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The purpose of this paper is to examine the uptake of supply chain integration (SCI) principles internationally and the resultant integration maturity.

A rigorous supply chain diagnostics methodology called the Quick Scan is used to assess the integration maturity of 72 value streams located in New Zealand, Thailand and the UK.

The majority of the organisations studied are struggling to turn the SCI concept into reality. Supply chains on average are poorly integrated. However, there exist a handful of exemplar cases that provide guidance; levels of integration maturity appear not to differ internationally.

Only three nations are compared, hence the sample is not fully representative of all countries and industries. There is a significant gap between supply chain rhetoric and practice; clear guidance on how to enable effective integration is required. National settings do not appear to affect the extent of application of supply chain management concepts.

SCI is a very difficult undertaking. Indifferent practice is the norm. If organisations can attain even the middle ground of internal integration they will outperform many of their competitors.

The paper presents an international benchmark of SCI maturity involving three triangulated measures of supply chain performance.

Aims to discuss the basic strategy taken by a specific manufacturer. States supply chain structures influence, directly, the supply chain inventory as a measure of performance. Examines the difference in the supply chain in relation to the manufacturer’s strategy to the product.

Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

The purpose of this paper is to differentiate the empowering influences of critical enablers of supply chain management (SCM) along with their interrelationships. These empowering enablers are significant, as they encourage productive execution to improve organizational performance and stakeholder's satisfaction.

From the literature review, incidence of a number of SCM enablers were found and they were subjected to critical scrutiny by a considerable number of experts engaged in SCM research and application to identify significant and applicable empowering enablers by grounded interactions. By using Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification analysis, the driving and dependence power were analyzed and the empowering enablers were ordered. This was pursued by building up a structural model of the empowering enablers using interpretive structure modeling, followed with measuring cause–effect relationship using decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL).

Among these identified enablers of SCM, operational performance, green SCM, employee empowerment and motivation and strategic association came out to be strategic enablers.

The findings may help the practicing professionals to develop clarity in understanding of these essential enablers and their contextual as well as cause–effect relationship in SCM. The practicing professionals need to focus on all these enablers during implementation of SCM for enhancing the organizational performance and stake holders' satisfaction.

This study is of practical utility in real-life implementation of SCM. The algorithm used in applying the multi-criteria decision-making approach is very user-friendly, and the application of DEMATEL is an innovation compared to previous research. Further, the findings can be used as a benchmark for improving the performance of SCM by considering the cause–effect relationship.

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the critical success factors (CSFs) associated with the effectiveness of transfer and sharing of tacit knowledge in lean and agile construction processes.

The study identifies ten CSFs that initiate the transferring and sharing of tacit knowledge. The CSFs are validated through quantitative study. This study recruited project managers, executives, consultants and other managers that are directly involved in the management of a construction project. It recruits the respondents those have background and experience from disciplines such as lean construction, agile construction, construction supply chain (CSC) and knowledge management in lean, agile and CSC. The data collected through self-administrative questionnaire are categorised as ordinal data to analyse in SPSS with frequency and Kruskal–Wallis H test, Spearman’s correlation analysis and a rank-order analysis is done to establish the level of importance of those factors.

Initially, “Trust between construction organisations” is identified as the foremost CSF. Moreover, other CSFs such as motivation, leadership capabilities, business strategies and organisational capabilities follow trust.

This is the first study that investigates and establishes the CSFs that are essential to initiate transferring and sharing tacit knowledge in a lean and in an agile construction processes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the supply chain management enablers (SCMEs) and establish relationships among them using interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and find out driving and dependence power of enablers, using fuzzy MICMAC (Matriced' Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement) analysis.

A group of experts from industries and academics was consulted and ISM is used to develop the contextual relationship among various SCMEs for each dimension of SCM implementation. The results of ISM are used as an input to fuzzy MICMAC analysis, to identify the driving and dependence power of SCMEs.

This paper has identified 24 key SCMEs and developed an integrated model using ISM and the fuzzy MICMAC approach, which is helpful to identify and classify the important SCMEs and reveal the direct and indirect effects of each SCME on the SCM implementation. The integrated approach is developed, since the ISM model provides only binary relationship among SCMEs, while fuzzy MICMAC analysis provides precise analysis related to driving and dependence power of SCMEs.

The weightage for ISM model development and fuzzy MICMAC are obtained through the judgment of academicians and a few industry experts. It is only subjective judgment and any biasing by the person who is judging the SCMEs might influence the final result. A questionnaire survey can be conducted to catch the insight on these SCMEs from more organizations.

This study has strong practical implications, for both practitioners as well as academicians. The practitioners need to concentrate on identified SCMEs more cautiously during SCM implementation in their organizations and the top management could formulate strategy for implementing these enablers obtained through ISM and fuzzy MICMAC analysis.

This is first kind of study to identify 24 SCMEs and further, to deploy ISM and fuzzy MICMAC to identify and classify the key SCMEs that influence SCM implementation in the organization.

This paper provides an empirical illustration of the potential of a cross‐supply chain information system (CSCIS) in an automotive industry setting. Whilst dramatic reductions in downstream finished goods, work‐in‐progress and raw materials inventories have taken place in many automotive supply chains, this paper looks at how demand information can be made more transparent in order to improve the efficiency of upstream operations. The paper concentrates on the findings from a case study that used a prototype Internet‐based system to convert original equipment manufacturer (OEM) demand into second and third‐tier component requirements. A computer‐based value analysis illustrates how this information might be used to significantly improve supply chain synchronisation in the lower tiers. The research demonstrates how information systems can be used to improve supply chain performance and provides further motivation for the development of more holistic supply chain planning information systems.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how demand planning can increase agility in supply chains. The paper builds on a case study from mobile infrastructure industry with explicit focus on project business environment.

The paper contains a short theoretical review on supply chain agility, different planning and forecasting concepts and explores the linkages between them. Empiric evidence is collected from Nokia Networks as a case study. Main lessons are primarily taken from integrated project management program that is to implement a truly customer‐focused delivery process in the case company.

Suppliers should pay more attention on effectively utilizing customer's project plans for aligning their supply chain. Supply chain agility does not just happen but requires continuous planning.

Common project planning is the most natural way for customers to share future demand information between the supply chain players. Instead separate and often laborious demand forecasting process, suppliers should utilize customer's project plans in building agility in their supply chains.

Focuses on the importance of the ability to adapt to rapid and unexpected changes and asserts that a continuous, customer driven planning process is a pre‐requirement for being agile in supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the manifold linkages connecting the Toyota Production System (TPS) back to the Gilbreths and others, and to determine how these have contributed to enterprise‐wide best practice. Industrial engineering (IE) theory rapidly subsumed method study and thereby made considerable contributions to output in World War II (WWII). The outcome is the positing of “contemporary” IE.

Consideration is given to the Japanese Management Association (JMA) personal handshake route originated by Frank Gilbreth in which experiences were handed down in lecture note format by successive generations of industrial engineers. His interaction with the FW Taylor Scientific Management movement is a second theme. The internationally recognised “softer” approach to teaching and coaching due to Lillian Gilbreth is then discussed. Finally the Gilbreth MOI2 Process Chart is examined.

TPS has evolved over an extended period of time to achieve continuous material flow. There has been no single procedure or technical breakthrough. Much of the detail would have been familiar to the Gilbreths. These became evident in the USA and the UK auto industries soon after the First World War. Elements of JIT are recognisable even earlier in the building of the UK Crystal Palace in 1851. However the scenario of the current TPS enterprise would be new to the Gilbreths. Similarly the various ways in which the systems approach has been successfully implemented throughout the organisation would appear strange. This becomes self‐evident via a three‐axis model representation of contemporary industrial engineering.

Newly appointed Toyota executives pursuing the shopfloor based Acclimatisation Course would immediately recognise the method study based waste elimination techniques at work. As Ohno remarked, such removal merely levels the playing field. Knowledge (and above all practice) in their use should be a pre‐requisite skill for employees at all levels. This is a sometimes “hidden” secret of TPS, but dates back to Lillian Gilbreth in 1914.

The paper supports the view that effective product delivery is best driven via sound industrial engineering expertise operating within an active learning organisation. The four level prism model applied to TPS highlights its system attributes.

The paper confirms there is a continuing role for well established method study techniques to be adapted to face new challenges, and output as “contemporary” industrial engineering.