The Microsoft challenge

In 1996, the Microsoft Corporation introduced a new giving programme to members of the University of Washington. Rather than simply donating in cash or kind, it offered to match any funds donated by faculty members to graduate students. The response to the programme was overwhelming initially. However, the organisers changed the rules of the challenge and over time, donations went down. Finally, the company indicated that it wanted to wind down the programme. This case offers unique data and perspective on how to use a challenge as part of a fundraising strategy. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

The environmental challenge

We now come to the ultimate question of whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about our environmental future, and indeed our survival. If we believe human beings to be rational and thus ultimately acting in their own self-interest, there is no reason to believe that the environmental challenges confronting us as individuals and as a society are not resolvable in a manner that allows both economic development and a reasonable quality of life for human beings. Indeed, we see, at least in the developed world, recognition of the magnitude of the problems that we face and movements toward solutions. Yet our nemesis is time. Irretrievable seconds are ticking away as we struggle against ignorance and economic self-interest. Our concern must be not whether we will act, but whether we will act in time to forestall environmental catastrophe for our civilization. The ultimate solution to our environmental problems must come from a fundamental change in the self-serving psychology that produced the tragedy of the commons. Self-interest must be sublimated not only to the greater needs of society, but to the needs of our posterity. The tragedy of the commons can only be avoided if our time horizon shifts from the short- to long-term. In addition, there must be a shift in values from obsession with economic development to concern for the quality of human life. These shifts dictate that in the future our economic, political, and social system must be built upon a foundation of "sustainable" growth. This means that "industries (and nations, for that matter) cannot thrive if they sacrifice future quality of life for present economic gain. In the long run, the principles of economic growth and environmental quality reinforce each other." How do we make this esoteric speculation relevant to our job each day as materiel managers in health care delivery organizations? We can do this by first understanding the problems that we confront and how we are a part of these problems. Next, we must assume a leadership role in confronting and resolving these problems. This means being an advocate for the environment and championing initiatives within the institution to resolve problems and advance environmental responsibility. Finally, we must remember that every day, with each purchase order we issue, we vote for or against the environment.     

The rent gradient for manufacturing

Rent gradients for manufacturing are estimated using actual rent and value figures for Cincinnati. Distance to the city center is found to be of no importance in explaining rent or value variations.     

民营医院“困局”

2012年,国务院印发《“十二五”期间深化医药卫生体制改革规划暨实施方案》中明确指出,放宽社会资本举办医疗机构准入,到2015年,非公立医疗机构床位数和服务量到总量的20％左右。     

The uncertainty challenge of contingent collaboration

Contingent knowledge workers will play an increasingly important role in organisational success as workers transition in and out of project‐based innovation teams with more frequency. Our research finds that collaborators in the contingent, high‐skill workforce face uncertainty challenges to their work that are unique from the independent, contingent professionals more often studied. The article proposes a theoretical framework of uncertainty to guide us in understanding collaborative contingent knowledge workers’ work experience. Interviews with postdoctoral researchers reveal four findings about the influence of these highly uncertain work environments on collaborative contingent knowledge workers – collaboration isolation, frustrated independence, performance anxiety and internalised blame. Perhaps most concerning is that the workers internalise the negative impacts as personal failings instead of recognising them as consequences of a poorly designed work environment. This study argues for the need to manage and mitigate different sources of uncertainty to avoid creating an unnecessary burden on contingent knowledge workers, and to enable a sustainable, contingent knowledge workforce.     

协同制造和项目制造模式下BOM数据管理系统方案设计

大型装备制造业,在协同制造和项目制造方面的发展日新月异。在BOM数据管理信息化需求方面,协同制造要求提供BOM数据集中管理、分发使用的解决方案,而项目制造则在标准BOM、订单BOM和批次BOM的生成和工程变更同步上提出需求。文章针对大型装备制造业协同制造管理模式、项目制造管理模式的生产管理特征及其对BOM数据管理的需求进行了分析,并针对这些管理需求提出BOM数据管理系统解决方案。     

The density gradient for manufacturing industry

This study employs a rich set of disaggregated manufacturing industry data to estimate density gradients for five metropolitan areas over the time span 1967–1971. The results are consistent with both expectations and with a number of other studies of industry location. More importantly, however, this study examines many of the methodological problems associated with the density gradient. It is concluded that the density gradient has reached the point of diminishing returns as a tool of the urban economist.     

The decline of incentive pay in British manufacturing

Motivation theories and the strategic pay literature envisage that the management of employees can be well‐served by financial incentives and other forms of pay flexibility. Traditionally, UK manufacturing has made extensive use of variable payments systems (VPS), notably piece‐work and bonuses, but these have declined at the same time as managerial control over pay‐setting has increased. Evidence from six case studies suggests that a focus on pay is only part of the picture. Increased competition and change makes the design of VPS more complex, and new forms of work organisation become the focus of performance. In this context, firms have (i) abandoned individual incentive pay and (ii) aggregated VPS in support of broader objectives.     

The incidence of dismissals in British manufacturing industries

Although the question of unfair dismissal has received considerable attention there has been a comparative neglect of the use made by employers of the dismissal sanction per se. This article seeks to explain variations in the rate of disciplinary dismissals using a large survey of manufacturing establishments in Britain.     

The Japanese way of manufacturing and production management

As Japan has achieved a stable economic growth, Japan and Japanese companies are currently receiving world-wide attention. In this article some characteristics of Japanese manufacturing methods and production management are introduced, including flexible automation, group technology, the Toyota production system, the QC circle, lifetime employment, and product development. In addition, some financial aspects of Japanese companies and the government-industry relationship in Japan are also considered.     

The effects of workforce strategies on manufacturing operations

This paper tests the effects of three workforce strategies on a multistage, multiproduct manufacturing system under various operating conditions. These three strategies are those that are predominant in today's world economics. One type is a chase strategy, often used by firms that employ low skilled workers and faced with seasonal product demands, where workforce levels fluctuate according to increases and decreases in production requirements. A level-flexible strategy, commonly called the Toyota system, keeps the aggregate workforce at a constant size but by having flexibly trained workers it can allow transfers of workers between various departments and processes as production requirements dictate. The third major type is a level-inflexible strategy, such as that used on mass-assembly lines employed by American automobile manufacturers. Under this strategy, the number of workers remains constant in each department as well as at the aggregate level regardless of short term changes in the production requirements. The manufacturing system is envisioned as a sequential planning process with interrelated decisions made at the levels of aggregate planning, master production scheduling, and departmental planning. This process is modeled as a zero-one mixed integer program. The operating conditions under which the strategies are tested are the variability of demand, the level of service, and the degree of inventory investment. The strategies are statistically tested as to their effects on five criteria: average weekly workforce size, average quarterly inventory investment, average weekly overtime, total setups and the average weekly ratio of departmental load to capacity.Using four different products and an experimental manufacturing environment described within the paper, we tested for any statistical differences between the three strategies. We found that none of the strategies had significantly different workforce sizes. Also, the chase strategy had the smallest average quarterly inventory investment. This implies that the “Japanese” level-inflexible strategy does not have the smallest workforce or lowest inventory as claimed by some.We also tested the effects of the operating conditions on the workforce strategies. The level-flexible strategy was most insulated from the seasonality, inventory restrictions, and service level. Thus again the claims made for the level-inflexible strategy about being insulated from its environment were not substantiated. It was found that the seasonality of demand had the greatest impact on the three workforce strategies. Also, the level of service greatly affected the utilization of labor resources.The major overall conclusion is that the level-flexible strategy which is associated with some Japanese manufacturing firms does not achieve the claims that some of its adherents have made for it. It does not have the smallest workforce or the lowest inventory nor is it best insulated from its environment. Furthermore, the seasonality of demand and the level of service do effect this strategy.     

The process of consultation: responding to challenge

China could be a challenging destination for Western business expatriates. However, their extent of adjustment to life and work could be contingent on the size of the location of their assignment. Maybe Westerners adjust more easily to large cities with their more Western-style way of life and consumption patterns than to less Westernized small towns and villages. To examine this proposition, a mail survey was directed at Western business expatriates assigned to locations of varying size in China. As expected, results showed that the size of the location was positively associated with adjustment to the general non-work environment as well as with work adjustment. Surprisingly, there was no relationship between the size of the location and adjustment to interacting with host nationals, presumably due to language problems. The distinct implications of these findings are discussed in detail.     

Cloud manufacturing: a new manufacturing paradigm

Combining with the emerged technologies such as cloud computing, the Internet of things, service-oriented technologies and high performance computing, a new manufacturing paradigm – cloud manufacturing (CMfg) – for solving the bottlenecks in the informatisation development and manufacturing applications is introduced. The concept of CMfg, including its architecture, typical characteristics and the key technologies for implementing a CMfg service platform, is discussed. Three core components for constructing a CMfg system, i.e. CMfg resources, manufacturing cloud service and manufacturing cloud are studied, and the constructing method for manufacturing cloud is investigated. Finally, a prototype of CMfg and the existing related works conducted by the authors' group on CMfg are briefly presented.     

The content of manufacturing strategy: An empirical study

While there has been an extensive literature written on manufacturing strategy since the 1960s, little empirical research has been done. This article reports on a study of manufacturing strategy in thirty-nine companies based on questionnaire responses received from manufacturing managers.The study indicates that things are not as bleak as the literature might suggest. About one-third of the companies appear to have a well-developed manufacturing strategy. In those cases where the manufacturing strategy exists it is consistent with the business strategy and internally consistent among mission, objectives, policies, and distinctive competence.The term “manufacturing strategy” is not well understood by the managers surveyed. When asked to state their manufacturing strategy, they gave statements about what manufacturing should be, what it should do, how it should do it, and why it should do it. Apparently, the terminology itself is confusing. Frameworks for stating both business strategies and the elements of manufacturing strategy need to be strengthened and some specific suggestions are given in the article for doing so.Even though two-thirds of the companies did not have well-developed manufacturing strategies, 80% of the managers felt that manufacturing had lent competitive strength to the business. This was being done through the development of a distinctive competence in manufacturing that provided competitive advantage.Manufacturing strategies seemed to follow from business strategy. This is contrary to the literature, which indicates that manufacturing strategy is missing, or, at the very least inconsistent with business strategy and marketing strategy. Perhaps a stronger relationship exists than was previously thought. This article provides some evidence for establishing this premise and also provides data on the general status of strategy in manufacturing today.     

CRM在柴油机制造业的应用

文章阐述了客户关系管理系统(CRM)的基本理论,分析了柴油机制造业特点,实施CRM的总体构架及可带来的效益。     

极端制造

极端制造（Extreme manufacturing）是指在极端条件下，制造极端尺度或极高功能的器件和功能系统，集中表现在微细制造、超精密制造、巨系统制造等方面。如汽车安全气囊、医疗用的微管道试剂测试设备等。[第一段]