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1 – 10 of over 2000
Open Access
Article
Publication date: 22 March 2024

Peter E. Johansson, Jessica Bruch, Koteshwar Chirumalla, Christer Osterman and Lina Stålberg

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of paradoxes, underlying tensions and potential management strategies when integrating digital technologies into existing…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of paradoxes, underlying tensions and potential management strategies when integrating digital technologies into existing lean-based production systems (LPSs), with the aim of achieving synergies and fostering the development of production systems.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a collaborative management research (CMR) approach to identify patterns of organisational tensions and paradoxes and explore management strategies to overcome them. The data were collected through interviews and focus group interviews with experts on lean and/or digital technologies from the companies, from documents and from workshops with the in-case researchers.

Findings

The findings of this paper provide insights into the salient organisational paradoxes embraced in the integration of digital technologies in LPS by identifying different aspects of the performing, organising, learning and belonging paradoxes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the intricacies and relatedness between different paradoxes and their resolutions, and more specifically, how a resolution strategy adopted to manage one paradox might unintentionally generate new tensions. This, in turn, calls for either re-contextualising actions to counteract the drift or the adoption of new resolution strategies.

Originality/value

This paper adds perspective to operations management (OM) research through the use of paradox theory, and we (1) provide a fine-grained perspective on why integration sometimes “fails” and label the forces of internal drift as mechanisms of imbalances and (2) provide detailed insights into how different management and resolution strategies are adopted, especially by identifying re-contextualising actions as a key to rebalancing organisational paradoxes in favour of the integration of digital technologies in LPSs.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 November 2023

Iman Rastgar, Javad Rezaeian, Iraj Mahdavi and Parviz Fattahi

The purpose of this study is to propose a new mathematical model that integrates strategic decision-making with tactical-operational decision-making in order to optimize…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to propose a new mathematical model that integrates strategic decision-making with tactical-operational decision-making in order to optimize production and scheduling decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study presents a multi-objective optimization framework to make production planning, scheduling and maintenance decisions. An epsilon-constraint method is used to solve small instances of the model, while new hybrid optimization algorithms, including multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm, multi-objective harmony search and improved multi-objective harmony search (IMOHS) are developed to address the high complexity of large-scale problems.

Findings

The computational results demonstrate that the metaheuristic algorithms are effective in obtaining economic solutions within a reasonable computational time. In particular, the results show that the IMOHS algorithm is able to provide optimal Pareto solutions for the proposed model compared to the other three algorithms.

Originality/value

This study presents a new mathematical model that simultaneously determines green production planning and scheduling decisions by minimizing the sum of the total cost, makespan, lateness and energy consumption criteria. Integrating production and scheduling of a shop floor is critical for achieving optimal operational performance in production planning. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the integration of production planning and maintenance has not been adequately addressed.

Details

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2511

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Luis Orea, Inmaculada Álvarez-Ayuso and Luis Servén

This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of…

Abstract

This chapter provides an empirical assessment of the effects of infrastructure provision on structural change and aggregate productivity using industrylevel data for a set of developed and developing countries over 1995–2010. A distinctive feature of the empirical strategy followed is that it allows the measurement of the resource reallocation directly attributable to infrastructure provision. To achieve this, a two-level top-down decomposition of aggregate productivity that combines and extends several strands of the literature is proposed. The empirical application reveals significant production losses attributable to misallocation of inputs across firms, especially among African countries. Also, the results show that infrastructure provision has stimulated aggregate total factor productivity growth through both within and between industry productivity gains.

Article
Publication date: 14 December 2023

Maren Hinrichs, Loina Prifti and Stefan Schneegass

With production systems become more digitized, data-driven maintenance decisions can improve the performance of production systems. While manufacturers are introducing predictive…

Abstract

Purpose

With production systems become more digitized, data-driven maintenance decisions can improve the performance of production systems. While manufacturers are introducing predictive maintenance and maintenance reporting to increase maintenance operation efficiency, operational data may also be used to improve maintenance management. Research on the value of data-driven decision support to foster increased internal integration of maintenance with related functions is less explored. This paper explores the potential for further development of solutions for cross-functional responsibilities that maintenance shares with production and logistics through data-driven approaches.

Design/methodology/approach

Fifteen maintenance experts were interviewed in semi-structured interviews. The interview questions were derived based on topics identified through a structured literature analysis of 126 papers.

Findings

The main findings show that data-driven decision-making can support maintenance, asset, production and material planning to coordinate and collaborate on cross-functional responsibilities. While solutions for maintenance planning and scheduling have been explored for various operational conditions, collaborative solutions for maintenance, production and logistics offer the potential for further development. Enablers for data-driven collaboration are the internal synchronization and central definition of goals, harmonization of information systems and information visualization for decision-making.

Originality/value

This paper outlines future research directions for data-driven decision-making in maintenance management as well as the practical requirements for implementation.

Details

Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1355-2511

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 December 2023

Zihan Dang and Naiming Xie

Assembly line is a common production form and has been effectively used in many industries, but the imprecise processing time of each process makes production line balancing and…

Abstract

Purpose

Assembly line is a common production form and has been effectively used in many industries, but the imprecise processing time of each process makes production line balancing and capacity forecasting the most troublesome problems for production managers. In this paper, uncertain man-hours are represented as interval grey numbers, and the optimization problem of production line balance in the case of interval grey man-hours is studied to better evaluate the production line capacity.

Design/methodology/approach

First, this paper constructs the basic model of assembly line balance optimization for the single-product scenario, and on this basis constructs an assembly line balance optimization model under the multi-product scenario with the objective function of maximizing the weighted greyscale production line balance rate, second, this paper designs a simulated annealing algorithm to solve problem. A neighborhood search strategy is proposed, based on assembly line balance optimization, an assembly line capacity evaluation method with interval grey man-hour characteristics is designed.

Findings

This paper provides a production line balance optimization scheme with uncertain processing time for multi-product scenarios and designs a capacity evaluation method to provide managers with scientific management strategies so that decision-makers can scientifically solve the problems that the company's design production line is quite different from the actual production situation.

Originality/value

There are few literary studies on combining interval grey number with assembly line balance optimization. Therefore, this paper makes an important contribution in this regard.

Details

Grey Systems: Theory and Application, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2043-9377

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 21 November 2023

Silvia Sacchetti and Alberto Ianes

This study aims to address the question of what coordination mechanism can be used for cultural production and, in particular, for the governance of music culture production. The…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to address the question of what coordination mechanism can be used for cultural production and, in particular, for the governance of music culture production. The authors locate their reflection within the specific institutional innovations introduced in Italy in 2017, focusing on the idea of shared administration and the public–private collaboration instituted in Trentino (a province located in northern Italy) in support of its cultural policy.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focusses on the Trentino’s music school system. This includes 13 organisations (musicians’ cooperatives as well as associations of musicians and students, plus one municipal school which do not overlap with the public school system). To analyse shared administration features, the authors rely on selected information from 50 interviews with Trentino Music Schools (TMS) teachers and administrators, and on the proceedings of the 1994 music school conference organised by the schools at the time when this novel educational system was created.

Findings

To offer an innovative educational service, the public actor (Provincia Autonoma di Trento [PAT]) and the schools (TMS) have developed a strong interdependence at the different levels of decision-making: PAT needs organisations that are sufficiently structured and organised to respect requirements of transparency and accountability, as well as educational standards, whereas TMS need public funding to maintain their service accessible for users, good labour conditions and be financially sustainable. Likewise, the success of TMS in educating thousands of students every year, including additional teaching programmes funded by PAT within general public schools, has contributed to decrease the exclusion from music education, raise interest in young people for music and fed enrolment in TMS as well as in the public schools related to the conservatoire filière. Conclusions emphasise the existence of a polycentric system of music culture production which needs to acknowledge the risk of being trapped in a static disequilibrium, while recognising change and the need to support and promote a culture of cooperation among schools and across layered institutional levels over time.

Research limitations/implications

Further research can observe this system of cultural production over time, to appreciate changes and organisational tranformations, while introducing comparative analysis with other systems in different regions.

Practical implications

The relationship between the public and private sectors to design, organise and manage activities of collective interest (in the social, cultural, sporting and other fields) can increasingly become an effective and efficient alternative to the traditional bureaucratic as well as to the competitive method. For this to happen, however, all actors involved must be aware not only of areas of efficiency but also of inefficiency. To remedy the latter, corrective measures will have to be introduced. For example, fostering and improving “co-programmazione” and “co-progettazione” means giving all stakeholders involved the opportunity to actively participate. Should the number of participants increase, more discussion fora could be set up because one alone may not be sufficient to foster maximum involvement, to enhance different points of view, to allow for intersectoral and multidisciplinary interpretations and responses.

Social implications

The system governance based on co-programming and co-design has allowed – despite limitations – to pursue educational purposes and thus well-being for the users, as well as for the teachers and the community as a whole. The continuity of this educational and cultural action has been guaranteed by the economic and financial sustainability of the schools, which is highly dependent on the public actor funding personnel costs, and in turn tied to the number of students (demand) attending each school. Actors embedded in the system need to build awareness of industry and cultural changes and knowledge of how to introduce more adaptive capacity. This points towards the need for strengthening networking capacity and collaboration among schools and other relevant stakeholders.

Originality/value

The case presented is a unique system of music culture production in Italy, and its governance has never been addressed by previous studies. It provides an application of shared administration to which public administrations and communities can learn to improve access to music culture and education. For public and private organisations to take advantage of the method of “co-programmazione” and “co-progettazione”, to make the production of a meritorious good more efficient and to favour its maximum accessibility, this study considers the strengths and weaknesses of this approach, or the areas of efficiency and inefficiency, for which new measures will have to be introduced.

Details

Social Enterprise Journal, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1750-8614

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 April 2024

Emir Malikov, Shunan Zhao and Jingfang Zhang

There is growing empirical evidence that firm heterogeneity is technologically non-neutral. This chapter extends the Gandhi, Navarro, and Rivers (2020) proxy variable framework…

Abstract

There is growing empirical evidence that firm heterogeneity is technologically non-neutral. This chapter extends the Gandhi, Navarro, and Rivers (2020) proxy variable framework for structurally identifying production functions to a more general case when latent firm productivity is multi-dimensional, with both factor-neutral and (biased) factor-augmenting components. Unlike alternative methodologies, the proposed model can be identified under weaker data requirements, notably, without relying on the typically unavailable cross-sectional variation in input prices for instrumentation. When markets are perfectly competitive, point identification is achieved by leveraging the information contained in static optimality conditions, effectively adopting a system-of-equations approach. It is also shown how one can partially identify the non-neutral production technology in the traditional proxy variable framework when firms have market power.

Article
Publication date: 10 October 2023

Caitlin Vincent and Amanda Coles

This paper examines the US opera sector as a means for interrogating how varying forms of non-standard work shape gender inequality in the creative industries.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the US opera sector as a means for interrogating how varying forms of non-standard work shape gender inequality in the creative industries.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors draw on 16 seasons of opera production data from Operabase.com to conduct a gender-based exploratory data analysis of the key creative roles of conductor, director and designers, as well as the hiring networks through which teams are formed, at the 11 largest opera companies in the United States.

Findings

The authors find that women, as a group, experienced gender-based disadvantage across the key creative roles of opera production, but particularly in the artistic leadership roles of conductor and director. The authors also find that women's exclusion in the field is being further perpetuated by the sector's non-standard and overlapping employment structures, which impacts women practitioners' professional visibility and career opportunities.

Practical implications

The study can help organizations implement strategic hiring practices that acknowledge the relationship between gender inequality and varying forms of non-standard work with the aim of increasing women's representation.

Originality/value

This study work establishes the scale of gender inequality operating within a sector that has received minimal scholarly attention as a site of employment. The study analysis also offers important insight for the wider creative industries and highlights opportunities to redress gender inequality in other sectors where project-based work is prevalent.

Details

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 43 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-7149

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 19 March 2024

Katja Rinne-Koski and Merja Lähdesmäki

Municipalities seek new opportunities for co-producing services in rural areas. One potential partner is community-based social enterprises (CBSEs). However, whilst service…

Abstract

Purpose

Municipalities seek new opportunities for co-producing services in rural areas. One potential partner is community-based social enterprises (CBSEs). However, whilst service co-production through CBSEs obscures the traditional roles of actors, it may lead to a legitimation crisis in local service provision. In this paper, the ways CBSEs are legitimised as service providers in rural areas are addressed from the CBSE and municipality perspectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical data combine interviews with CBSE representatives and open-ended national survey responses from municipality decision-makers. The data analysis is based on a qualitative content analysis to examine legitimation arguments.

Findings

Results show that unestablished legitimacy and un-institutionalised support structures for co-production models build mistrust between CBSEs and municipalities, which prevents the parties from seeing the benefits of cooperation in service production.

Research limitations/implications

The research focusses on the legitimation of CBSEs in service co-production in rural areas. As legitimation seems to be a context-specific process, future research is needed regarding other contexts.

Practical implications

Municipalities interested in the co-production of services might benefit from establishing a collaborative and responsive (rural) service policy forum that would institutionalise new models of co-production and enable better design and governance of service provision.

Originality/value

Results will give new theoretical and practical insights into the importance of legitimacy in the development of service co-production relationships.

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 March 2024

Syed Mithun Ali, Muhammad Najmul Haque, Md. Rayhan Sarker, Jayakrishna Kandasamy and Ilias Vlachos

Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry plays a vital role in the economic growth of this country. As the global trend in the fashion market has introduced a high-mix…

Abstract

Purpose

Bangladesh's ready-made garment (RMG) industry plays a vital role in the economic growth of this country. As the global trend in the fashion market has introduced a high-mix, low-volume ordering style, manufacturers are facing an increased number of changeovers in their production systems. However, most of the Bangladeshi RMG manufacturers are not yet ready to respond to such small orders and to improve the flexibility of their production systems. Consequently, the industry is falling behind in global market competition. Thus, this study aims to advance the current performance of RMG manufacturing operations to respond to the fast-fashion industry's challenges effectively using quick changeover.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a Single-Minute Exchange of Dies (SMED) is applied to attain quick changeover following the best practices of lean manufacturing.

Findings

This study examined the performance of the SMED technique to reduce changeover time in two case organisations. The changeover time was reduced by 70.76% from 434.56 min to 127.08 min and 42.12% from 2,664 min to 1,542 min for the case organisations, respectively. The results of this study show that companies require improved changeover times to address the demand for high-mix, low-volume orders.

Originality/value

This study will certainly guide practitioners of the RMG industry to adopt SMED to reduce changeover time to meet small batch production.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

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