Just-in-time: A cross-sectional plant analysis

This paper uses a data base of quantitative and qualitative plant-level cross-sectional data to analyze the relative performance of Just-in-time (JIT) and non-JIT plants operating in two distinct manufacturing industries: electronic components and auto-parts. A number of conjectures made by the literature concerning the relationship between JIT manufacturing and plant inventory holdings, costs and profits are tested. Consistent with many of these conjectures, the results suggest that JIT manufacturing at the plant level is associated with greater productivity in inventory usage, lower total and variable costs, but not fixed costs, and higher profits. The success of JIT plants along these dimensions is found to be related to the length of experience with JIT manufacturing, and process quality and leanness but unrelated to product quality, quality control or the extent of plant unionization.     

基于DEA-Tobit的装备制造业上市公司经营绩效研究——来自2005～2010年装备制造业的经验数据分析

本文以2005～2010年中国装备制造业上市公司为研究主体,以其经营绩效为研究对象,利用主成分法和因子分析对指标进行筛选并剔除,构建装备制造业上市公司绩效指标体系.运用DEAMalmquist指数法对经营绩效进行评价并得出装备制造业全要素生产率的提高主要得力于技术进步,而技术效率也是影响全要素生产率的因素的结论.通过Tobit回归找出其他因素对经营绩效的影响程度.实证表明,装备制造业整体绩效并不理想,要想使装备制造业健康持续发展就需同时兼顾技术效率、技术进步的提高,同时重视公司内部的管理与决策能力,实现规模经济.     

Approximation approach for the performance analysis of production lines under a kanban discipline

In a JIT production environment, pull-type control systems are usually implemented to reduce the lead time and to synchronize the production rate with the demand rate. The design of an effective production control system requires easy and reliable approaches for evaluating the effect of the major system parameters on its performance.In this paper we model the kanban control system of a manufacturing line as a Markov process. In addition, we develop an approximation approach to the model that permits reliable evaluation of manufacturing system performance in terms of throughput time and work-in-process. The validation of the approach is implemented by comparing the exact results (based on discrete event simulation) and the approximated results.A good approximation is observed for a large range of conditions.     

第二产业企业经营业绩评价指标体系设计研究

企业经营业绩评价是企业经营管理中的一个重要问题,是企业经营战略实施状况的整体描述。工业时代的传统财务业绩评价指标体系一直存在着重短期业绩评价、轻长期业绩评价,重财务指标体系、轻非财务指标系统等问题,它在世界经济一体化的知识经济时代已变得力不从心,捉襟见肘。如何适应当今世界复杂多变的经济环境,建立非财务与财务评价并重的企业经营业绩评价指标体系,已成为重大课题。文章在研究比较国内外企业经营业绩评价体系的基础上,阐述了企业经营业绩评价指标体系设计的指导思想,并借鉴国外跨国公司的业绩评价,结合中国企业的实际情况,设计了一套比较完整的第二产业企业经营业绩评价指标体系,以期待对该领域的研究有所推进。     

Model and analysis of integrated production–inventory system: The case of steel production

The study originated from an industrial case study in the field of steel production, but it presents a larger interest, as many other manufacturing fields have similar concerns (e.g. foundries, food, textile and paper industries). A significant phase of steel manufacturing is the product cooling (likewise, drying in paper and textile production, or maturing in food production). This phase may be completed in different ways, but (1) it must be carried out in the finished product warehouse and (2) it must meet both production optimisation and customer needs. The latter requirement acquires a strategic relevance in JIT environments. The present study proposes a mathematical model to find the optimal production schedule of steel billets, based on the relevant parameters of the productive system (set-up and processing times, demand profile). In the industrial case examined, the negative impact of holding costs on cash flows is also linked to the space required by the cooling process, which depends on the production schedule adopted. In other words, the finished product storage can be considered a part of the manufacturing cycle and impacts on it. In the case of steel plants operating in JIT environments, the warehouse must be promptly emptied and carefully managed to exploit the available space. Thus, the effect of inventory costs is examined in a production–inventory system with finite capacity, where products are made to order and share the same manufacturing facility. The study is completed by an experimental analysis to investigate the effect of variations in the relevant parameters of the problem.     

Development of maintenance function performance measurement framework and indicators

The performance and competitiveness of manufacturing companies is dependent on the reliability, availability and productivity of their production facilities. To ensure the plant achieves the desired performance, maintenance managers need a good track of performance on maintenance process and maintenance results. This can be attained through development and implementation of a rigorously defined performance measurement framework and indicators that are able to measure important elements of maintenance function performance. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that performance indicators are not defined in isolation, but should be the result of a careful analysis of the interaction of the maintenance function with other organisational functions, most evidently with the production function. In this paper, a conceptual framework that provide guidelines for choosing maintenance function performance indicators is proposed. It seeks to align maintenance objectives with manufacturing and corporate objectives, and provides a link between the maintenance objectives, maintenance process/efforts and maintenance results. Based on this conceptual framework, performance indicators of the maintenance process and maintenance results are identified for each category.     

ADVANCES IN LOGISTICS AND THE GROWTH OF INTRA‐FIRM TRADE: THE CASE OF CANADIAN AFFILIATES OF U.S. MULTINATIONALS, 1984–1995*

Intra‐firm trade in intermediates between U.S. multinational parents (MNCs) and their Canadian manufacturing affiliates increased dramatically in the 1984–1995 period (i.e., it roughly doubled). Tariff and transport cost declines were far too small to explain this phenomenon. But we show that the advent of improved logistics management practices, including the ‘just‐in‐time’ (JIT) production system, can explain much of the growth of intra‐firm trade. JIT lowers the inventory carrying cost component of intra‐firm trade, and, by 1984, this was more important than tariff and transport costs in many industries. We combine regression analysis with numerous case studies to draw our conclusions.     

Guidance on developing safety performance indicators

This article summarizes a process for developing safety performance indicators. This is a topic of great importance for the measurement of the effectiveness of our PSM systems. The PSM is the OSHA regulation that covers companies in the United States that was issued in the year 1992. Since that time companies in the process industries have made great strides in implementing PSM systems. An important question is “How much progress have we made in actually reducing the number and severity of process events?” Other countries were also concerned about the effectiveness of their programs to address chemical accidents. In response to these concerns, the OECD published the documents described in this article. One of these documents sets out a safety performance indicator process that allows a company to:

• assess whether it is implementing appropriate chemical safety programs and policies,
• evaluate whether these programs and policies are achieving their desired objectives, and
• help determine the extent to which such programs and policies are making a difference.

This will allow a company to identify whether there is appropriate emphasis on different aspects of safety management and provide insights needed for setting priorities for future investment of resources. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 2009     

Quality management practices and competitive performance: Empirical evidence from Japanese manufacturing companies

This paper presents the results of an empirical study on the relationship between quality management practices and competitive performance in Japanese manufacturing companies. The data was gathered from two surveys including the common sample of twenty-seven Japanese manufacturing companies in the 1990s and the 2000s. Statistical techniques are used to compare the degree of implementation of the eleven quality management practices and their impact on different dimensions of competitive performance between two periods. Findings of this study highlight the stability and consistency of the Japanese quality management, which can be used as one of the strategic weapons for maintaining competitive advantage of Japanese manufacturing companies.     

Determinants of absorptive capacity: contrasting manufacturing vs services enterprises

The purpose of this study is to explore the determinants and the consequent of absorptive capacity from the resource‐capability‐performance framework in the Taiwanese manufacturing and service industries. Structural equation modeling is applied to verify the conceptual model. In both of the Taiwanese manufacturing industry and the Taiwanese service industry, this study verifies that resource commitment and resource flexibility are two antecedents of absorptive capacity, and that new product development performance or service innovation performance is its consequent. Besides, the empirical results show that absorptive capacity plays a partial mediator in the manufacturing industry but a full mediator in the service industry. If companies would like to raise their new product development performance or service innovation performance, they have to enhance their resource commitment, resource flexibility, and absorptive capacity. Moreover, this study finds that the resource commitment of small and medium enterprises is significantly less than that of large enterprises in Taiwanese manufacturing industry. This study also finds that resource flexibility of established companies is significantly higher than that of younger companies in Taiwan.     

"Managing" Learning by Doing: An Empirical Study in Semiconductor Manufacturing

This article examines the contributions of human resource and organizational practices to the development and supply chain management interface. It addresses this issue in the context of the semiconductor industry by highlighting the importance of these practices for learning‐based improvement in manufacturing. One of the most important factors for competitiveness in the semiconductor industry is the ability to manufacture new process technologies with high yields and low cycle times. The more effective management of new process technologies within the manufacturing facility aids firms in managing production costs, volumes, and inventories. Efficient management of new process development and introduction translates into enhanced internal supply chain management performance by improving the design of internal workflows, manufacturing performance, and the acquisition and installation of new manufacturing processes. Because much of the knowledge that underpins semiconductor manufacturing is idiosyncratic, however, firm‐level differences in human resource and organizational practices are likely to have consequences for performance. The article derives learning curve models of the rate of improvement in manufacturing yield (i.e., the rate of learning) and cycle time (i.e., the speed of production) following the introduction of a new process technology in a manufacturing facility. It then tests the influence of the use by semiconductor manufacturers of teams for problem solving and intrafirm knowledge transfer, the level of internal adoption of information technology (IT), and more extensive and effective workflow and production scheduling systems on manufacturing performance. It finds that the manners in which semiconductor manufacturers allocate engineering resources to problem‐solving activities, utilize information technology in the manufacturing facility, schedule production, and control the “shop floor” influence the levels and rates of improvement in both manufacturing performance measures. The article makes several contributions to the literature on product and process development and, accordingly, to research on the product development/supply chain interface. In particular, the model of organizational‐based learning provides a better understanding of the determinants of learning‐based performance improvement. In particular, better manufacturing performance results not strictly from greater cumulative volume but also from the actions of managers that affect the organization of establishment‐level problem‐solving activities and information exchange. The article also demonstrates that human resource and organizational practices in both the development and the adoption of new process technologies improve manufacturing performance by accelerating new product introduction, improving workflow, and enhancing the efficiency of manufacturing processes.     

Efficiency frontier of OECD MNOs: Multinational vs Domestic

This paper evaluates the efficiency frontier of 34 mobile operators from OECD countries and compares the performance of multinational companies and domestic companies between 2014 and 2018. Unlike most previous studies, the present paper relies on non-financial data for both input and output variables. It uses slack-based Data Envelopment Analysis (SBM DEA) to obtain the efficiency scores. The efficiency scores were compared for the statistically significant differences using Mann-Whitney U test. Our findings showed domestic companies to be more efficient than multinational ones regardless of their scale. The suggested explanation is that domestic enterprises are better at managing their resources and more familiar with their local market. The results also indicate that the primary source of inefficiency was inadequate utilisation of the available spectrum range. These empirical findings provide extra insight to the managers in the industry on possible steps to reduce the efficiency from the perspective of non-financial data.     

The impact of lean practices on inventory turnover

Lean manufacturing (LM) is currently enjoying its second heyday. Companies in several industries are implementing lean practices to keep pace with the competition and achieve better results. In this article, we will concentrate on how companies can improve their inventory turnover performance through the use of lean practices. According to our main proposition, firms that widely apply lean practices have higher inventory turnover than those that do not rely on LM. However, there may be significant differences in inventory turnover even among lean manufacturers depending on their contingencies. Therefore, we also investigate how various contingency factors (production systems, order types, product types) influence the inventory turnover of lean manufacturers. We use cluster and correlation analysis to separate manufacturers based on the extent of their leanness and to examine the effect of contingencies. We acquired the data from the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey (IMSS) in ISIC sectors 28-35.     

U-shaped production lines: A review of theory and practice

Most writers describe the U-shaped production line as the special type of cellular manufacturing used in just-in-time (JIT) production systems. JIT is defined to be an umbrella term for a number of techniques whose purpose is to improve product quality and cost by eliminating all waste in the production system. The U-line arranges machines around a U-shaped line in the order in which production operations are performed. Operators work inside the U-line. One operator supervises both the entrance and the exit of the line. Machine-work is separated from operator-work so that machines work independently as much as possible. Standard operation charts specify exactly how all work is done. U-lines may be simple or complex. U-lines are rebalanced periodically when production requirements change. The U-line satisfies the flow manufacturing principle. This requires operators to be multi-skilled to operate several different machines or processes. It also requires operators to work standing up and walking. When setup times are negligible, U-lines are operated as mixed-model lines where each station is able to produce any product in any cycle. When setup times are larger, multiple U-lines are formed and dedicated to different products. 114 US and Japanese U-lines are examined in this study. The average U-line has 10.2 machines and 3.4 operators. About one-quarter of all U-lines are manned by one operator and so run in chase mode. The reported benefits are impressive. Productivity improved by an average of 76%. WIP dropped by 86%. Leadtime shrunk by 75%. Defective rates dropped by 83%.     

International management of R&D: The Swedish Experience

This paper summarizes the results of in-depth case studies of international R&D management in four Swedish multinational corporations. The results suggest that foreign volumes and shares of R&D expenditures are rapidly increasing. Through a rapidly increasing number of foreign acquisitions, foreign R&D laboratories have been added. As part of international rationalization of production, foreign units have been given global product mandates with responsibility both for manufacturing and R&D. In maturing foreign subsidiaries, routine technical activities have often evolved into proper R&D. Tight labour market conditions for engineers in Sweden have made it increasingly necessary to exploit existing technical capacity, regardless of location.
Concurrently, companies face new pressures for international coordination and control of R&D. Coordination is required to reduce product differentiation, to facilitate technology transfer and to ensure the technical and market compatibility of products and components developed at different locations but sold as part of total systems. Drawing on the experience in the four investigated companies, the paper discusses how systems and procedures can be developed to meet the need for coordinated international R&D management.     

Can systems integration lead to improved performance? The role of strategic alliances

Despite growing research attention to systemic products and systems integration, there is still a dearth of research on the performance benefits that firms can attain from increased systems integration capabilities. We address this research gap using a longitudinal sample of 245 first-tier automotive suppliers and find that an increased systems integration capability positively affects financial performance. By considering the crucial role of manufacturing alliances, we also find evidence that vertical alliances with buyers positively moderate the relationship between systems integration capabilities and performance, while horizontal alliances have a negative moderating effect. These results contribute to the dynamic capabilities literature by providing empirical evidence that systems integration capability is a relevant predictor of firm performance, and expands the current understanding of how system manufacturers should manage their business-to-business (B2B) relationships.     

Strategic management cycle: The underlying process building aligned linkage among operations practices

This study explores the mechanism of building an effective linkage among manufacturing practices that is a basic attribute of high performance manufacturing. High performance manufacturing companies are those that sustain high levels of performance over time. We propose a strategic management cycle, which explains how a firm establishes and maintains sustainable performance. We hypothesize and demonstrate how the cycle creates an effective linkage that integrates strategic activities and operational practices, which in turn yields high performance. We also argue and show how the first stage of the cycle, visionary planning, supported by the cross-functional culture, is a key to the high performance manufacturing company.     

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.     

供应商、经销商议价能力与公司业绩——来自2005—2007年中国制造业上市公司的经验证据

传统的企业与企业的竞争已经演化为供应链与供应链(或产业链与产业链)之间的竞争,这使得改进供应链(或产业链)管理成为提升公司竞争力的必由之路。本文利用来自2005—2007年中国制造业上市公司的经验证据,探讨供应商和经销商(客户)议价能力对公司业绩可能存在的影响以及具体的影响程度和影响方式。实证研究证实:①供应商、经销商(客户)的集中度和议价能力越低,公司业绩越好;②供应商的集中度和议价能力与公司业绩之间表现为倒U形关系;③和已有的研究不同,经销商(客户)的集中度和议价能力在与公司业绩显著负相关的同时,表现为左高右低的正U形关系。     

The future of operations management: An outlook and analysis

Managing operations in both manufacturing and service organizations have evolved tremendously over the years with the change in market requirements. The market has become global, thereby compelling enterprise operations to keep up. The application of information technology/information systems (IT/IS) and outsourcing in managing operations have significantly altered the landscape of operations management (OM) strategies, techniques, and technologies. Consciousness towards environmental and safety also urges companies to examine their OM approach and manufacturing from various perspectives. Recently, energy cost and protection against terrorism have changed the portfolio of enterprise operations and therefore the approach to OM. Now, it is time to revisit the OM principles, curriculum, and training at the institution of higher learning and industries. Moreover, manufacturing has become more of a service activity, indicating significant service OM, including project management. The profile of service industries has also changed in view of the emergence of globalization, outsourcing, and IT, coupled with the rapid economic growth of emerging economies such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC). In fact, services account for approximately 80% of the US gross domestic product (GDP); this is also a growing figure of the GDPs of other countries over the world. Again, service OM needs to be revisited in the context of the abovementioned paradigm shifts. In considering the significance of the above-mentioned changes in the market and society as a whole, an attempt is made to study the evolution of OM and subsequently to develop a framework for new OM strategies and tactics that will support the competitiveness of organizations within the next 10-20 years.