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How collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) and sales and operations planning (S&OP) can be integrated is examined. The CPFR and S&OP frameworks are used by the retail and manufacturing industries to develop both external and internal collaboration processes. Findings of the study are discussed.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To continue success, U.S. manufacturers must continue the good habits they adopted during the brutal recession. Executives must pay attention to the financial health and debt loads from [...]

Manufacturers have to plan for potential product recalls due to a new political climate influenced by rising consumer safety concerns. The risk of major product recall costs can be avoided through focused investment in preventive measures, quality control procedures and a product recall team. How these coping measures aid in surviving a recall is also discussed.

Industrial Ethernet is trending to be the principal infrastructure choice for plant-floor networks, just as Ethernet has long been the standard communications protocol in business offices. Both are built on [...]

Boltex Manufacturing Co. in Houston started small and has grown steadily, building on its strengths. In a little more than a decade and a half, it has gone from a [...]

The decision process that organisations utilise when evaluating technology investment opportunities is a complex and even political process; however, the correct decision can provide the organisation with considerable operational and competitive benefits. The research presented in this paper presents the findings of a postal survey of the benefits provided by technology investments to large German manufacturers. It was found that only where middle management generated the idea for the advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) investment was success in that investment significantly more likely. Respondents who established a project team to plan the technology proposal, regardless of the department which generated the ideas for technology investment, were not significantly associated with a greater likelihood for success. The respondents typically took between 3 and 12 months before making the final decision to invest, irrespective of the department generating the idea for the AMT, and a further 6 months to implement the AMT. Respondents who utilised a discounted cashflow analysis took significantly longer to make the final decision to invest. The greatest number of manufacturing outcomes of significantly higher importance was identified for respondents where Engineering, IT or R&D generated the AMT ideas. It was also determined that the respondents most frequently considered AMT investments in computer hardware or software and technical training for process workers to be necessary at the time of considering the investment. Middle management were found to be significantly more concerned than managers on other levels about opposition of workers to the AMT, while the process workers were significantly more concerned about interruptions to the process during installation. Keywords: Technology management; Technology investment; German manufacturing

AN AMERICAN BUSINESS EXECUTIVE WAS ASKED IF HE'D EVER BEEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY. "SURE," HE REPLIED, "I'VE BEEN TO MEXICO." His inquisitor tartly stated, "That doesn't count; it's connected." […]

In this paper, we study the detailed coordination problem in a two-level assembly system with stochastic lead times for lower-level items and constant and deterministic demand for the finished item. General formulae are developed for solving the optimal planned lead times with the objective to minimise total stockout and inventory holding costs. Consequently, we obtain the optimal safety lead time, which is the difference between planned and expected lead time. A solution procedure for the optimal planned lead times is discussed. Numerical examples are then given to illustrate the model. Moreover, the influence of the mean value and variance of actual lead times on the system performance and optimal control variables (such as the total cost of the system and planned lead times) is studied using our numerical results. Keywords: Production-inventory system; Stochastic lead times; Assembly system; Safety lead time; Material requirements planning

Workload control is an approach for production planning and control that attempts to manage manufacturing lead times rather than treat them as a forecasting problem. It is particularly appropriate for jobbing and flow shops in the make-to-order sector of industry. It is based on Little's well known formula in queueing theory that the time an arrival spends in the system is the average number in the system divided by the arrival rate. However, the workload control approach treats the jobbing shop as a single entity and thus ignores the complexities caused by competing jobs arriving at a work station at the same time thus forming queues. This paper describes how the job shop environment may be formulated as an open queueing network. It is computationally impossible to solve the model exactly if there are more than three or four work stations. Results for an exact Markov process model for a triangular configuration of work stations are described. Initial results suggest that treating each work station as an independent queueing system leads to significant under-estimation of the manufacturing lead times, even for such a simple manufacturing system. Some initial ideas on deriving an approximation of the exact model to cover larger systems are also discussed. Keywords: Manufacturing; Job shops; Queueing theory; Markov processes; Make-to-order production

This paper demonstrates the applicability of a new world class manufacturing (WCM) model developed for the make-to-order (MTO) sector. The model aims to fill a gap in the WCM literature that concentrates on the characteristics of the larger traditional make-to-stock (MTS) sector. It was initially devised using evidence from the literature, especially the MTO literature and the more comprehensive WCM models. It was then modified in the light of case study evidence collected from small and medium sized MTO companies. The model presented in this paper, known as 'MTO Principles', is the current version of the model after all the modifications have been incorporated. Its intended purpose is to aid MTO companies to determine their strengths and potential areas for improvement so that they can continue to be competitive in the future. The case study evidence also illustrates the relevance of the model to the intended sector. Keywords: Make-to-order; World class; Performance improvement

Customer service, speed-to-market, profitability, and cost control are themes that will dominate the new millennium's manufacturing industry. E-commerce, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, advanced planning systems, and supply chain [...]

A new method for creating a lower bound for standard encoding of the job-specific weights problem is presented. Three types of weights are included in the study: unit, common, and job-specific. A polynomial time algorithm is presented.

A clear transition towards long-term and commitment-based supplier-customer relationships is evident among Finnish subcontractors since 1989. This was gleaned from an examination of the development of the subcontracting system among Finnish subcontractors. Findings demonstrate that the development of a subcontracting system in Finland is remarkably similar to the Japanese experience. Changes in the supplier network and the purchasing policy are also shown to affect subcontractors' manufacturing strategy. The success of subcontractors is attributed to the ability to manage inbound logistics and to cooperate with other companies.

A procedure for developing a business strategy in small- and medium-sized manufacturing firms is presented. The methodology identifies the owner's objectives, beliefs and challenges and defines Strategy Business Units (SBUs) as pairs of products-markets to generate a customer-oriented analysis. The environment in which the company operates as well as every area of the company are also analyzed, paving the way for an identification of the strategic problems of the company. A basic strategy is then defined, from which operational strategies are derived. Performance indicators are used to monitor the company's performance.

There has been increasing interest among policy-makers in the role of SMEs in competitiveness initiatives. Whilst Britain has been compared unfavourably with Germany in terms of SME competitiveness, the very largest UK companies are considered to be 'world class'. Large corporations use strategic planning to integrate the objectives and activities of diverse business units. Strategic planning value is said to be dependent on SME circumstances. To test this, a sample of SMEs was researched. The sample was divided into 'low' planners and 'high' planners. Improving profitability was the highest ranked strategic planning objective followed by sales growth, improving quality, improving customer relationships and reducing business costs. There was a positive association between SMEs having detailed strategic planning and the importance of various business objectives. Quantitative objectives were ranked higher than qualitative ones. The payback method is the most popular capital budgeting techniques showing that traditional investment appraisal methods are used more frequently than the more sophisticated DCF techniques. However, the more intensive strategic planners tended to adopt a more sophisticated approach to capital budgeting. On average high planners were associated with a significantly higher perceived level of environmental change than low planners. Planning intensity, however, was not significantly associated with the intensity of market competition. High planners considered that they were much more profitable and more successful in achieving their primary objectives than low planners. SMEs did incorporate a range of objectives into the strategic planning process. More detailed strategic planning did have a strong correlation with the importance attached to stakeholder objectives and with the use of formal investment appraisal techniques. Strategic planning intensity was positively and significantly associated with success in achieving primary objectives. A compelling case can be made for developing a strategic planning methodology to improve performance in the SME sector. Strategic planning offers an integrating device in which the purpose of government and other initiatives can be more readily appreciated. Technically sound principles of investment appraisal can thereby be shown to help improve profitability and performance in the long-term.

In recent years, manufacturing firms have recognized the crucial importance of incorporating the strengths and weaknesses of the manufacturing function in formulating business strategy. They have also recognized the importance of involving other functional areas in the strategy formulation process. In order to make strategy formulation a company-wide activity, we propose the establishment of a network of strategy-related information throughout the organization. We see the network as an extension of manufacturing resource planning. It requires a strategy-related data base which receives input from, and provides information to, the employees and top management. Top management should take advantage of the data base to make appropriate adjustments to business strategy.

A common layout for flexible manufacturing system is loop network with machines arranged in a cycle and materials transported in only one direction around the cycle. Congestion is a common measure for evaluating a loop layout. This paper investigates the problem of designing loop layout system with both of minsum and minmax congestion measures. A hybrid heuristic of genetic algorithms and neighborhood search is developed for solving such problem and preliminary computational results are reported. Key words: Facility layout, genetic algorithms and manufacturing systems.

The manufacturing industry is experiencing a construction boom spurred mainly by changing consumer needs and strong demand for short product life cycles. To illustrate the construction boom, a directory of the top corporations which have construction projects in progress for 1994 is presented.

On the eve of the 14th annual ASSEMBLY Technology Expo, top U.S. manufacturing executives discuss their assembly strategies. Today, like never before, American manufacturers are engaged in a struggle to […]

Several instruments can be used to plan manpower capacity. These instruments include variation of monthly working time, overtime, employment of floaters and leasing of work force. By adopting a stochastic dynamic program using the modern concept of hierarchial planning, production and service companies can be assured of a successful manpower capacity planning.

Make-to-order companies can avoid incurring losses by integrating their marketing and production planning. This integration should be done at the customer inquiry stage so that companies can avoid delayed deliveries or delayed confirmation of orders. It is essential that companies keep records of unsuccessful bids and on competitors. Moreover, they should develop a database which could be functional in tracking down information about inquiry orders.

An optimal process capability index is formulated to minimize statistical process control costs. The choice of the process to be employed in manufacturing finished parts or components is a vital function of unit cost, unit processing and quality standards. The optimal process capability index ensures that the process capability meets product specifications. A fixed value for an ongoing process capability index is generally used.