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This study aims to demonstrate the simultaneous effects between inventory leanness and product innovation, with market concentration being a moderator.

Using a large panel data collected from 3071 listed manufacturing enterprises from 2004 to 2021, this research employs a simultaneous system of equations via the three-stage least square method to explore the simultaneous relationship between inventory leanness and product innovation. In addition, the moderating role of market concentration is demonstrated via one four-model system.

As its core, inventory leanness positively impacts product innovation, while product innovation negatively affects inventory leanness. Moreover, there are differential impacts of the leanness of three inventory types on product innovation. Specifically, the inventory leanness of raw material negatively affects product innovation, while the inventory leanness of work-in-process and finished goods positively affect product innovation. Further, moderation analysis highlights that market concentration is a key moderator of this relationship.

Managers should carefully gauge the tradeoffs between inventory leanness and product innovation. Concretely, managers ought to consider the connections between inventory types and product innovation. In addition, managers are suggested to emphasis on market strategy.

This paper not only contributes to the current understanding of inventory leanness by verifying the impact of inventory leanness on product innovation but also investigates the simultaneous relationship between various inventory types and product innovation. Furthermore, it empirically demonstrates the moderating effect of market concentration on the relationship between inventory leanness and product innovation.

The definition of cycle time is the time from the wafer start to the wafer output. It usually takes one or two months to get the product since customer decides to produce it. The cycle time is a critical factor for customer satisfaction because it represents the response time to the market. Long cycle time reflects the ineffective investment for the capital. The cycle time is very important for foundry because long cycle time will cause customer unsatisfied and the order loss. Consequently, all of the foundries put lots of human source in the cycle time improvement. Usually, we make decisions based on the experience in the cycle time management. We have no mechanism or theory for cycle time management. We do work‐in‐process (WIP) management based on turn rate and standard WIP (STD WIP) set by experiences. But the experience didn’t mean the optimal solution, when the situation changed, the cycle time or the standard WIP will also be changed. The experience will not always be applicable. If we only have the experience and no mechanism, management will not be work out. After interview several foundry fab managers, all of the fab can’t reflect the situation. That is, all of them will have an impact period after product mix or utilization varied. In this study, we want to develop a formula for standard WIP and use statistical process control (SPC) concept to set WIP upper/lower limit level. When WIP exceed the limit level, it will trigger action plans to compensate WIP Profile. If WIP Profile balances, we don’t need too much WIP. So WIP level could be reduced and cycle time also could be reduced.

Cellular and functional layouts were investigated under a variety of real‐world conditions via a two‐stage computer simulation study. In the first stage, simulation models were developed for three actual companies. Six different cell formation procedures were used to develop the cellular layouts and CRAFT was used to develop the functional layout. The following six variables were used to measure shop performance: average flow time, maximum flow time, average distance travelled by a batch, average work‐in‐process level, the maximum level of work‐in‐process, and the longest average queue. Factors observed in the first stage of the study that appear to make cellular manufacturing less beneficial than might otherwise be expected were found to be small batch sizes, a small number of different machines the parts require in their processing, short processing times per part, the existence of bottleneck machines (i.e. machines with insufficient capacity), and the absence of natural part families (i.e. sets of parts with similar processing requirements). In the second stage of this study, earlier assumptions associated with sequence‐dependent setup times and move time delays were relaxed. These two parameters were identified as important factors as well.

In the real world many companies combine the operations of manufacturing, assembly and disassembly. Thus, the integration of just‐in‐time FMS, FAS, and flexible disassembly system (DAS) models poses an interesting problem. The purpose of this paper is to provide major emphasis on a new simulation model for design and performance evaluation of a flexible assembly and disassembly system with dual Kanban under a stochastic system. This paper also primarily investigates the effect of varying the number of kanban cards, mean inter‐arrival time of demand and locations of the bottlenecks on the performance integration of JIT flexible manufacturing, assembly and disassembly systems.

Simulation is carried out in ARENA and data is analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). This paper investigates the effect of varying number of kanban cards, mean inter‐arrival time of demand, and locations of the bottlenecks on the performance integration of JIT flexible manufacturing, assembly and disassembly systems. The performance measures that are simultaneously considered are the fill rate, work in process, and mean cycle time. This paper emphasizes that understanding the interactions between the variables and their effects on system performance is of utmost importance for managers in improving performance processes.

In manufacturing practice, there are many industrial units that represent the mixture of the referred three models. This paper presents a new simulation model for design and performance evaluation of a flexible assembly and disassembly system with dual kanban. The simulation results are statistically compared with MANOVA. MANOVA is used to perform the test with multiple objective functions, e.g. with the average production cycle time, percentage average fill rate, and work‐in‐process. The conclusion to be drawn is that minimized WIP can be obtained by higher percentage average fill rate, lower WIP, small average part cycles times, and increasing in kanban cards while simultaneously retaining full customer satisfaction.

The researcher presents the newly developed kanban system into the production system of JIT flexible manufacturing, assembly and disassembly system with simulation technique. Furthermore, by assigning time factors to the models, several performance measures can be easily computed. Then, the researcher tests the effect of the number of kanban card on integration of JIT flexible manufacturing, assembly and disassembly systems using a simulation approach, the simulation model is developed using the ARENA simulation package. The results are applied to a small case study. For a single product under the integration of JIT flexible manufacturing, assembly and disassembly systems, as the number of kanban cards increase, the fill rate along with work in process and the mean cycle time increases as well.

This paper focuses on the determination of the cost completion rate used to calculate the equivalent units of production in a continuous process costing system. The paper aims at two research questions. What procedures do companies utilize in practical terms? How should the completion level percentage be calculated conceptually?

The study is a qualitative exploratory survey. The companies targeted were those noted in “Melhores e Maiores,” a ranking of the best and biggest Brazilian companies. A total of 175 questionnaires were sent to pre‐selected enterprises, each with revenues of more than US$100 million per year, and 50 usable responses were returned.

A literature review of the theoretical procedures used for continuous process costing revealed no indication of an objective method for determining the completion level. The empirical research in the present study confirmed that, in practice, companies do not adopt the general procedures proposed by the theory. The best practices applied by the companies have been shown to be an adequate alternative, because the results are identical to those obtained with the proposed method.

The study bears the usual limitations of a qualitative exploratory survey regarding its generalization to other companies.

The originality of the study is based on the assumption that cost accounting theory does not offer an objective solution for the computation of the completion level percentage and, consequently, that companies in continuous process production system do not adopt the theoretical concepts with respect to inventory evaluation of goods‐in‐process and finished goods.

This paper aims to address the application of lean manufacturing using value stream mapping (VSM) concepts in an auto‐parts manufacturing organization. Using value stream concepts, both current and future states maps of the organization's shop floor scenarios have been discussed to identify sources of waste between the existing state and the proposed state of the selected organization for improving its competitiveness.

VSM process symbols were used to discuss lean implementation stages in the auto‐parts manufacturing unit. Current states of the selected manufacturing unit were prepared with the help of VSM symbols and improvement areas were identified. A few modifications in current state were made and, with these modifications, a future state map is suggested.

After comparison of the current and future states of the selected manufacturing unit, it has been found that there was 69.41 percent reduction in cycle time, 18.26 percent reduction in work in‐process inventory and 24.56 percent reduction in production lead times for the replacement ball product. While for Weldon ball end product 51.87 percent reduction in cycle time, 21.51 percent reduction in work in‐process inventory, 25.88 percent reduction in lead time was noted.

The findings of this case study are valid due to limited selection of products only.

This paper depicts a true picture of the implementation of lean manufacturing tools in an organization.

The 1980s have brought a new awareness of the negative effects of holding excessive inventories. High interest rates and the popularity of Japanese management techniques such as just‐in‐time inventory systems have focused attention on the need to reduce extra inventories. However, traditional measures of inventory quantities, such as turnover of days' sales, do not reveal the true impact of the inventory investment. In this paper a new measure of inventories, the cost of capital on excess inventories (CCEI) is proposed, along with recommendations for management use of the tool and suggestions for implementation.

The literature is reviewed on buffer stock allocation strategies in serial production lines. A number of experiments are conducted to analyse the behaviour of work‐in‐process inventory given that the objective is to maximise throughput. Both balanced and unbalanced lines are examined. The same analysis will be repeated for assembly type of production lines (merging lines). A key concept in this article is the “long pull” (or constant work‐in‐process inventory) Kanban system.

Both inventory investments and structure in a sample of 44 manufacturing companies representing five industry groups in Egypt are investigated. The study reveals that the type of industry is a determinant factor of both the Inventory to total Assets Ratio (AIR) and the inventory structure at the firm level. AIR indicates significant positive correlation with the Materials Cost Ratio (MCR), the Finished Product inventory Ratio (FPR), and the “Others” Inventory Ratio (OTR), but a negative correlation with the Raw Materials inventory Ratio (RMR). The study shows that raw materials and purchased components deserve the most attention in Egyptian industry. The study also shows a negative correlation between RMR and the company′s Value Added (VAD). With more vertical integration a firm can reduce its RMR. The study confirms the effect of the type of production‐inventory system on the company′s Work‐in‐Process inventory Requirements (WPR). WPR was relatively low in both the engineering and food groups.

The application of the Kanban system in a practical environment is reported. The objective was to determine the optimal number of Kanbans for each component part. The effect of the time interval between replenishment of parts on the amount of work‐in‐process inventory was also investigated. Prior to the implementation of the Kanban system, a computer simulation in GPSS was carried out. The results of the simulation run for different attributes are reported. An analysis of results is presented and the basic philosophy of just‐in‐time production, as well as the Kanban system, is discussed.