Search results

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology utilization in manufacturing firms on manufacturing efficiency and effectiveness.

Using systems theory as a basis, a RFID utilization and outcome(s) performance model was developed from the literature. Data from a sample of 155 manufacturers were collected and the model was assessed using a structural equation methodology.

Findings indicate that utilization of RFID technology leads to improved manufacturing efficiency and manufacturing effectiveness. Improvements in efficiency lead directly to improved organizational performance, and improvements in effectiveness lead directly to improved supply chain performance.

Data were collected during the growth stage of RFID technology adoption and were only collected from firms in the manufacturing sector. Results should be interpreted with these limitations in mind.

The implementation of RFID technology can result in improved manufacturing efficiency and effectiveness. Practitioners considering adoption of the technology should fully account for these potential efficiency and effectiveness related benefits when determining the justification for adoption of this technology.

The paper describes one of the first empirically‐based studies investigating the impact of RFID technology implementation on supply chain and organizational performance in manufacturing organizations.

Hayes and Wheelwright, in postulating a more proactive strategic role of manufacturing, provided a four‐stage framework for the evaluation of manufacturing effectiveness. Reports on some results of an empirical study on the assessment of manufacturing effectiveness based on the Hayes‐Wheelwright (H‐W) framework. Highlights the operationalization of the H‐W framework as a strategic manufacturing audit tool and applies this tool to the manufacturing operations within a specific industry, namely the electronics industry. Aggregates and reports the results of the strategic manufacturing audits. In this way, provides an industry‐wide summary average of the strategic thinking and practices of manufacturing operations. This can then be used as the industry benchmark against which specific operations may be compared. Adds to the empirical database of manufacturing strategy and strategic manufacturing effectiveness as reported in the open literature. Provides a pragmatic strategic manufacturing audit tool that is based on the previously reported works of Hayes and Wheelwright.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness utilizing the four-stage model of Hayes and Wheelwright (H-W) with overall performance of manufacturing, market alignment and production competence (PC). In addition, it attempts to understand the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness with manufacturing capability development modes, strategic groups of companies and the nature of improvement programs being employed.

Structured questionnaire was used to capture data from manufacturing organizations. Responses from managers of 47 Indian manufacturing companies were used to test the seven propositions that were developed to examine the paradigms of manufacturing competence.

The analysis revealed that the strategic manufacturing effectiveness of manufacturing companies based on H-W’s four-stage model has significant positive correlation with the overall performance of manufacturing and PC of the company. Further, the analysis substantiated the relationship of strategic manufacturing effectiveness with capability development process and the nature of improvement programs.

This exploratory study is based on a small sample of manufacturing companies with diversity and hence it may not be representative of all industry sectors. Second, it has used several scales for measuring the relevant constructs which themselves are not proven, hence, the findings should be taken with caution.

This is an initial research focussing on the relationships among different elements of manufacturing competence such as manufacturing capabilities, PC, manufacturing capability development mode and overall performance of manufacturing with strategic manufacturing effectiveness using H-W model. H-W model was primarily proposed as an audit tool for managers, was hitherto not adequately studied in relation to other paradigms of manufacturing competence.

The research paper presents analysis and prioritization of barriers influencing the improvement in the effectiveness of manufacturing system. The purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated fuzzy-based multi-criteria decision-making (F-MCDM) framework to assist management of the case company in the selection of most effective manufacturing system. The framework helps in prioritizing the manufacturing systems on the basis of their effectiveness affected by the barriers.

In this paper, on the basis of experts’ opinion, five barriers have been identified in a brain-storming session. The problem of prioritization of manufacturing system is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem and hence is solved by using the F-MCDM approach using dominance matrix.

Manufacturing systems’ effectiveness for Indian industries is influenced by barriers. The prioritization of manufacturing systems depends on qualitative factor decision-making criteria. Among the manufacturing systems, leagile manufacturing system is given the highest priority followed by lean manufacturing system, agile manufacturing system, flexible manufacturing system and cellular manufacturing system.

The selection of an appropriate manufacturing system plays a vital role for sustainable growth of the manufacturing company. In the present work, barriers which influence the effectiveness of manufacturing system have been identified. On the basis of degree of influence of barriers on the effectiveness of the manufacturing system, five alternative manufacturing systems are prioritized. The framework will help the management of the case company to take reasonable decision for the adoption of the appropriate manufacturing system.

The results of the research work are very useful for the manufacturing companies interested in analyzing the alternative manufacturing systems on the basis of their effectiveness and their sensitivity toward various barriers. The management of Indian manufacturing company will take decision to adopt a manufacturing system whose effectiveness is least sensitive toward barriers. Effectiveness of such manufacturing system will improve with time without having retardation due to barriers. With improved effectiveness of the manufacturing system, the manufacturing company would be able to survive with global competition. The result of the present work is based on the inputs from the case company and may vary for the other manufacturing company. In the present work, only five alternative manufacturing systems and five barriers have been considered. To obtain the better result, MCDM approach with more number of alternative manufacturing systems and barriers might be considered.

The research work is based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process framework and on the case study conducted by the authors. The work carried out is original in nature and based on the real-life case study.

The four stage model of Hayes and Wheelwright (H‐W) describing the strategic role of manufacturing function is widely accepted in the literature. However, there is little research that has examined the underlying factors of the H‐W model. This paper aims to fill this research gap by developing an instrument for measuring factors of strategic manufacturing effectiveness of a company based on the H‐W model.

The general principle of designing an instrument is followed in this paper. Attributes of strategic manufacturing effectiveness are identified from critical analysis of the original text of Wheelwright and Hayes, and Chase and Hayes. Then these attributes are grouped into four factors: catalysts of manufacturing initiatives; proactiveness of manufacturing function; attitude of top management towards manufacturing; and nature of manufacturing initiatives. Question for each attribute along continuum of four stages in the H‐W model is developed. The reliability and validity of the instrument are assessed through responses obtained from managers of 28 manufacturing units.

The empirical evidence supports that the proposed instrument has quite good reliability (Cronbach's α for different factors in the range of 0.575 to 0.705) and validity (multiple correlation coefficient between factors and manufacturing performance of 0.801).

This instrument can be used to position the companies along the continuum of four stages. Also, this can help managers assess the strengths and weaknesses in manufacturing for making the improvements.

This study is one of its kind which focuses on the development of an instrument to assess the strategic role of manufacturing based on the H‐W model.

This paper aims to examine small- and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) strategic capabilities in terms of their marketing and management capabilities, their sources of environmental uncertainty and their organizational capabilities. Additionally, to what extent the effect differs across two sectors (manufacturing and service).

Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to conduct multigroup analysis for the two sectors. Data was collected from a sample of 315 Omani SMEs, 166 from manufacturing and 149 from services.

The results show that strategic capabilities have a significant positive effect on customer satisfaction. However, the effect differs between manufacturing and service SMEs; the effect is greater in service than in manufacturing SMEs. Furthermore, the effect of organizational capabilities on customer satisfaction was found to be positive. However, the effect is higher in manufacturing as the difference is statistically significant.

Due to the growing importance of the service and manufacturing SMEs in developing countries and their considerable involvement in economic development, it is important to understand the characteristics of the strategic capabilities in both sectors. Thus, according to the authors’ knowledge, this paper is one of the first to propose a comprehensive framework that measures collectively the direct impact of strategic capabilities, organizational capabilities and environmental uncertainties on SMEs customer satisfaction and effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and to present an overview of TPM implementation practices adopted by the manufacturing organizations. It also seeks to highlight appropriate enablers and success factors for eliminating barriers in successful TPM implementation.

The paper systematically categorizes the published literature and then analyzes and reviews it methodically.

The paper reveals the important issues in Total Productive Maintenance ranging from maintenance techniques, framework of TPM, overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), TPM implementation practices, barriers and success factors in TPM implementation, etc. The contributions of strategic TPM programmes towards improving manufacturing competencies of the organizations have also been highlighted here.

The literature on classification of Total Productive Maintenance has so far been very limited. The paper reviews a large number of papers in this field and presents the overview of various TPM implementation practices demonstrated by manufacturing organizations globally. It also highlights the approaches suggested by various researchers and practitioners and critically evaluates the reasons behind failure of TPM programmes in the organizations. Further, the enablers and success factors for TPM implementation have also been highlighted for ensuring smooth and effective TPM implementation in the organizations.

The paper contains a comprehensive listing of publications on the field in question and their classification according to various attributes. It will be useful to researchers, maintenance professionals and others concerned with maintenance to understand the significance of TPM.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent to which firms staffing with competent workers (CW), in addition to adopting organization technologies (OT) (which include total quality management and just‐in‐time techniques) and advanced manufacturing technologies (AMT) change manufacturing performance.

The literature is reviewed to hypothesize relationships. The data are obtained with a questionnaire from 89 manufacturing managers in the micro electro‐mechanical systems industry. Factor analysis of indicators of manufacturing performance reveals two broad dimensions: manufacturing effectiveness and manufacturing flexibility. To test the hypotheses, these dimensions of manufacturing performance are regressed on measures of OT, AMT, CW and their pair‐wise interactions in a hierarchical fashion. The analyses are then repeated for the indicators of the two dimensions of manufacturing performance.

Staffing with CW fully increases both manufacturing effectiveness and manufacturing flexibility. The adoption of AMT partially increases manufacturing effectiveness, and partially increases manufacturing flexibility in the presence of CW. The adoption of OT fully increases manufacturing effectiveness, but partially decreases manufacturing flexibility in the presence of CW.

The paper provides a valuable study of the extent to which firms adopting OT and AMT, and staffing with CW change two broad dimensions of manufacturing performance and their indicators through both additive and synergistic effects.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective methodology for implementing lean manufacturing strategies and a leanness evaluation metric using continuous performance measurement (CPM).

Based on five lean principles, a systematic lean implementation methodology for manufacturing organizations has been proposed. A simplified leanness evaluation metric consisting of both efficiency and effectiveness attributes of manufacturing performance has been developed for continuous evaluation of lean implementation. A case study to validate the proposed methodology has been conducted and proposed CPM metric has been used to assess the manufacturing leanness.

Proposed methodology is able to systematically identify manufacturing wastes, select appropriate lean tools, identify relevant performance indicators, achieve significant performance improvement and establish lean culture in the organization. Continuous performance measurement matrices in terms of efficiency and effectiveness are proved to be appropriate methods for continuous evaluation of lean performance.

Effectiveness of the method developed has been demonstrated by applying it in a real life assembly process. However, more tests/applications will be necessary to generalize the findings.

Results show that applying the methods developed, managers can successfully identify and remove manufacturing wastes from their production processes. By improving process efficiency, they can optimize their resource allocations. Manufacturers now have a validated step by step methodology for successfully implementing lean strategies.

According to the authors' best knowledge, this is the first known study that proposed a systematic lean implementation methodology based on lean principles and continuous improvement techniques. Evaluation of performance improvement by lean strategies is a critical issue. This study develops a simplified leanness evaluation metric considering both efficiency and effectiveness attributes and integrates it with the lean implementation methodology.

Today's customer‐focused paradigm of business environment puts tremendous pressures of quality, delivery, dependability, flexibility and cost on the manufacturing organisation. Automatic manufacturing systems offer several advantages and are increasingly being adopted as a strategy to improve the performance of manufacturing organisations. Automatic manufacturing systems are highly sophisticated and expensive, and it is therefore important to maximise their productivity. Yet, one can improve only what one can measure. Performance measurement is the key to improving performance, and is a prerequisite to diagnosing, trouble‐shooting and improving the production system. Accordingly, performance measurement has been attracting increasing attention over the last two decades, and several frameworks have emerged for the design, review, evaluation and improvement of performance measurement systems for businesses and manufacturing organizations. The performance measurement, monitoring and continuous productivity improvement of automatic manufacturing systems has assumed special significance on account of their high investments and operating costs.

A review of the current literature is undertaken to determine the current status and the status of performance measurement in automated production systems.

Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) has emerged as one important and universally accepted metric for measuring the overall performance of single automatic equipments. OEE has been further adapted and extended into several variations for use as a metric for automatic manufacturing systems consisting of several automatic machines.

This paper reviews the recent developments and the current status of performance measurement of automatic manufacturing systems.