bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The content of manufacturing strategy: An empirical study
Authors: Schroeder Roger G. , Anderson John C. , Cleveland Gary 
Published: October 2002

AbstractWhile 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.
Manufacturing strategy: Its assessment and practice
Authors: Swamidass Paul M. 
Published: October 2002

AbstractIn recent years, the subject of manufacturing strategy has attracted much attention, yet it is still a relatively unresearched area. Among practitioners, unlike the term “marketing strategy,” the term “manufacturing strategy” does not have instant recognition as to its meaning, purpose, and utility.For continued progress in the research and practice of manufacturing strategy, there is a real need for practical methods of assessing the manufacturing strategy of businesses. For example, for practitioners, the assessment of manufacturing strategy is essential to the development, fine tuning, revision, and evaluation of manufacturing strategy.This study presents a method of assessing the manufacturing strategy of businesses. In the process of assessing the manufacturing strategy in thirty‐five manufacturing firms, this study found several problems with the practice of manufacturing strategy and recommends some solutions.It has been reported by researchers that the task of assessing manufacturing strategy is often hampered by a lack of understanding of the term manufacturing strategy and the absence of explicitly denned manufacturing strategies within most manufacturing firms. Consequently, this study assessed the implied manufacturing strategy in the participating firms using the responses of both chief executives or equivalents and manufacturing managers. To overcome nonuniform understanding of the term among executives, multiple respondents and multiple methods using several direct and indirect questions were employed to get as good a fix on the manufacturing strategies of the firms as possible.It was found that while chief executives stressed quality, technology, etc., which would contribute to a business level strategy based on product differentiation, manufacturing managers stressed cost, and the keeping of delivery promises. This mismatch of emphasis between the two executives could be a sign of problems in the effective use of the manufacturing function.A major conclusion of this study is that executives in manufacturing firms are not sufficiently “literate” in matters concerning manufacturing strategy. However, this deficiency could be easily corrected by appropriate training in assessing, formulating, and implementing manufacturing strategy.The method used in this study for assessing manufacturing strategy could be used by chief executives and manufacturing managers to identify their implied manufacturing strategy, and to detect agreements as well as disagreements between the two. Further, the method used here could be replicated by executives in developing or reviewing the formal manufacturing strategies of their businesses.
Operations related groups (ORGs): A clustering procedure for production/inventory systems
Authors: Ernst Ricardo , Cohen Morris A. 
Published: October 2002

AbstractMany production/inventory systems contain thousands of stock keeping units (SKUs). In general, it is not computationally (or conceptually) feasible to consider every one of these items individually in the development of control polices and strategies. Our objective here is to develop a methodology for defining groups to support strategic planning for the operations function. Accordingly, such groups should take into consideration all product characteristics which have a significant impact on the particular operations management problem of interest. These characteristics can include many of the attributes which are used in other functional groupings and will most certainly go beyond the cost and volume attributes used in ABC analysis.The ORG methodology is based on statistical clustering and can utilize a full range of operationally significant item attributes. It considers both statistical measures of discrimination and the operational consequences associated with implementing policies derived on the basis of group membership. The main departure of this analysis from earlier work is: 1) the approach can handle any combination of item attribute information that is important for strategy purposes, 2) management's interest in defining groups on the basis of operational factors can be accommodated, 3) statistical discrimination is considered directly, 4) group definition reflects the performance of management policies which are based (in part) on group membership, and 5) the method can be applied successfully to systems with a large number of SKUs.The specific application which motivated development of the ORG methodology was an analysis of distribution strategy for the service parts division of a major automobile manufacturer. The manufacturer was interested in developing optimal inventory stocking policies, which took into account the complexities of its multiechelon distribution network, supplier relationships and customer service targets for each market segment. This manufacturer stocked over 300,000 part numbers in an extensive network with approximately 50 distribution centers and thousands of dealer locations (i.e., 1.5 million SKU/ location combinations). The results of this application indicated that the advantage of using operationally relevant data for grouping and for defining generic, group‐based policies for controlling inventory can be substantial. The ORG methodology can be of value to operations managers in industries with a large number of diverse items.
Scheduling random flexible manufacturing systems with dynamic environments
Authors: Hutchison Jim , Khumawala Basheer 
Published: October 2002

AbstractAmerican designers are designing more flexibility into flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). However, there has been little research on the scheduling of these more flexible systems. This study adds insights into how these systems should be scheduled and increases our understanding of the influences of routing flexibility.A few American FMSs use off‐line schemes for scheduling but most use real‐time schemes. This research compares seven real‐time and two off‐line scheduling schemes for a random flexible manufacturing system. The results indicate that full advantage can be taken of these more flexible systems if off‐line schemes are used. The scheme that takes the greatest advantage of increased flexibility is an off‐line scheme that decomposes the scheduling problem. As flexibility increases this scheme is able to schedule more output and reduce the average flow time of parts, and it accomplishes this with little additional computational effort.
A behavioral case study of Just‐in‐Time implementation
Authors: Safayeni Frank , Purdy Lyn 
Published: October 2002

AbstractA behavioral study of the just‐in‐time (JIT) situation in the circuit pack area of an electronics firm was carried out. The primary focus of the study was to examine how workers perceived JIT in their work area. A total of twelve people were interviewed—eight operators and four supervisors. The results of the study indicated that there had been many positive accomplishments, including the overall positive perception of the participants about JIT. There were, also, problems with the JIT situation, often related to the environment of the circuit pack area. Specifically, participants perceived the performance evaluation system as the most significant problem with JIT; it systematically caused a state of “push” instead of “pull.” Uncooperativeness of operators was noted by the operators themselves as a problem within the circuit pack area. It is concluded that JIT manufacturing increases the need to effectively handle problems in the organization's environment as well as within the sub‐area itself due to the lower levels of inventory. This reduction of inventory increases the interdependence of activities in the organization, thereby necessitating an efficient and effective problem‐handling capability. A discussion of why large functional organizations are less appropriate than smaller product organizations as a JIT environment is presented (e.g., effective problem handling requires increased coordination in the organizational structure, which is usually absent in large functionally designed organizations). To overcome this limitation, an organizational team approach is proposed as a temporary means of dealing with the increased interdependencies.
Orderbook models for priority management: A taxonomy of data structures
Authors: Westbrook Roy 
Published: October 2002

AbstractIn the 1980's a research team from London Business School designed and installed information systems in a number of UK batch manufacturing companies. The companies had little formal manufacturing planning and control (MPC), and the volatile market and complex production situation of each led to a highly rapid response orientation we characterize as priority management. This style was appropriate for the situation of these companies and the systems designed for them were intended to support their approach, not to replace it with a more formal prescriptive system. After initial projects with no preconceived framework, the focus emerged on the appropriate data structure for order progressing — or order‐book model — as the central need of such companies. Orderbook models were then designed for all subsequent companies (17 in total), many of whom still use these models.The article describes the preconditions for priority management by summarizing the sources of complexity — variety, variation, and volume — found in the collaborating companies. These conditions preclude tight formal planning and control, and require data structures which give vision over the relative merits of different priority choices. The orderbook models, designed to give such vision, are not purely company specific but can be classified into types. The classification scheme has three main dimensions: capacity commitment (make‐to‐stock, etc), product structure/assembly form, and the style of progressing orders through all their different stages. The options within each dimension give a total of 48 possible configurations of orderbook model.These concepts were developed using action research: practical application came first, and theory was developed by generalizing from the experience. This is a non‐traditional research methodology in operations management (OM), but will in the future be increasingly important if OM research is to meet the needs of practitioners for relevance as well as the needs of the research community for rigor.
A comment on Gerchak and Gupta's “On apportioning costs to customers in centralized continuous review inventory systems”
Authors: Robinson Lawrence W. 
Published: October 2002

AbstractIn their recent article, Gerchak and Gupta discuss four different schemes for allocating joint inventory control costs. They demonstrate the benefits of consolidating inventories and note that allocating costs in proportion to the customers' stand‐alone costs ensured that each customer was always better off as part of the group. Their basis of allocation does not always distribute the benefits of consolidation; some customers may be worse off when new customers join up. This note applies the theory of the core from game theory to find a region of “fair” cost allocations in which no one is worse off after consolidation. The Shapley Value is computed as the center of this region.
Cellular organization of pre‐mRNA splicing factors in several tissues. Changes in the uterus by hormone action
Authors: George‐Téllez R. , Segura‐Valdez M.L. , González‐Santos L. , Jiménez‐García L.F. 
Published: October 2002

AbstractIn the mammalian cell nucleus, splicing factors are distributed in nuclear domains known as speckles or splicing factor compartments (SFCs). In cultured cells, these domains are dynamic and reflect transcriptional and splicing activities. We used immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy to monitor whether splicing factors in differentiated cells display similar features. Speckled patterns are observed in rat hepatocytes, β‐cells, bronchial and intestine epithelia and also in three cell types of the uterus. Moreover, the number, distribution and sizes of the speckles vary among them. In addition, we studied variations in the circular form (shape) of speckles in uterine cells that are transcriptionally modified by a hormone action. During proestrus of the estral cycle, speckles are irregular in shape while in diestrus I they are circular. Experimentally, in castrated rats luminal epithelial cells show a pattern where speckles are dramatically rounded, but they recover their irregular shape rapidly after an injection of estradiol. The same results were observed in muscle and gland epithelial cells of the uterus. We concluded that different speckled patterns are present in various cells types in differentiated tissues and that these patterns change in the uterus depending upon the presence or absence of hormones such as estradiol.
Demand chain management: an integrative approach in automotive retailing
Authors: Hines Peter , Silvi Riccardo , Bartolini Monica 
Published: October 2002

AbstractRecent reviews of the ‘operations management’ (OM) research literature have shown a surprising little shift towards empirical methodologies from traditional modelling solution methods. In addition, there is generally a lack of empirical testing and validation of manufacturing strategies. Coupled to this fact is that empirical work is rarely carried out in an inter‐disciplinary manner, with the complete combination of OM, marketing, strategy, lean thinking and accounting approaches particularly poorly researched. Fully cross‐functional integrative empirical research is required to help support the understanding of the applicability of OM practices within industry. This paper explores such an integration of approaches developed within the ‘lean thinking, strategic cost management, marketing and policy deployment areas’. In order to investigate the approach a single automotive retailer is used as an instrumental case. The results of the study show that the new approach stands up well as an integrative approach that can prove highly beneficial results. However, the pilot work also identified a number of limitations that are the basis of further refinement and testing of the method.
Coordinating two suppliers with offsetting lead time and price performance
Authors: Lau Hon‐Shiang , Lau Amy Hing‐Ling 
Published: October 2002

AbstractFor a variety of reasons, many firms purchase a given inventory item from two or more suppliers. For a situation where two competing suppliers (supplier‐1 and supplier‐2) offer different prices, quality levels and lead‐time performance, we present a decision model and solution procedure for obtaining a lowest‐cost ordering policy; this policy prescribes R∗ (the optimal reorder point), Q∗ (the optimal lot size for each order), and r2∗ (the optimal proportion should be ordered from supplier‐2).A continuous‐review inventory system with complete backordering is assumed. Our decision model has two parts. The first part uses a minor modification of the classical Hadley‐Whitin single‐supplier continuous review (Q, R) model to determine the optimal ordering policy (i.e., Q∗ and R∗) when only supplier‐1 (or only supplier‐2) is used. In the second part, a new two‐supplier extension of the Hadley‐Whitin‐type cost model developed here is used to determine the optimal policy (i.e., Q∗, R∗ and r2∗) when both suppliers have to be used. From the three optimal policies (one each for “using supplier‐1 only”, “using supplier‐2 only”, and “using both suppliers”), the lowest‐cost policy is identified. Our numerical solutions show that whether one or both of the suppliers should be used and the optimal order‐split proportion depends on the particular combination of the inventory item's many cost and demand parameters (e.g., shortage cost per unit, holding cost per unit per year, standard deviation of lead time, etc.). Our procedure can easily identify the optimal policy for any given combination of those parameters.Our numerical sensitivity analyses indicate that the coordination of two suppliers is beneficial in a wide variety of situations where the various inventory parameters have intermediate (i.e., neither very high nor very low) values.
Patients’ and relatives’ satisfaction with psychiatric services in a large catchment area in Rome
Authors: Gigantesco Antonella , Picardi Angelo , Chiaia Elvira , Balbi Andrea , Morosini Pierluigi 
Published: October 2002

SummaryObjectiveTo assess the satisfaction of patients and their relatives with psychiatric care and to identify variables associated with any dissatisfaction.MethodsThe study was performed in a defined psychiatric catchment area in south Rome, Italy. All eligible patients and relatives who had contacts with services during a predefined period were asked to participate. Satisfaction with psychiatric services was measured with a previously validated questionnaire.ResultsA total of 890 patients were asked to participate in the study and 855 (96%) accepted. Also, 270 relatives were asked to participate and 265 (98%) agreed. The satisfaction with services expressed by outpatients and their relatives was fairly good, with the exception of poor satisfaction with information about treatment and involvement in the treatment programme. The satisfaction of inpatients and their relatives was significantly lower, with the issue of information-giving by staff appearing particularly critical. Among patients, variables associated with dissatisfaction were being an inpatient, having a diagnosis of psychosis, being in contact with services for more than 6 years, and being single. Among relatives, being female and being the relative of an inpatient were associated with dissatisfaction. For both patients and relatives, receiving inpatient care was the strongest predictor of dissatisfaction.ConclusionsThe results suggest that inpatient care, especially for psychotic patients, needs to be improved and that special attention should be devoted to inform adequately and to engage in treatment both patients and their relatives. Lack of information appears to be a crucial determinant of dissatisfaction with psychiatric care among both patients and their relatives.
Tardive dyskinesias and antipsychotics: a review
Authors: Llorca Pierre-Michel , Chereau Isabelle , Bayle Frank-Jean , Lancon Christophe 
Published: October 2002

SummaryCurrently, tardive dyskinesia (TD) remains an important clinical problem. The average prevalence is estimated at 30%. The appearance of antipsychotics has opened new paths. The extrapyramidal profile of these molecules is more favorable than that of conventional neuroleptics. In order to assess their prophylactic as well as curative potential, we reviewed the literature concerning four of these atypical antipsychotics: clozapine, risperidone olanzapine and amisulpride. Clozapine seems to induce fewer cases of TD than the conventional neuroleptics, and has a specific therapeutic effect. However, the risk of agranulocytosis reduces the possibility of utilisation. Risperidone appears to be an effective therapy, but several authors report cases of TD during treatment. Furthermore, larger studies and longer follow-ups are necessary to confirm the efficiency of olanzapine and amisulpride. Further studies and observations are still necessary before drawing any conclusion for these new atypical antipsychotic actions. They are doubtlessly promising, but we cannot ignore the notion of risk–benefit; regular monitoring and listening to the subjective experience of the patients must remain uppermost in the choice of therapy.
Lexical learning skills in young children with specific language impairment (SLI)
Authors: Windfuhr Kirsten L. , Faragher Brian , Conti‐Ramsden Gina 
Published: October 2002

AbstractTwenty‐eight children with specific language impairment (SLI) aged 4;4‐5;10, and 28 children with normal language (NL) aged 2;4‐3;7 were exposed to four novel verbs, and four novel nouns in eight naturalistic play sessions, over 4 weeks. Spontaneous utterances of the novel lexical items in each of the training sessions were recorded and formed the basis of the analyses. The results of the spontaneous production data (across all sessions) revealed that children with NL produced more novel verbs than children with SLI, with a trend for children with SLI to produce more novel nouns. Importantly, children with SLI learned novel verbs at a slower rate than children with NL. Results are discussed in relation to current theories of SLI with particular reference to the SLI critical mass hypothesis.
High-Ti magnetite in some fine-grained carbonatites and the magmatic implications
Authors: Bailey D. K. , Kearns S. 
Published: October 2002

AbstractMagnetite is present in most carbonatites, and in the most abundant and best-known form of carbonatite, coarse-grained intrusions, it typically falls in a narrow composition range close to Fe3O4. A fine-grained carbonatite from Zambia contains magnetites with an extraordinary array of compositions (from 18–1% TiO2, 10–2% Al2O3, and 16–4% MgO) outranging previously-reported examples. Zoning trends are from high TiO2 to high Al2O3 and MgO. No signs of exsolution are seen. Checks on similar rocks from Germany, Uganda and Tanzania reveal magnetites with comparable compositions, ranges, and zoning. Magnetites from alkaline and alkaline ultramafic silicate volcanic rocks cover only parts of this array. Magnetite analyses from some other fine-grained carbonatites, reported in the literature, fall in the same composition field, suggesting that this form of carbonatite may be distinctive. The chemistry and zoning would be consonant with rapid high-temperature crystallization in the carbonatite melts, with the lack of exsolution pointing to fast quenching: this contrasts with coarse-grained intrusive carbonatites, in which the magnetite compositions are attributed to slow cooling, with final equilibration at low temperature. In some complexes, both forms of carbonatite, with their different magnetite compositions, are represented.