, however, risk management tools and techniques, which have been developed to improve project success, are used too little, and many still wonder how helpful they are. In this paper we present the results of an empirical study devoted to this question. Based on data collected on over 100 projects performed in Israel in a variety of industries, we examine the extent of usage of some risk management practices, such as risk identification, probabilistic risk analysis, planning for uncertainty and trade-off analysis, the difference in application across different types of projects, and their impact on various project success dimensions. Our findings suggest that risk management practices are still not widely used. Only a limited number of projects in our study have used any kind of risk management practices and many have only used some, but not all the available tools. When used, risk management practices seem to be working, and appear to be related to project success. We also found that risk management practices were more applicable to higher risk projects. The impact of risk management is mainly on better meeting time and budget goals and less on product performance and specification. In this case, we also found some differences according levels of technological uncertainty. Our conclusion is that risk management is still at its infancy and that at this time, more awareness to the application, training, tool development, and research on risk management is needed.     

依靠技术创新 科学发展煤化工产业

兖矿集团20世纪90年代就已进入煤化工领域,在煤化工产业发展领域积累了很多有益的经验。文章介绍了兖矿集团煤化工产业的发展现状、煤化工技术创新的主要成果及其具体实践,提出兖矿集团煤化工产业"十二五"期间的重点技术研发目标。     

Book Reviews

In light of the changes occurring in the European Common Market in 1992, it is particularly timely to review two books that contrast new product development practices in the United States with those in Europe and other countries. Both books are based on academics' research but are intended to provide practical insights for practitioners. The first review is of a book that summarizes an extensive study of the world auto industry. This book, which does offer many practical lessons, compares industry practices in the United States, Europe and Japan. The second review, by Chris Panton, examines a book that contrasts product development practices in American and British firms. Our reviewer finds that this book primarily offers an effective summary of conventional wisdom but fewer practical insights.     

基于Pro/E的机械零部件三维动态序列装配技术研究

三维动态序列装配技术在机械产品和工程设计行业的设计、制造、检测、展示、学习、资金节约、功效提高等方面具有非常重要的意义,其制作具有一定的技术复杂性和技巧性,目前许多三维CAD软件有此功能,但很少有此方面的具体介绍,为了给机械及工程技术人员提供一些有益的借鉴,以某高楼外墙清洗机吸盘部件三维动态序列装配动画的制作为例,针对Pro/E三维机械设计软件的动态序列装配技术进行了详细介绍,给出了整个制作流程。     

The impact of technical consultants on the quality of their clients' products: Evidence from the Bordeaux wine industry

Research summary : Recent research rooted in the resource‐based view of the firm suggests that resources are more likely to create value if they are effectively managed. An underlying assumption of the literature is that firms manage their resources on their own. However, many firms hire consultants to help them do so. In this study, I develop and test hypotheses regarding the impact of technical consultants on the quality of their clients' products. Using data from the Bordeaux wine industry, I find evidence that the use of technical consultants has a positive impact on relative product quality and a negative impact on the extremeness of relative product quality. Moreover, the positive impact of technical consultants on relative product quality is stronger at lower levels of relative resource quality. Managerial summary : Findings from a study in the Bordeaux wine industry indicate that the decision to hire consultants should depend on a firm's strategy. If a firm wants to improve its performance, it should hire consultants. Indeed, the “best practices” of technical consultants are generally more valuable than internally generated knowledge. If a firm wants to achieve outstanding performance, hiring consultants may not be the right decision. Because the “best practices” of technical consultants have more certain performance implications than internally generated knowledge, they decrease the likelihood of extremely low performance. However, their lack of uniqueness also decreases the likelihood of extremely high performance. Finally, the decision to hire consultants should depend on the quality of a firm's resources. Firms with low‐quality resources tend to benefit more from the “best practices” of technical consultants. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Produce growers’ cost of complying with the Food Safety Modernization Act

Small and medium size growers using both conventional and sustainable farming practices have expressed concern that compliance with the Produce Rule implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act will be prohibitively costly. We use data from an original national survey of fruit and vegetable growers to examine that contention. In particular, we analyze how expenditures on food safety practices required by the Produce Rule vary with farm size using a double hurdle model to control for selectivity in both using food safety practices and reporting expenditures. We find that expenditures per acre decrease with farm size. We also find some evidence that growers using sustainable farming practices spend more than conventional growers on many food safety practices. We use our estimates to quantify how the cost burden of compliance varies with farm size. We then explore the policy implications of exemptions to the Rule by simulating how more stringent exemption thresholds for farm revenue and share of direct sales might affect the cost burden of each food safety practice on farms at the threshold.     

Optimally locating in-house logistics areas to facilitate JIT-supply of mixed-model assembly lines

In modern-day production systems, ever-rising product variety poses a great challenge for the internal logistics systems used to feed mixed-model assembly lines with the required parts. As an answer to this challenge many manufacturers especially from automobile industries have identified the supermarket-concept as a promising part feeding strategy to enable flexible small-lot deliveries at low cost. In this context, supermarkets are decentralized in-house logistics areas in the direct vicinity of the final assembly line, which serve as intermediary stores for parts. Small tow trains are loaded with material in a supermarket and deliver parts Just-in-Time to the stations lying on their fixed route. This paper discusses the general pros and cons of the supermarket-concept and treats the decision problem of determining the optimal number and placement of supermarkets on the shop floor. A mathematical model is proposed, an exact dynamic programming algorithm presented, and the validity of the proposed approach for practical purposes as well as the trade-off resulting from fixed installation and maintenance cost is investigated in a comprehensive computational study.     

补连塔矿提升党建工作科学化水平的实践探索

结合神东煤炭集团公司补连塔煤矿完善党员教育管理体系,建设以补连塔煤矿"网上党支部"为载体的党建信息化管理平台的具体实践,介绍了"网上党支部"的建设动因、主要做法、所取得成效、存在问题及改进方向,以期用最先进的信息化技术和手段提升基层党建工作科学化水平。     

Getting the Measure of the Transformed High-Performance Organization

The term 'high-performance work systems' is increasingly being used to label the transformed high-commitment organization associated with the abandonment of Taylorism. A fundamental issue is whether the whole ensemble of high-commitment and total quality management practices tend to be used together or in a fragmented ad hoc way. Latent trait analysis is used to address this question. Using data from Osterman's study of US organizations, the analysis shows that certain practices do co-exist, though quality circle stands apart from them. While it is meaningful to talk of high-performance management as an integration of modern quality and personnel management methods, caution must be exercised when defining management approaches in terms of a set of practices on a priori grounds alone.     

An efficient hybrid genetic algorithm for the multi-product multi-period inventory routing problem

The inventory routing problem (IRP) addressed in this study is a many-to-one distribution network consisting of an assembly plant and many distinct suppliers where each supplies a distinct product. We consider a finite horizon, multi-periods, multi-suppliers and multi-products where a fleet of capacitated homogeneous vehicles, housed at a depot, transport products from the suppliers to meet the demand specified by the assembly plant in each period. The demand for each product is deterministic and time varying. A mathematical formulation of the problem is given and CPLEX 9.1 is run for a finite amount of time to obtain lower and upper bounds. A hybrid genetic algorithm, which is based on the allocation first route second strategy and which considers both the inventory and the transportation costs, is proposed. In addition to a new set of crossover and mutation operators, we also introduce two new chromosome representations. Several medium and small sized problems are also constructed and added to the existing data sets to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Design of the optimal feeding policy in an assembly system

This paper describes an innovative and integrated approach to component management optimization within a production/assembly system. In a mixed-models assembly process the handling of parts and components for each work station represents a substantial variable that can greatly affect job duration and efficiency. This paper is strictly related to Assembly to Order/Manufacturing to Order (ATO and MTO) systems, where lead time has to be very short and flexibility is at its maximum level. In Assembly to Order (ATO) or Make to Order (MTO) systems, the production is increasingly getting more customized in response to the demand, thanks to the progresses reached in both manufacturing and information technologies. It is becoming increasingly possible to assemble or make products specifically in response to the requests of either end customers or retailers. As a consequence of such customization, the design of the whole system must take into direct account several elements: parts warehouses location, feeding policies and feeding systems. In some cases the collection of parts and components required picking activities, in other the movement of entire units load.In several instances experts have analyzed the problems about material centralization/decentralization, storage policies and assembly feeding problem in different and independent ways, while the problem needs an integrated approach. While many researches regarding components allocation problems in ATO and MTO systems, did not consider feeding policies, material picking, packing activities and vehicles optimization, this paper cover focuses on filling such gap using an integrated framework that considers both aspects of the problem: the centralization/decentralization of components in order to minimize the total storage costs and the right feeding policies.Feeding problems in assembly lines are some of the most important aspects to consider during the analysis and design of an assembly system, to allow the maximization of efficiency and flexibility. To reach such goals, a multi-factorial analysis has been carried out during this experiment and will validate the introduced framework. An industrial application of the introduced framework is illustrated to explain its real significant production implication.     

Globalization,Human Resource Practices and Innovation: Recent Evidence from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey

This study examines the triangular relationship that connects the degree to which a workplace is internationally engaged, the extent to which it innovates, and the human resource practices it adopts. By pooling various years of data from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey, a nationally representative data set, we found that certain practices, such as variable pay and autonomy training, are more likely to be used in international workplaces. We subsequently found that for an international workplace, the use of variable pay contributes very little to workplace innovation while autonomy training has a positive relationship with innovation.     

Adoption and policy implications of Japan’s new corporate governance practices after the reform

In this paper we explain the process and policy implications of Japanese firms’ adoption of recently reformed corporate governance practices. We use a selective adaptation framework in doing so. We present some qualitative predictions about the possible outcome of their adoption process. One advantage of our approach is that we can describe various aspects of the evolutionary process of Japan’s corporate governance reform as a system in a consistent manner, rather than as independent pieces. Our predictions provide policy implications and are empirically testable. Japan’s post-bubble corporate governance reform has been extensive and involves the enactment and revisions of many relevant laws and affected institutions. Japan’s aim has been to install US-like practices (the de facto global standard), with these practices replacing the now tarnished bank-centered practices, and to facilitate Japanese industry in regaining global competitiveness. However, we show that Japanese businesses’ adoption of US practices has been selective and efficiency and other policy implications of such behavior are potentially dysfunctional.