bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Using ambulance service records to examine nonfatal heroin overdoses
Authors: Bammer Gabriele , Ostini Remo , Sengoz Ayse
Published: August 2010

Overdoses are a preventable health hazard associated with heroin use. In the first study of its kind, we examined the records on nonfatal overdoses of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Ambulance Service from August 1990 to July 1993. There was a dramatic increase in the number of overdoses in the second half of 1992 and the first half of 1993, but the reasons for the increase are not clear. Most overdoses occurred in men aged under 30, indoors, and many cases were taken to hospital. Often there was no information on why the overdose occurred; when information was available, about half the cases were attributed to taking heroin in combination with other drugs. Suggestions for improving the quality of the data collected are made. These include more systematic recording by ambulance officers of the drug involved in the overdose and whether the drug was used alone or in combination with others, and linkage of ambulance service records with survey data and information from analysis of heroin purity.
Obstetric health services in Far North Queensland: is choice an option?
Authors: Fitzpatrick Judith M.
Published: August 2010

In remote Far North Queensland, evacuation for mandatory hospital births saves lives. However, morbidity and mortality for mothers and infants remain high. Results from a retrospective study of deliveries over a one‐year period showed significant differences in obstetric risk and outcomes among rural and urban Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Caucasian women. Choices of birth place for remote residents were severely limited but those women with education and knowledge about how the system worked utilised options alternative to the regional public hospital. The findings from both the retrospective hospital sample and interviews among remote‐area residents of Far North Queensland confirm the need to develop community‐based perinatal services to reduce cultural and social barriers to clinical care.
Fatal attraction: do high‐technology treatments for end‐stage renal disease benefit Aboriginal patients in central Australia?
Authors: Willis Jon
Published: August 2010

The health problems of Aboriginal Australians, like those of many indigenous peoples, resemble those of the developing world, yet they are dealt with using the tools, techniques, and high‐technology medical solutions of first‐world health. Such approaches ignore the social components of health and illness, including the need for preventive and educative programs at the primary health care level. The example of end‐stage renal disease provides a poignant example of the inadequacies of this approach. Central Australian Aboriginal people suffer from a high incidence of kidney disease from numerous causes including non‐insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus and glomerulonephritis. The high incidence has led to numbers of people developing end‐stage renal disease and moving into the Northern Territory‐South Australia renal failure program for dialysis and/or transplantation. In requiring patients to leave their lands, communities and families, this program removes people from the religious and social support network that could ensure a reasonable quality of life in their final years, while offering only marginal extensions of those years. Expensive technology programs are of little benefit and of considerable cost to Aboriginal patients and draw attention away from efforts to reduce the exposure of at‐risk Aboriginal people to the factors that facilitate the development of end‐stage renal disease.
CAPACITY AND PRODUCTION DECISIONS IN STOCHASTIC MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS: AN ASYMPTOTIC OPTIMAL HIERARCHICAL APPROACH
Authors: SETHI SURESH P. , TAKSAR MICHAEL I. , ZHANG QING
Published: August 2010

We present a new paradigm of hierarchical decision making in production planning and capacity expansion problems under uncertainty. We show that under reasonable assumptions, the strategic level management can base the capacity decision on aggregated information from the shopfloor, and the operational level management, given this decision, can derive a production plan for the system, without too large a loss in optimality when compared to simultaneous determination of optimal capacity and production decisions.

The results are obtained via an asymptotic analysis of a manufacturing system with convex costs, constant demand, and with machines subject to random breakdown and repair. The decision variables are purchase time of a new machine at a given fixed cost and production plans before and after the purchase. The objective is to minimize the discounted costs of investment, production, inventories, and backlogs. If the rate of change in machine states such as up and down is assumed to be much larger than the rate of discounting costs, one obtains a simpler limiting problem in which the random capacity is replaced by its mean. We develop methods for constructing asymptotically optimal decisions for the original problem from the optimal decisions for the limiting problem. We obtain error estimates for these constructed decisions.
INTRODUCTION: SHAPING THE FUTURE OF MANUFACTURING AND SERVICE OPERATIONS
Authors: SINGHAL KALYAN
Published: August 2010

The challenges and opportunities in production and operations management (POM) are almost unlimited because in the world economy, manufacturing andservice operations account for more than 10 trillion dollars per year and in any single industry, the performance varies widely from country to country and from organization to organization. The goal of Production and Operations Management is to contribute to improving the management of manufacturing and service operations all over the world. The editors and reviewers judge the papers published in the journal for their contribution to improving of business practices and to further closeness between research and practice. The journal will publish high quality papers on a broad range of topics in POM, and it encourages all paradigms, old and new. We also invite managers from around the world to describe specific POM problems that provide challenging opportunities for academic research.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY AND BUSINESS ORIGIN OF NEW VENTURE FIRMS IN THE COMPUTER AND COMMUNICATIONS EQUIPMENT INDUSTRIES
Authors: MCDOUGALL PATRICIA P. , DEANE RICHARD H. , D'SOUZA DERRICK E.
Published: August 2010

With the use of questionnaire data from owners, presidents, CEOs, and chairmen of boards and a logistic regression approach, we analyzed the manufacturing strategies of 64 new‐venture firms in the computer and communications equipment manufacturing industries. We found statistically significant differences in manufacturing posture as a function of whether the new venture was corporate‐sponsored or independent (i.e., new venture origin).

The findings suggest that independent firms attack the market with superior product quality with the use of technology in the public domain. They offer a narrow range of products directed to a few large customers and do not make developing new products a primary issue. In contrast, corporate‐sponsored tirms are less concerned with superior product quality but emphasize patented technology and new product development. They provide a broader range of products and service smaller customer orders.
AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF PATTERNS OF PRIORITIES AND TRADE‐OFFS AMONG OPERATIONS MANAGERS
Authors: JOHN CARON H. ST. , YOUNG SCOTT T.
Published: August 2010

A survey of 15 firms showed that agreement among operations managers on competitive priorities is related to agreement on long‐run strategic trade‐off decisions and not to agreement on shortrun trade‐offs. Furthermore, intended short‐run actions were often in conflict with stated competitive priorities. Use of management‐by‐objectives linked to performance appraisal was related to agreement on competitive priorities.
LOAD CUBING AT R. J. REYNOLDS
Authors: GARZA OSCAR F. , GOLUB ALEX J. , LUPER JACK F. , NEEBE ALAN W.
Published: August 2010

R. J. Reynolds Tobacco USA (RJR) is currently implementing a microcomputer‐based decision support system to computerize and optimize the selection of patterns for loading cases of finished product into truck trailers at RJR's Central Distribution Center. This system allows for the efficient loading of trucks with less supervision. Total annual savings from reduced personnel and shipping costs is approximately $850,000. In addition to these benefits, the system is a stepping stone for trailer loading automation and the integration of a comprehensive load planning system.
PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT'S NEW “REQUISITE VARIETY”
Authors: HAYES ROBERT H.
Published: August 2010

This essay is based on my plenary address at the second annual meeting of the Production and Operations Management Society on November 11, 1991. I propose that as the competitive environment in which production and operations management (POM) practitioners operate becomes ever more demanding and the problems about which POM academics study and teach become more complex and interrelated, we need new approaches both in our teaching and our research. I describe five ways of expanding our “requisite variety” of capabilities.
EXPLORING THE STRATEGY‐TECHNOLOGY CONNECTION IN SMALL MANUFACTURING FIRMS
Authors: LEFEBVRE LOUIS‐A. , LANGLEY ANN , HARVEY JEAN , LEFEBVRE ÉLISABETH
Published: August 2010

Small manufacturing firms make a significant contribution to the economy. Yet, partly because of the greater availability of data on larger firms, strategic management and manufacturing strategy research have tended to neglect small business. Using a survey of small manufacturers, we examine the applicability of Porter's typology of generic strategies to this context and investigate the links between generic strategies and one important dimension of manufacturing strategy‐technology management. The analysis of generic strategies shows consistency with previous work on larger firms and tends to support the use of the typology in this setting. Moreover, the internal and external influences on the technology adoption decision process vary significantly with generic strategies, implying that the role played by individuals and networks constitutes a dominant factor. Surprisingly, no distinction was found between firm groupings with respect to decision criteria, which suggests that the decision process of small firms remains rather inexplicit, informal, and, to a large extent, intuitive. We also found that technologically more sophisticated firms tend to hold stronger competitive positions and that technological strength appears to be related to both cost advantage and differentiation.
INTEGRATION IN MANUFACTURING: AN INFORMATION THEORETIC PERSPECTIVE
Authors: HSU CHENG , RATTNER LAURIE
Published: August 2010

Integration is a buzzword in manufacturing strategies for global competitiveness. However, some fundamental questions have yet to be answered scientifically; namely, what is integration, why integrate, and what should be integrated? How do existing integration models approach the problems of integration and to what extent are they successful?

A theory‐based model of information requirements for integrated manufacturing is needed to answer these questions properly. Such a model can unify hitherto narrowly defined and domainoriented approaches. We suggest a paradigm of parallel formulation and use it to formulate the information requirements for integration, including data and knowledge classes, decision spaces, and logical interactions.
DYNAMIC FEEDING IN A STOCHASTIC PARALLEL PROCESSING SYSTEM
Authors: LIU JOHN J.
Published: August 2010

I consider a dynamic input scheduling problem of a stochastic parallel processing system consisting of n identical flexible machining cells. The processing times at each cell are independent random variables. Previous study has indicated the NP complexity of the problem. In this paper, I prove the separability under an ideal just‐in‐time input condition. Using the separability, I then construct an approximation procedure for most realistic applications where the separability condition is violated. The approximation procedure requires only linear time and performed quite well on an extensive test with numerical examples.
SOLVING A COMBINED PART‐SELECTION, MACHINE‐LOADING, AND TOOL‐CONFIGURATION PROBLEM IN FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS*
Authors: LIANG MING , DUTTA SOURIN P.
Published: August 2010

Loading too many or too few copies of tools may result in waste of tool magazine slots and unnecessary machine shutdowns. This is a consequence of not integrating the tool‐configuration problem with other flexible manufacturing system (FMS) planning problems. Solving part‐selection, machine‐loading and tool‐configuration problems independently may cause entire solutions to be infeasible. We propose both an approach to the explicit formulation of tool configuration problems and the simultaneous solution of part‐selection, machine‐loading and tool‐configuration problems. We developed and solved sequentially some associated bicriteria models sequentially. We also discussed the effects of considering some secondary objectives on system performance and described the concepts of critical magazine size and critical machining time using an example problem. Unnecessary allocation and under‐use of tool magazine capacity and machining time could be reduced by considering the critical magazine size and machining time. Finally, we suggest using a method based on Lagrangian relaxation for solving large size problems.
APPROXIMATIONS FOR THE GI/G/m QUEUE
Authors: WHITT WARD
Published: August 2010

Queueing models can usefully represent production systems experiencing congestion due to irregular flows, but exact analyses of these queueing models can be difficult. Thus it is natural to seek relatively simple approximations that are suitably accurate for engineering purposes. Here approximations for a basic queueing model are developed and evaluated. The model is the GI/G/m queue, which has m identical servers in parallel, unlimited waiting room, and the first‐come first‐served queue discipline, with service and interarrival times coming from independent sequences of independent and identically distributed random variables with general distributions. The approximations depend on the general interarrival‐time and service‐time distributions only through their first two moments. The main focus is on the expected waiting time and the probability of having to wait before beginning service, but approximations are also developed for other congestion measures, including the entire distributions of waiting time, queue‐length and number in system. These relatively simple approximations are useful supplements to algorithms for computing the exact values that have been developed in recent years. The simple approximations can serve as starting points for developing approximations for more complicated systems for which exact solutions are not yet available. These approximations are especially useful for incorporating GI/G/m models in larger models, such as queueing networks, wherein the approximations can be components of rapid modeling tools.
ALLOCATING AND SCHEDULING MOBILE DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING EQUIPMENT AMONG HOSPITALS
Authors: RAJAGOPALAN S. , HADJINICOLA GEORGE C.
Published: August 2010

The allocation and weekly scheduling of mobile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) units leased to a group of hospitals that share the equipment can be a complex problem. Similar problems occur in other domains where expensive equipment or facilities such as video conference facilities, aircraft, and supercomputers are leased. The crux of the problem was determining the number of days and which days of the week various types of equipment types should be leased to hospitals, so as to maximize the rental revenues and satisfy client preferences for days of the week and equipment types. We found rental revenues were a decreasing function of the number of days allocated to a hospital. We considered two sub‐problems linked by a set of variables to model the problem. We show that one of these subproblems is a minimum cost network flow problem and the other is an integer multi‐commodity transportation problem. We developed a procedure for solving the latter problem by exploiting earlier results for specialized networks. We conducted a computational study to evaluate the performance of this procedure and showed that it generally provides near‐optimal integer solutions. We describe the development and implementation of a spreadsheet‐based decision support system based on this model. This system was successfully implemented by a small firm with no expertise or prior experience using models.
CONFORMANCE QUALITY AND REPLACEMENT COSTS UNDER WARRANTY
Authors: SAHIN IZZET
Published: August 2010

In this paper, I investigate the impact of the conformance quality of a durable product on manufacturer's and user's replacement costs while the product is under warranty. I first relate conformance quality to reliability and then examine its effects on warranty costs to manufacturer and customer under both pro‐rata and free‐replacement warranties. In particular, I show that the reduction in customer's cost is generally contingent on more stringent quality improvement than the reduction in manufacturer's costs. I also discuss the value of inspection, and I present an application based on real data.
AN EXPERIMENTAL MODEL FOR INVESTIGATING THE SENSITIVITY OF JOB SHOP PERFORMANCE TO JOB RELEASE TIME DISTRIBUTION PARAMETERS
Authors: MELNYK STEVEN A. , DENZLER DAVID R. , MAGNAN GREGORY L. , FREDENDALL LAWRENCE
Published: August 2010

Work flows in a job shop are influenced by the load per release and time interval between release factors. We focus on the latter factor, job release times. Building on Elvers' work, this study evaluates the impact of different job release time distributions on shop performance. Using a computer simulation of a random job shop and a full factorial experimental design, we demonstrate that the type of distribution does affect performance–a finding consistent with results from job shops characterized by good shop floor control practices. These findings are explained by examining the shape and variance traits of the underlying job release time distributions.
AN ECONOMIC PRODUCTION QUANTITY MODEL WITH LEARNING AND FORGETTING CONSIDERATIONS
Authors: LI CHUNG‐LUN , CHENG T. C. E.
Published: August 2010

The focus of this work is on the effects of learning on economic production quantity in batch production systems. We assumed that both unit variable manufacturing time and setup time follow a learning curve. We modified the classical Economic Production Quantity model to incorporate these two types of learning phenomena. We also incorporated the forgetting effect in our model so that a fraction of the learning is lost between consecutive lots. We developed a dynamic program to obtain the optimal solution to the problem. We investigated the nonincreasing lot size property and used it to improve the efficiency of our dynamic program. We consider a special case of the model in which all lot sizes are assumed equal. After theoretical treatment, we carried out a computational study of the effect of assuming equal lot sizes on the optimal solutions. The results of our examples strongly indicate that the assumption of equal lot sizes not only simplifies the determination of the optimal solutions, but also provides close approximations to the optimal solutions.
UNDERSTANDING THE IMPORTANT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MALCOLM BALDRIGE NATIONAL QUALITY AWARD AND ISO 9000 REGISTRATION
Authors: REIMANN CURT W. , HERTZ HARRY S.
Published: August 2010

Market globalization, higher requirements for improved quality, and tough, faster‐pace, price‐sensitive competition have led to two parallel and visible quality thrust: the Baldrige Award in the U.S. and, internationally, the ISO 9000 standards. The relationship between the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration is widely confused. Two common misper‐ceptions stand out: (1) that they both cover the same requirements and (2) that they both address improvement, relying on high quality results, and thus, are both forms of recognition. Many have concluded that the Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 are equivalent and that companies should choose one or the other. These conclusions are incorrect. The Baldrige Award and ISO 9000 registration differ fundamentally in focus, purpose, and content.

The focus of the Baldrige Award is on enhanced competitiveness. The Award Criteria reflect two key competitiveness thrusts: (1) delivery of ever‐improving value to customers and (2) improvement of overall operational performance. The Award's central purpose is educational‐to encourage sharing knowledge and experience of competitiveness and to drive this learning, creating an evolving fund of knowledge. By contrast, the focus of ISO 9000 registration is on conformity to practices specified in the registrant's own quality systems. Its central purpose is to enhance and facilitate trade.

The Baldrige Award addresses competitiveness factors either not addressed in ISO 9000 registration or addressed differently. These factors include a customer and market focus, results orientation, continuous improvement, competitive comparisons, a tie to business strategy, cycle time and responsiveness, integration via analysis, public responsibility, human resource development, and information sharing. Overall, ISO 9000 registration covers less than 10% of the scope of the Baldrige Award Criteria and does not fully address any of the 28 Criteria items. As a result, the national drive to improve competitiveness could be diminished. Companies required to or electing to seek ISO 9000 registration are encouraged to integrate their conformity efforts with the Baldrige Award competitiveness improvement framework.
STRATEGIC PRODUCTION COMPETENCE: CONVERGENT, DISCRIMINANT, AND PREDICTIVE VALIDITY
Authors: VICKERY SHAWNEE K. , DROGE CORNELIA , MARKLAND ROBERT E.
Published: August 2010

A resource‐based construct of manufacturing competence, termed strategic production competence, is examined with respect to its convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. The construct evaluates manufacturing performance across a comprehensive domain of competitive priorities relative to item importance and performance. Data from an earlier study of furniture firms ( n = 65) are used for statistical testing. The results establish the convergent and discriminant validity of strategic production competence and show that it is positively related to business performance.
SOURCES OF STRESS IN AN AUTOMATED PLANT
Authors: KARUPPAN CORINNE M. , SCHNIEDERJANS MARC J.
Published: August 2010

Computer‐integrated manufacturing implementation is often hindered by human resource issues like stress. By focusing on one type of potential human obstacle to the integration of islands of automation in our exploratory case study, we examine the sources of stress and the lack of job control experienced in three functional departments: computer‐aided design and manufacturing, manufacturing planning and control, and computer numerical control/robot manufacturing; we also suggest management interventions to alleviate stress in each group of workers.

We used three methods to collect data: self‐reporting, observation at the job level, and physiological screening. Our results indicated little difference in stress levels among the three groups. However, we found that each group faced a different set of pressures and exercised different levels of control over their jobs. We suggest specific managerial action to overcome the most critical pressures.
PARTIAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: AN ESSAY
Authors: KOLESAR PETER J.
Published: August 2010

A serious gap is emerging between what is espoused as total quality management and what is actually being implemented. Examples of actual implementation failures are given. In addition to affecting the offending firms, these gaps threaten the viability of the quality management movement in the United States. Their causes and appropriate counter measures are worthy topics for research.
A TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT‐BASED INCENTIVE SYSTEM SUPPORTING TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION
Authors: SYMONS RICHARD T. , JACOBS RAYMOND A.
Published: August 2010

Although there have been many cases of total quality management (TQM) success, embracing TQM does not always lead to performance improvements. Many companies resist the changes in organizational processes such as compensation and performance appraisal systems that are required to link TQM efforts to bottom‐line performance. We present the basic structure of a TQM‐based compensation system that can provide incentives based on a variety of performance measures, including an explicit incentive for the reduction of variability in product variables. As a result, this approach encourages the continuous improvement central to the TQM philosophy, rather than serving as a disincentive for such improvement as do many traditional compensation systems. The set of performance measures can be adjusted periodically to focus on those measures deemed most likely to yield significant increases in customer satisfaction, further supporting the core elements of TQM. The approach is described using examples from the paper manufacturing operation where it has been successfully implemented. A longitudinal analysis of several performance measures is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new compensation system.
IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES OF TIME‐SERIES BASED STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL
Authors: ALWAN LAYTH C. , RADSON DARRELL
Published: August 2010

Underlying standard control‐chart methodology is the assumption of independent and identically distributed (IID) random variables. However, autocorrelation and other time‐series effects frequently occur in manufacturing and service quality applications. As a result, it has been suggested that standard methods be extended by using time‐series modeling. A little statistical analysis can go a long way, especially when time‐series effects are strong enough to frustrate efforts directed toward discovery of special causes. But a practical limitation on the use of time‐series modeling is that its implementation requires some sophisticated statistical skills, whereas standard control charts require only elementary statistical knowledge. The choice raises the questions of management philosophy, statistical techniques, and computation.
TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND AN AGENDA FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
Authors: AHIRE SANJAY L. , LANDEROS ROBERT , GOLHAR DAMODAR Y.
Published: August 2010

Total quality management (TQM) is a revolutionary approach to effective management. The research in TQM has emerged from practical needs of organizations embracing this philosophy, and the literature is mostly conceptual and practitioner‐oriented. There is a lack of sound theoretical framework classifying past efforts and guiding future research. To fill the void, a study of the published TQM literature is undertaken. A review, classification, and analysis of the research in TQM spanning the last two decades is presented. A total of 226 TQM‐related articles are identified from 44 refereed management journals published from 1970 to 1993. These articles are then classified and analyzed using the following two‐dimensional scheme: (1) article orientation (conceptual, case study, empirical, analytical, simulation, and overview) and (2) article focus using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria. The analysis of the literature presents pertinent developments in each of the seven criteria. In addition, it provides future research directions as well as a ready reference of the TQM literature. The suggestions for research should guide future developments in the TQM field and help transform it into a formal discipline.
POWER APPROXIMATIONS FOR A TWO‐ECHELON INVENTORY SYSTEM USING SERVICE LEVELS
Authors: SCHNEIDER HELMUT , RNKS DAN B. , KELLE PETER
Published: August 2010

We consider a two‐echelon inventory system with one warehouse and several stores. The warehouse as well as the stores are controlled by periodic review ( s, S) inventory policies. We study the interrelationship between the safety stocks at the warehouse and the stores. Stockouts at the warehouse will result in supply delays to the stores and cause the lead time to be stochastic. The stores may react by increasing their safety stock. However, there is a trade‐off between the safety stock at the warehouse and the safety stock at the stores. We use a service level at the warehouse to quantify the effect of warehouse stockouts on the lead time to the stores. The service level at the warehouse is considered a decision variable to find the best compromise between the various safety stocks by minimizing the overall costs. Using power approximations for the ( s, S) policies, we provide an iterative procedure for adjusting the lead time distribution to the stores; this can result in substantial savings, but it doesn't guarantee the overall optimality. Numerical studies are provided to test the accuracy of approximations. The effects of the different system parameters on the inventory policy give general guidelines for use of the policies.
MANUFACTURING STRATEGY ON THE “S” CURVE
Authors: Skinner Wickham
Published: August 2010

The concept and techniques of “manufacturing strategy” offer managers the opportunity to use their production function as a strategic weapon in competition, an apparently attractive objective. Yet after about 25 years, the use of manufacturing in corporate strategy (MCS) as a management practice is not widespread. In contrast, however, in academic literature it appears to be flourishing and rapidly growing in popularity. This paper seeks to answer this apparent paradox, beginning with the history of MCS as it was developed as a theory of design to enable a manufacturing system to be focused on a key competitive task. Common criticisms of MCS, such as “tradeoffs,” “focus” and “undynamic,” are examined and refuted as valid reasons for its only modest usage. Instead, three “new” problems in the MCS concept and its techniques are suggested as genuine needs for the completion of the theory and for its becoming more universally understood and used by industrial managers.
THREE YARDS AND A CLOUD OF DUST: INDUSTRIAL MANAGEMENT AT CENTURY END
Authors: Skinner Wickham
Published: August 2010

After a decade of updating and modernizing U.S. manufacturing with advanced management techniques (AMTS), competitive results have been generally disappointing. Industrial managers under pressure have relied on AMTS to solve their problems, but in this era of ever more intense and fast‐moving competition, this has generally proven inadequate. Competitors abroad have moved ahead just as vigorously and usually earlier in applying AMTS such as JIT, TQM, and MRP, so the result has been “competitíve gridlock.” Simultaneously, industry is full of misfits between manufacturing policies and strategy, as AMT‐driven managers make and change policies piecemeal. The mediocre results of this conventional, operational mindset demonstrate that sheer productivity improvement or other conventional performance objectives seldom build unique competitive advantage. Winning in competition today requires a different management approach, one which is focused on establishing competitive superiority. Basic structural redesign is the key to clear competitive advantage, but its rare practice signals the presence of problems in the skills, attitudes, and premises of many industrial managers. Rather than continuing the common practice of relying on available AMTS, a new breed of industrial managers is needed, equipped with a breadth of skills which encompass all the functional areas of production and who are business‐ and strategy‐rather than narrowly operation‐ and functionally‐oriented.
THE CHALLENGE OF MANUFACTURING ADVANTAGE
Authors: Wheelwright Steven C. , Bowen H. Kent
Published: August 2010

In spite of the significant progress made by a wide range of manufacturing companies over the past decade, few senior executives in U.S. firms would point to manufacturing as a significant source of competitive advantage. This paper seeks to explore some of the basic reasons for this. It begins by providing a framework for manufacturing competitiveness. It then outlines a handful of characteristics that seem to have been pervasive in a wide range of manufacturing competitiveness programs over the past decade. In contrast to those characteristics, it uses three quite different organizations to illustrate a very different mode for pursuing manufacturing competitiveness. Finally, the paper concludes by outlining three elements that appear to be essential in the successful pursuit of manufacturing advantage.
INCLUDING ENGINEERING IN OPERATIONS STRATEGY
Authors: Voss Christopher A. , Winch Graham M.
Published: August 2010

Today's markets are characterized by time and product quality‐based competition. Companies must compete through their ability to manage the whole cycle of product realization and delivery, from the initial concept through to delivery and support at the customer. They must do this through managing an integrated company, not a set of separate functions. This paper addresses the issue of how companies should develop operations strategies for engineering and manufacturing combined. It uses field research into 15 engineering companies to develop the concept of the manufacturing system mission, and proposes strategic choices for manufacturing, engineering and linked functions.
CHANGING MANUFACTURING STRATEGY
Authors: Bennigson Lawrence A.
Published: August 2010

This paper demonstrates an approach to successfully managing change of manufacturing strategy. It first introduces the issues and management guidelines, and then describes how one company used this approach to achieve dramatic benefits from changing its manufacturing strategy. A third part of the paper elaborates on how the company made the approach work.
MANUFACTURING QUALITY, RELIABILITY AND PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE
Authors: Sahin Izzet , Polatoglu Hakan
Published: August 2010

We consider an important topic from the traditional quality literature‐the impact of conformance quality of a manufactured product on the preventive maintenance costs to downstream users of this product. Folk wisdom supports the notion that higher conformance quality translates into lower maintenance costs (as well as other components of life‐cycle costs) for these users. We examine this proposition in some detail on the basis of a failure‐time model that relates conformance quality to reliability. We consider both repairable and nonrepairable items that are maintained by a block‐replacement or a minimal‐repair strategy. In addition to maintenance cycles and costs, we discuss the value of information to the user as to the actual production quality, and the value of inspection.
BUSINESS STRATEGY, MANUFACTURING FLEXIBILITY, AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS: A PATH ANALYSIS APPROACH
Authors: Gupta Yash P. , Somers Toni M.
Published: August 2010

It has been argued in the literature that business strategy and manufacturing flexibility independently affect the performance of an organization. However, no empirical examination of the interrelationship among these three constructs has been performed. In this paper, based on a field study of 269 firms in the manufacturing industry, the identified constructs have been used to test a theoretical model using path analysis techniques. Our results indicate that business strategy contributes both directly and indirectly to organizational performance. The findings provide evidence of direct effects of (i) business strategy on manufacturing flexibility and (ii) manufacturing flexibility on organizational performance.
FREQUENCY OF REPLANNING IN A ROLLING HORIZON MASTER PRODUCTION SCHEDULE FOR A PROCESS INDUSTRY ENVIRONMENT: A CASE STUDY
Authors: Venkataraman Ray
Published: August 2010

This study addresses the problem of replanning frequency for a rolling horizon master production schedule (MPS) in a process industry environment under demand certainty. The major contribution of this paper is the demonstration of how the appropriate replanning frequency for a MPS can be determined under the conditions of minimum batch‐size production restrictions in a rolling planning horizon setting. In addition, the problem environment for this study is an actual MPS operation that includes features such as multiple production lines, multiple products, capacity constraints, minimum inventory requirements, and multiple goals. Actual data from a paint company are used to determine the appropriate replanning frequency for a rolling horizon MPS. Results indicate that a 2‐month replanning frequency was the best at this firm because of the significant cost savings it provided when compared to actual company performance and the other replanning intervals.
MODELING TIME‐COST TRADE‐OFFS IN CPM NETWORKS
Authors: Pilot Chris , Pilot Stephen
Published: August 2010

A new type of PERT/CPM methodology is introduced whereby the individual activities within a project management network are endowed with resistive and capacitive elements. This methodology will enable us to mathematically define a completion time for the various activities and to relate the completion time to relevant cost in the completion of a particular task. It will also allow us to define the work done, and the rate at which work is being done, in an activity as a function of the applied effort and resource outlay. As a consequence, both the resource expenditure and the work done can be tracked within a network as a function of time.
MANAGING ENGINEERING CHANGE: MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND MANUFACTURING COSTS
Authors: Balakrishnan Nagraj , Chakravarty Amiya K.
Published: August 2010

Engineering changes in the design of a product, while attractive from a marketing viewpoint (in terms of increased sales opportunities, matching competitors innovations, etc.) cause disruptions in the manufacturing function of a firm. These disruptions include delays or backorders in the delivery of both committed‐orders and forecast‐demands of existing products, increased capacity requirements that could result in greater use of subcontracts, higher component inventories, and obsolescence of certain components. In this paper, we establish how the marketing opportunities and manufacturing costs associated with engineering changes can be managed so as to enhance the firm's profits over a planning horizon. Using an optimization model, we show that an enhanced product with increased marketing opportunities may not immediately replace the existing product; it may be phased in over a period of time. We further illustrate how the firm's overall profit, and the mechanics of phasing out the old product and phasing in the new product, are affected by factors such as the manufacturing lead time of the new product, its market attractiveness as compared to the old product, capacity availability, subcontracting premiums, and backorder costs. We develop several insights that allow managers to quickly establish whether an engineering change would be desirable and discuss a multitude of options that may be used to further enhance their desirability. Finally, we show that if the phase out period of the old product is set arbitrarily, rather than optimally, the result may be a substantial reduction in overall profits.
A FRAMEWORK FOR MACHINE SCHEDULING PROBLEMS WITH CONTROLLABLE PROCESSING TIMES
Authors: Alidaee Bahram , Kochenberger Gary A.
Published: August 2010

This is a study of single and parallel machine scheduling problems with controllable processing time for each job. The processing time for job j depends on the position of the job in the schedule and is a function of the number of resource units allocated to its processing. Processing time functions and processing cost functions are allowed to be nonlinear. The scheduling problems considered here have important applications in industry and include many of the existing scheduling models as special cases. For the single machine problem, the objective is minimization of total compression costs plus a scheduling measure. The scheduling measures include makespan, total flow time, total differences in completion times, total differences in waiting times, and total earliness and tardiness with a common due date for all jobs. Except when the total earliness and tardiness measure is involved, each case the problem is solved efficiently. Under an assumption typically satisfied in just‐in‐time systems, the problem with total earliness and tardiness measure is also solved efficiently. Finally, for a large class of processing time functions; parallel machine problems with total flow time and total earliness and tardiness measures are solved efficiently. In each case we reduce the problem to a transportation problem.
PRODUCTION FLOW CONTROL FOR A MANUFACTURING SYSTEM WITH FLEXIBLE ROUTINGS
Authors: Krämer Franz‐Josef , Hafsi Mohsen El , Bai Sherman X.
Published: August 2010

We study the dynamic routing problem for a flexible manufacturing system consisting of two unreliable machines and a finite buffer. One product‐type is produced which requires two operations in sequence. The demand rate is assumed to be constant. Each machine is capable of performing both operations. The objective is to trace the demand while keeping the work‐in‐process low and the cycle‐time short. An optimal control formulation is established for the dynamic routing problem. A production flow control algorithm is developed based on a combination of mathematical modeling and heuristics. The control policy is simulated and a comparison with the numerical optimal solution shows that it performs well for the instances under consideration.
O(m2) ALGORITHMS FOR THE TWO AND THREE SUBLOT LOT STREAMING PROBLEM
Authors: Williams Elliott F. , Tüfekcli Süleyman , Akansel Mehmet
Published: August 2010

Lot streaming is the process of splitting a job or lot into sublots to reduce its makespan on a sequence of machines. The goal in the lot streaming problem is to find the optimal size of each sublot that will minimize the makespan. The makespan is defined as the time the last sublot completes its processing on the last machine. If the sizes of these sublots are restricted to remain the same on all machines, the solution is called a consistent sublot solution. However, if the sizes of the sublots are allowed to vary, the solution is referred to as a nonconsistent or variable sublot solution. Also, if the machines must be in operation continuously from the first to the last sublot, the solution is a no idling solution. When setups are explicitly considered in the problem, there will be two cases. If setups on each machine require some portion of the first sublot be present by the machine, the problem is referred to as the attached setup time problem. If setups can be performed ahead of time before the first sublot reaches the particular machine, the corresponding problem is referred to as the detached setup problem. Finally, if the machines are allowed to be idle between the processing of sublots, the resultant solution is an intermittent idling solution. In this paper, the consistent sublot lot streaming problem with intermittent idling and no setups is discussed. The models developed also assume that the number of sublots are fixed and known. The m machine two sublot lot streaming problem is reviewed. An algorithm for the three sublot, m machine problem is derived using a network representation of the problem. The complexity of the algorithm is O ( m 2). Finally, using the insights from three sublot problem, a heuristic algorithm is provided for the m machine, n sublot problems. The results on the proposed heuristic are very encouraging; average percent deviation from optimal makespan is approximately at 0.76% on 155 randomly generated problems with different m and n values.
MADE IN THE WORLD: THE GLOBAL SPREAD OF PRODUCTION
Authors: Ferdows Kasra
Published: August 2010

We are moving rapidly into an age of transnational manufacturing, where things made in one country are shipped across national borders for further work, storage, sales, repair, remanufacture, recycle, or disposal; but our laws, policies, and management practices are slow in adjusting to this reality. They are often based on inaccurate premises. This article examines these premises and suggests what they imply for management of manufacturing.

First, a common view is that manufacturing investment in the industrialized nations is declining and shifting to the developing countries. This is not true. Investment in manufacturing in both industrialized and developing nations is increasing and, in absolute value, there is a lot more investment in industrialized countries than in developing countries. Second, a related view argued by many is that manufacturing does not have a bright future in the rich countries. I argue that manufacturers can thrive in the industrialized countries if they learn how to add more value for the end users. They must go beyond productivity improvement to producing more technologically advanced and customized products, responding faster to changing customer demands, and appending more services to their products. Doing all this is easier in the industrialized countries because the needed skills and infrastructure are more readily available there. Third, another potentially misleading notion is related to why companies invest in manufacturing abroad. Access to low‐cost production is not the main motivation in most cases; rather it is access to market. Superior global manufacturers use their foreign factories for much more: to serve their worldwide customers better, preempt competitors, work with sophisticated suppliers, collect critical marketing, technological, and competitive intelligence, and attract talented individuals into the company. They build integrated global production networks, not collections of disjointed factories that are spread internationally. Thus their investment in manufacturing abroad is not a substitute for investment at home, it is a complement. Building and managing such integrated global factor networks is the next challenge in manufacturing.
INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT: RESOURCE TOOLKIT FOR RESEARCH AND TEACHING
Authors: Roth Aleda V. , Gray Ann E. , Singhal Jaya , Singhal Kalyan
Published: August 2010

Increasing globalization has affected the way that firms are managed today. While its impact on competitive strategy, marketing, and finance has been well accepted and well studied, its effect on the firm's technology and operations has not. This paper provides resources for research and teaching in international technology and operations management (itom). Included are an extensive bibliography of papers and an overview of large‐scale survey research initiatives in the area. By bringing together and categorizing this body of work, we hope to facilitate further work in the area and to help define ITOM'S scope.
CONFIGURING A SUPPLY CHAIN TO REDUCE THE COST OF DEMAND UNCERTAINTY
Authors: FISHER MARSHALL , HAMMOND JANICE , OBERMEYER WALTER , RAMAN ANANTH
Published: August 2010

Reducing lead time enables a company to react more quickly to demand information and, hence, to better match supply with uncertain demand. But it is only one lever for improving response capability. Managers are familiar with others (e.g., excess capacity, supplier choice, and so forth) but lack techniques to quantify the impact of adjusting these levers. Here, we enumerate a number of these levers and present a model whereby they might be combined into effective response capability. The impact of adjusting these levers is illustrated by data obtained from a skiwear manufacturer that did so. Some of the insights that resulted run counter to intuition.