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The purpose of the paper is to develop a model of distribution of human and machine labor at intellectual production in Industry 4.0.

The basis of the methodology of the research is regression analysis. The analyzed variables are independent variables that characterize the level of development of human and machine labor in the economy of a country; dependent variables that reflect the effectiveness of the production, marketing and innovative business processes in the economy of country according to “The Global Competitiveness Report” (World Economic Forum); and dependent variables, which show the share of the sphere (agriculture, mining industry, processing industry and service sphere) in the structure of GDP of a country according to the statistics of the World Bank. For determining the change of regression dependencies in dynamics in the interests of reduction of the probability of statistical error, the research is conducted for 2010 and 2018 with application of trend analysis.

Based on the full selection of modern countries that conduct digital modernization, the authors determine statistical dependencies of effectiveness of business processes and development of the spheres of economy on the intensity of application of machine and human labor. This allowed determining significant differences in automatization of business processes: perspectives of application of machine labor are the widest in production and the narrowest in marketing, differentiated logic of organization of intellectual production in different spheres of economy and the specifics of automatization of business processes and spheres of economy in countries of different categories, one of which has to be taken into account during organization of intellectual production in Industry 4.0.

The developed model of optimal distribution of human and machine labor at intellectual production in Industry 4.0 will allow reducing disproportions in effectiveness of different business processes, development of different spheres of economy and growth rate of developed and developing countries. This explains its contribution into provision of well-balanced development of the modern global economic system.

In the process industries, it is essential to have a well-articulated manufacturing strategy within companies. However, to facilitate manufacturing strategy development, it is important to start with a good characterisation of the material transformation system and company production capabilities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A grounded theory approach, with inspiration from configuration modelling, attempted to characterize the material transformation system as a set of variables. The variable development was based on a literature review and the knowledge base of five industry experts. Two exploratory mini-case studies were carried out, primarily to illustrate the use of the model, but additionally to test its industrial usability.

A set of 31 variables was developed, and related measures and scales were tentatively defined. Two mini-cases supported the usability of the model. The model, focussing on company generic process capabilities, is a conceptual taxonomy and the study’s theoretical contribution.

The lucidity of the definitions and scales for the variables are open to further refinement, and the limited discussions of variable relationships in this study are addressed in an agenda for further research.

The model can be deployed as a facilitative instrument in the analysis of company material transformation systems and may serve as a platform in further discussions on companies’ strategy development.

The model is a new instrument for analysing company generic process capabilities and an effort to build new theory rather than to test an existing one.

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 Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy (PIMS) database was used to test the relationship between production process type (small batch, large batch/assembly, and continuous) and eight organizational policy decisions (new products, new plant and equipment, finished goods inventory, raw materials/work‐in‐process inventory, capacity utilization, fixed capital assets, manufacturing costs, gross margin). In addition, the effect of six broad industry types on the proposed relationships was also investigated. Overall industries, raw materials/work‐in‐progress, capacity utilization, manufacturing costs, fixed assets, and gross margin varied with production process type while new products, new plant and equipment, and finished goods inventory did not vary. Within each industry, the findings showed less support for the relationships between production process type and the eight organizational policy decisions. Further analysis showed that most of the industries are dominated by a production process type. Suggests a movement away from the traditional differentiation of production process technologies and a shift of research emphasis to the differing uses of a particular production process technology within an industry.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and address various wastes in the supply chain of the edible cottonseed oil industry (specifically the processing side) using a value stream mapping (VSM) approach to improve productivity and capacity utilization in an Indian context.

Critical observations and interviewing techniques were used with open‐ended questions to understand the processes involved in the value chain of the cottonseed oil industry. Different chain links/members were investigated through personal visits and discussions. VSM is applied as an approach to the industry to identify and remove non‐value‐adding (NVA) activities.

Major findings obtained from the study are as follows. There is an excess cumulative inventory of 244 days in the whole supply chain. The industry is highly fragmented with a large number of small players present, which hampers the use of economies of scale. There are NVA activities present in the supply chain such as the moving of cottonseed oil from expeller mill to refinery. The industry still uses outdated technology which hampers the productivity.

Attention needs to be given to boosting the productivity of the oil sector. Waste removal from the oilseed‐processing sector is one key to improving the productivity of the sector.

The paper addresses the various wastes in the processing side of the supply chain of the Indian cottonseed oil industry, using VSM as an approach which was hardly ever attempted before. Wastes are then individually attacked to reduce or eliminate them from the system. Suggestions to make the whole chain more productive can be generalized and can be replicated in the context of other developing countries.

In the present era of intense competition, industries are adopting lean manufacturing for successful survival. The concept of lean manufacturing is new for Indian process industries. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of lean manufacturing in Indian process industries in terms of lean practices, reasons and challenges of implementing lean manufacturing.

A survey was carried out to assess the level of lean implementation in Indian process industries. Statistical tests were conducted to assess the significant lean practices, reasons and challenges of implementing lean in Indian process industries.

It is observed that the level of implementation of lean manufacturing in Indian process industries is still low. Results indicate that Indian process industries those who have implemented lean found lean to be very useful to reduce wastes and to increase quality. Major lean practices being implemented by Indian process industries are primarily those which are related to waste elimination or improvement in quality. Indian process industries found that important challenges to implement lean are to produce in small batches, to arrange for lean experts and to impart training to employees.

In the present study, the sample size is small and hence, the findings should be generalized cautiously. Although the study indicates that lean can be very useful if implemented in Indian process industries but further empirical studies are required to quantify performance improvements through adoption of lean.

The paper explores status of lean adoption in Indian process industries. Considering the unique characteristics of process industries, the present research would be helpful for making strategies to implement lean in process industry setups.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of lean practices on performance improvement of process industries in India.

Based on a survey of Indian process industries, this paper proposes two sets of hypothesis to examine if there is any statistically significant impact of lean practices on certain specific performance metrics. First, the sample is classified into two classes of process industries: the adopters of lean and those who have not yet adopted the lean practices in their manufacturing operations. Then statistical tests are conducted to measure the differences in the level of performance between the two classes of Indian process industries with respect to nine performance measures. The survey results are augmented by two in-depth case studies. Case studies include one from lean adopter firms (a refinery) and another from the firms that have not yet adopted the lean practices (a primary metal manufacturing unit).

A survey result of 121 Indian process industries shows that adoption of lean practices results in a positive impact on inventory control, waste elimination, cost reduction, productivity, and quality improvement in process industries. On the other hand, based on the sample data on Indian process industries, no statistically significant improvement could be found on the lot size or space utilization between lean adopters and their counterparts.

This research provides guidance to the managers on how adoption of lean practices results in better performance in process industries in several operational areas.

To the knowledge, this study is the first attempt to analyze the impact of lean practices on a set of specific performance metrics in Indian process industry. Although this study focuses on the Indian process industry, the authors believe that findings of the research can inform other practitioners and researchers who are considering implementing lean in process industry sector in other developing countries like India.

Discusses the variety of production control situations within process industries. Following a literature review, a typology is introduced which discriminates between two extreme types of process industries: batch/mix and process/flow businesses. Reviews the research in production and inventory control in each of the extreme types. Identifies a control framework for operations management in process/flow businesses. Notes that although detailed scheduling approaches for batch/mix businesses exist, a control framework for the latter is missing. Concludes that operations management in batch process industries needs considerable research attention.

The increasing pace of global competition has recast the balance between multinational corporations’ (MNCs’) needs to protect the knowledge that underlies their competitive advantages and their needs to continually create new knowledge. This essay will discuss MNCs’ knowledge-seeking strategies as industry-level phenomena. I will argue that knowledge-seeking strategies demand a concept of industries both as arenas for competition and as global knowledge networks within which firms collaborate to innovate. Contemporary MNCs face challenges to function not only as self-contained production systems that internationalize in the search for efficiency and markets, but also as open systems globally seeking knowledge and innovations. Metanational strategies and organizations represent a new response to these challenges. I present empirical evidence of distinctive metanational industry opportunities and organizational responses from the emergence of the global flat panel display industry. The essay concludes with a framework that outlines the characteristics of a global knowledge-driven generic strategy as an alternative and synthesis of generic product-driven strategies of cost-leadership and differentiation.

Global recession is a serious issue to both the developed and developing economies. Reports published by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (2019–20) have revealed that the growth of gross domestic products (GDPs) has shrunk significantly in the last few quarters. Due to such recession productions by many, manufacturing industries have reduced significantly, and a large number of people have lost their work, and scope of new job creations has also decreased. Food sector has also been affected by global recession (Agbedeyi & Adigwe, 2018). Food Processing Industry (FPI) is India's one of the most sunshine manufacturing industries and ranks fifth among the Indian industries in terms of production, consumption, and exports. The country ranks second in global ranking in terms of producing food products next to China. Despite the global recession, the FPIs helped the Indian economy to maintain the growth of the GDP and have created new job opportunities. Around 70 lakh persons are employed in both registered and unregistered food processing units in India. The value of food exported in the year 2018–19 was US $35.30 billion which was 10.69% of India's total export (i.e. US$330.67 billion) (MoFPI report, 2018–19). In this backdrop, the present chapter will try to find out the role of FPI in the Indian economy and will also highlight the prospects of this industry in the coming years.