Search results

The global manufacturing research group (GMRG) is a multi‐national group of researchers who are dedicated to the study and improvement of manufacturing practices worldwide. The GMRG developed a survey that has been administered to companies in the machine tools and non‐fashion textile industries. In this study we utilize the GMRG data collected during 1993‐1995 and we focus on improvement programs and their impact on performance outcomes. Specifically, the improvement programs of interest are cellular manufacturing, factory automation, just‐in‐time (JIT) systems, and total quality management (TQM); the performance measures used were the percentage change in manufacturing cost, product quality, delivery speed, and on‐time deliveries. The relationships among the programs and outcomes were modelled and analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modelling (SEM).

This paper reports the results of our collaborative work with Changde Telecommunication Equipment Company (CTEC) which produces digital transfer control systems for telephone networks. The manufacturing operations consist of two principle stages of module production and system assembly. Critical system components are produced in the module production stage where high inventories were a major managerial concern. We studied CTEC’s module production system and proposed three modifications to reduce inventories and improve system performance. The current system and the proposed modifications were simulated and compared in terms of various operational and financial criteria. The simulation was repeated in its entirety under a high level of demand due to CTEC’s anticipation of increased market share. The results, endorsed by CTEC’s management, demonstrate that significant operational and financial benefits can indeed be realized using the proposed modifications. This study provides motivation for the development of concepts and methodologies that will be useful in future theoretical and practical research.

For many years, facilities location problems have attracted a great deal of attention in the literature. As a result, there is now a variety of methods for solving these problems. However, due to the recent interest, little research is found relating to the issues concerning international facilities location problems. Furthermore, in spite of the extensive modelling work done on facilities location, little modelling research exists on location problems. Provides a capacitated multi‐period, 0‐1 mixed integer programming formulation for the international facilities location problem and discusses its applications to an actual company case. This application is carried out to demonstrate not only how the model can be applied in practice but also to show its potential benefits when compared to other methods.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the actual benefits of radio frequency identification (RFID) on supply chain performance through the empirical evidence.

The research reviews and classifies the existing quantitative empirical evidence of RFID on supply chain performance. The evidence is classified by process (operational or managerial) and for each process by effect (automational, informational, and transformational).

The empirical evidence shows that the major effects from the implementation of RFID are automational effects on operational processes followed by informational effects on managerial processes. The RFID implementation has not reached transformational level on either operational or managerial processes. RFID has an automational effect on operational processes through inventory control and efficiency improvements. An informational effect for managerial processes is observed for improved decision quality, production control and the effectiveness of retail sales and promotions coordination. In addition, a three‐stage model is proposed to explain the effects of RFID on the supply chain.

Limitations of this research include the use of secondary sources and the lack of consistency in performance measure definitions. Future research could focus on detailed case studies that investigate cross‐functional applications across the organization and the supply chain.

For managers, the empirical evidence presented can help them identify implementation areas where RFID can have the greatest impact. The data can be used to build the business case for RFID and therefore better estimate ROI and the payback period.

This research fills a void in the literature by providing practitioners and researchers with a better understanding of the quantitative benefits of RFID in the supply chain.

This paper is aimed at comparing cellular manufacturing with focused cellular manufacturing. We define focused cellular manufacturing as a layout scheme that groups components by end‐items and forms cells of machines to fabricate and assemble end‐items. It is not classified as a cellular manufacturing layout since it does not attempt to take advantage of process similarities. It also is not classified as a flow shop since there are no machines dedicated to individual operations and the machines are not arranged in a series. In addition, this research includes batching and assemble times in its criteria which few researchers in this area have done. The results indicate that the focused cellular manufacturing scheme has a batching advantage. This advantage out‐weighed the set‐up time reduction advantage of the cellular manufacturing scheme for average end‐item completion times and average work‐in‐process inventory levels. The cellular manufacturing scheme overcame the batching advantage only when there were small batch sizes or large set‐up time magnitudes.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the technology behind RFID systems, identify the applications of RFID in various industries, and discuss the technical challenges of RFID implementation and the corresponding strategies to overcome those challenges.

Comprehensive literature review and integration of the findings from literature.

Technical challenges of RFID implementation include tag cost, standards, tag and reader selection, data management, systems integration and security. The corresponding solution is suggested for each challenge.

A survey type research is needed to validate the results.

This research offers useful technical guidance for companies which plan to implement RFID and we expect it to provide the motivation for much future research in this area.

As the infancy of RFID applications, few researches have existed to address the technical issues of RFID implementation. Our research filled this gap.