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The purpose of this paper is to understand how the characteristics of low-volume manufacturing industries influence the product introduction process and factors which can facilitate that process in low-volume manufacturing industries.

A literature review and a multiple-case study were used to achieve the purpose of the paper. The multiple-case study was based on two product development projects in a low-volume manufacturing company.

The main identified characteristics of the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries were a low number of prototypes, absence of conventional production ramp-up, reduced complexity of the process, failure to consider the manufacturability of the products due to an extensive focus on their functionality and increased complexity of resource allocation. It was determined that prior production of similar products could serve as a facilitator of the manufacturing process.

The main limitation of this study is that the identified characteristics and facilitating factors are confined to the internal variables of the studied company. A study of the role of external variables during the product introduction process such as suppliers and customers could be the subject of future studies.

This research will provide practitioners in low-volume manufacturing industries with general insight about the characteristics of the product introduction process and the aspects that should be considered during the process.

Whereas there is a significant body of work about product introduction process in high-volume manufacturing industries, the research on characteristics of the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries is limited.

This paper aims to investigate the current state, technological challenges, economic opportunities and future directions in the growing “indirect” hybrid manufacturing ecosystem, which integrates traditional metal casting with the production of tooling via additive manufacturing (AM) process including three-dimensional sand printing (3DSP) and printed wax patterns.

A survey was conducted among 100 participants from foundries and AM service providers across the USA to understand the current adoption of AM in metal casting as a function of engineering specifications, production demand, volume and cost metrics. In addition, current technological and logistical challenges that are encountered by the foundries are identified to gather insight into the future direction of this evolving supply chain.

One of the major findings from this study is that hard tooling costs (i.e. patterns/core boxes) are the greatest challenge in low volume production for foundries. Hence, AM and 3DSP offer the greatest cost-benefit for these low volume production runs as it does not require the need for hard tooling to produce much higher profit premium castings. It is evident that there are major opportunities for the casting supply chain to benefit from an advanced digital ecosystem that seamlessly integrates AM and 3DSP into foundry operations. The critical challenges for adoption of 3DSP in current foundry operations are categorized into as follows: capital cost of the equipment, which cannot be justified due to limited demand for 3DSP molds/cores by casting buyers, transportation of 3DSP molds and cores, access to 3DSP, limited knowledge of 3DSP, limitations in current design tools to integrate 3DSP design principles and long lead times to acquire 3DSP molds/cores.

Based on the findings of this study, indirect hybrid metal AM supply chains, i.e. 3DSP metal casting supply chains is proposed, as 3DSP replaces traditional mold-making in the sand casting process flow, no/limited additional costs and resources would be required for qualification and certification of the cast parts made from three-dimensional printed sand molds. Access to 3DSP resources can be addressed by establishing a robust 3DSP metal casting supply chain, which will also enable existing foundries to rapidly acquire new 3DSP-related knowledge.

This original survey from 100 small and medium enterprises including foundries and AM service providers suggests that establishing 3DSP hubs around original equipment manufacturers as a shared resource to produce molds and cores would be beneficial. This provides traditional foundries means to continue mass production of castings using existing hard tooling while integrating 3DSP for new complex low volume parts, replacement parts, legacy parts and prototyping.

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which traditional manufacturers are equipped and interested in participating in a hybrid manufacturing system which integrates traditional processes such as machining and grinding with additive manufacturing (AM) processes.

A survey was conducted among traditional metal manufacturers to collect data and evaluate the ability of these manufacturers to provide hybrid – AM post-processing services in addition to their standard product offering (e.g. mass production).

The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) surveyed have machine availability and an interest in adopting hybrid manufacturing to additionally offer post-processing services. Low volume parts which would be suitable for hybrid manufacturing are generally more profitable. Access to metal AM, process engineering time, tooling requirements and the need for quality control tools were equally identified as the major challenges for OEM participation in this evolving supply chain.

OEMs can use this research to determine if hybrid manufacturing is a possible fit for their industry using existing machine tools.

Survey data offer an unique insight into the readiness of metal manufacturers who play an integral role in the evolving hybrid supply chain ecosystem required for post-processing of AM metal parts. This study also suggests that establishing metal AM centers around OEMs as a shared resource to produce near-net AM parts would be beneficial.

Much has been written and talked about on the subject of lean manufacturing (LM) since the idea was first defined by Womack, Jones and Roos. This has stimulated academics and practitioners within various sectors of manufacturing industry to assess the viability of applying lean manufacturing principles to their circumstances. Addresses the vexing question asked specifically by many manufacturers in high variety, low volume (HVLV) segments: “Can we either directly or in adapted form apply LM principles and, if so, how do we go about it in our circumstances?” First describes the main characteristics of HVLV situations and then, drawing from experience of such organizations, contrasts these characteristics with those of the typical large lean manufacturing company. Uses this discussion as the framework to debate some of the major organizational and technological barriers which need to be overcome in applying lean principles in HVLVs. Then proposes approaches which feasibly can be considered when implementing lean manufacturing principles within a typical HVLV situation. Concludes with examples of the application of these principles to real situations in two case companies. The cases present instances of how organizations adapt lean principles to design and implement logistics and manufacturing operations for leanness, in creating and leveraging integrative supplier relationships and in evolving towards a process orientation which permits the institution of consistent measures to gauge strategic performance.

As supply chain management has become more strategic (rather than transactional) in nature the need for a more integrated perspective of how products, and processes should be aligned with strategic decisions to enhance competitive advantage has been amplified. The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of how this alignment should be done.

A conceptual framework was developed that emphasizes the need for alignment between the key aspects of a product and its supply chain processes and highlight, the links between supply chain processes and supply chain strategy.

Products can be produced with one of four distinct supply chain structures: make to stock, assemble to order, built to order and design to order. Each supply chain structure is appropriate for different products based on their demand characteristics. Each supply chain structure orients its production and logistics processes differently based on its strategic priorities.

High volume, low demand uncertainty products should be matched with lean supply chains enabled by efficient processes, whereas low volume, high uncertainty products should be matched with agile supply chains enabled by flexible processes. Medium volume and medium demand uncertainty products should use leagile supply chains that use a combination of efficient and flexible processes.

After thoroughly reviewing and synthesizing important findings from existing literature, an integrated framework is derived that highlights how products should be best matched with their production and logistics processes. Also, the framework is compared with two well‐known, process‐oriented supply chain frameworks: the supply chain operations reference (SCOR) and the global supply chain forum (GSCF) models.

This study examines the impact of three cost accounting system (CAS) designs – traditional costing, activity-based costing, and time-based accounting – on manufacturing performance as measured in terms of demand fulfillment rate, cycle time, and net operating income – within a flexible, pull-production environment. A simulation approach allows for the direct comparison of these CAS designs under various scenarios. The introduction of supply and demand stochasticity, along with differing levels of product mix complexity modeled in environments with differing levels of manufacturing overhead burden, adds practical significance to the results. The fact that no single CAS outperformed along all performance measures has considerable implications for management accounting practice vis-à-vis manufacturing strategy, in particular for competitors in time-based industries. Also, this is the first known study to operationalize and test the theoretical time-based accounting methodology, further validating the efficacy of simulation methodologies in cost management contingency research.

This paper sets out to test the claim made in the lean production literature that the lean production system is universally applicable. The proponents of the lean production model insist that it will supersede both mass production and specialised batch production; but this paper argues that, whilst lean production practices have been adopted and adapted by many producers, batch production has an enduring value from both a work design and a manufacturing process design perspective. The paper reviews the evidence for the persistence of batch production and of craft work methods in both luxury vehicle manufacture and specialty component manufacture and highlights the conditions under which batch production remains viable.

Presents a framework to determine manufacturing planning and control system requirements that reflect differences in manufacturing strategy and process technology in a business. Manufacturing planning and control systems represent a critical part of the manufacturing infrastructure and support functions, and their design needs to be closely linked to decisions regarding a firm′s manufacturing strategy and choice of processes. Discusses examples of companies which have developed a good fit between their manufacturing planning and control systems and their manufacturing strategy in terms of the framework presented.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the configuration of a job production system with reference to manufacturing decision areas. The aim is to identify the process specific decisions for job shop and the non‐process specific decisions that are influenced by other contextual factors.

A case study research approach is used in the present paper to investigate the decisions of five manufacturing companies that satisfy the characteristics of job production system. Data are collected from case company's products, order winners and choices made in manufacturing decision areas. The paper uses within case and cross‐case analysis to identify various patterns in the data, with a view to meeting the required research objectives.

The present paper identifies a number of decisions specific to job shop. Further, many non‐process specific decisions are seen to be influenced by competitive priorities (order winner), strategic orientation of manufacturing (stages in H‐W model), top management and size of the company. After the study of the case companies, it is also observed that the companies employing a job production system may have high product complexity.

The findings derived from this research would facilitate practitioners in understanding both process specific and non‐process specific decisions for the job production system. The observation that the job shops can also use progressive practices, the same as other shops, to gain competitive advantage in the market could be very useful for practicing managers.

This exploratory research contributes to the existing theory in manufacturing decision areas for job production systems.

This chapter develops a conceptual framework to help us position and understand the increasing importance of project-based innovation for industrial organization in the 21st century. It builds on and extends Joan Woodward's (1958 and 1965) pioneering research, which classifies industrial organizations according to the complexity of production technology and volume of output. We suggest that a radical revision of Woodward's framework is required to account for the extensive use of project-based organizations to gain competitive advantage through accelerated innovation and growth in new technologies and markets.