Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing practices for sustainable organisational performance in Indian manufacturing companies

The current literature claims the direct effects of industry 4.0 technologies (I4?T) on lean manufacturing practices (LMP) and sustainable organisational performance (SOP). LMP are also found to have a positive influence on SOP. However, the integrated effect of I4?T and LMP on SOP has not been empirically investigated. To address this gap, this research study investigates the indirect effects of I4?T on SOP with LMP as the mediating variable; furthermore, it aims to confirm or not the direct effects of I4?T on LMP and SOP. The study is based on data collected from 205 managers, working in 115 manufacturing firms. The findings suggest significant direct and indirect effects of I4?T on SOP and confirm the presence of LMP as a strong mediating variable. The results of the study extend the literature on I4?T by identifying I4?T as an enabler of LMP, leading to enhancement of the SOP. Implications and future research directions for academicians, practitioners, and consultants are provided.     

Learning 5S principles from Japanese best practitioners: case studies of five manufacturing companies

The 5S methodology is a very appropriate way to initiate and achieve the process of continuous improvement. This paper studies management practices in successful Japanese companies in order to determine what 5S principles are behind them. After visiting and conducting interviews at five different plants, a multi-case study analysis was developed to identify the key aspects of the success of the implementation of 5S in Japan. Although each of the companies studied is different, there are commonalities that provide for interesting learning. As a result, best managerial practices based on 5S principles are explained, and the most important principles associated with the success of the 5S method are described and discussed.     

Solidification and stabilization of asbestos waste from an automobile brake manufacturing facility using cement

Currently, the generated brake lining waste dust, which contains asbestos as its major component, is disposed of into a secure landfill without any additional treatment. As an alternative to this, solidification/stabilization (S/S) disposal of the dust was investigated using Portland cement alone and Portland cement mixed with activated carbon (AC), as the binders. Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) results on the solidified matrix showed that cement was able to immobilize the heavy metals, Ba, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Fe, to within the limits set by the US EPA for TCLP. Addition of AC to the cement reduced the leaching of heavy metals by an additional 4-24% compared to cement alone. The pH of the TCLP leachate extracted from virgin cement, and from dust treated with cement with or without AC was found to increase to 10.9-12.5 as opposed to an initial value of 4.93 for the TCLP extract for the untreated dust. Results of ANS 16.1 (modified) leach protocol revealed that Ba in cement-treated samples showed the highest leach rate, followed by Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu and Fe. The leach rate of heavy metals decreased with progress in time. Cement mixed with AC exhibited similar leach characteristics, however, the leach rate was lower. The linear relationship between the cumulative fraction leached (CFL) and the square root of leaching time in all cement-based samples indicate that a diffusional process is the controlling transport mechanism for the leaching of the heavy metals. The obtained Leachability Indices (L(i)) of 7.6-9.1 and 8.3-9.5 for cement and cement with AC, respectively, were low but exceeded the guidance value of 6, which clearly indicates that all the heavy metals studied are retained well within solid matrices. Cement-based S/S hardening times increased from 30 to 96 h as the dust content increased from 40 to 70 wt.%. The resulting solid matrices exhibited a compressive strength ranging from 1 to 12 MPa, which was well above the specified limit of 414 kPa for such matrices. An economic analysis indicates that the disposal costs for the dust in the only available secure landfill would increase by 40.3% if one were to go for the cement S/S option. Addition of AC to the cement would escalate this by an additional 43.8%. Although the S/S of brake lining dust using cement effectively immobilized the heavy metals of concern, cost considerations may hinder the commercial adaptation of this technique for waste disposal unless new regulatory demands are implemented.     

Taxonomy of the manufacturing strategies of large Spanish industrial companies

This work presents a classification of the manufacturing strategies of large Spanish industrial companies in Spain. For this purpose the various international empirical studies on alternative manufacturing strategies have been taken as a reference, reviewed and compared. The database used in this study is made up of information on 114 factories and has been designed using the information from a survey mailed to the industrial companies which have production plants in Spain and which in the financial year of 1994 (reference date of this research) employed over 200 workers. Cluster analysis methodology has been used and the classification criterion taken was the competitive advantages or strengths of each factory concerning the five competitive priorities in manufacturing: efficiency, flexibility, quality, delivery and customer service. Finally, this work identifies a taxonomy of the manufacturing strategies of a sample of the largest industrial companies in Spain, differentiating three alternative production strategies: flexible marketoriented manufacturers, low-cost quality manufacturers and delivery-based manufacturers. Large industrial companies analysed compete in manufacturing, basically following a choice of three criteria: flexibility, quality or delivery. The companies belonging to each of the three categories identified maintain common and lasting manufacturing objectives and policies.     

Theory and practice of manufacturing strategy

This paper first proposes a methodology for manufacturing strategy development based on a critical review of the theory of manufacturing strategy. The methodology captures the essential factors that must be considered, and the steps that must be taken, by a firm attempting to design a viable manufacturing strategy. An exploratory study of the process of formulating and implementing manufacturing strategy practised by three firms is conducted. Their experiences in the manufacturing strategy process are reported and analysed. While the practice of each firm is different, the process of manufacturing strategy formulation seems to be in line with the conceptual models discussed in the literature. Our findings offer some evidence that manufacturing is slowly shedding its image as the ‘missing link’ in corporate strategy. While managers of the studied firms are fully aware of the competitive advantages that manufacturing can provide, they are not totally committed to articulating a manufacturing strategy because of concerns about its successful implementation. It is proposed that further research on manufacturing strategy focus on such implementation issues as the infrastructure, corporate culture, performance measurements, decision-making and managerial styles.     

制造业发展中的问题及对策

通过对制造业发展中的一些问题分析,依据制造业的发展规律,探索和研究制造业发展的策略。     

Aligning manufacturing flexibility with environmental uncertainty: Evidence from high-technology component manufacturers in Taiwan

While flexibility improvement is among the top concerns of manufacturing managers, managers are advised to choose the dimensions of flexibility they want in their plants. This study investigates the strategic choice of aligning flexibility development with the external environment that manufacturing managers face. Considering the nature of the high-technology industry in Taiwan, we measure environmental uncertainty based on the dimensions of customer demand, supply, competitors and product technology. Empirical data were collected from manufacturing firms in Taiwan. We then applied path analysis to examine the effect of aligning three types of flexibility: product mix, new product and volume with specific dimensions of environmental uncertainty. The results indicate that the matching of manufacturing flexibility with environmental uncertainty is necessary to ensure profit and sales performance. When faced with certain environmental stimuli, management should choose to emphasize and develop particular manufacturing flexibility.     

Lean-pull strategy in a re-entrant manufacturing environment: a pilot study for TFT-LCD array manufacturing

The increase of a panel's size in thin film transistor – liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD), results in an increase in stock space and increased cost from work-in-process (WIP). This paper proposes a lean-pull strategy, combining buffers with CONWIP (CONstant work-in-process), which results in shared resources to a re-entrant process in TFT-LCD manufacturing. The buffer size and CONWIP levels are the decision variables and are solved by simulation optimisation. The proposed procedure is applied to a factory that manufactures TFT-LCD. The study shows that the proposed lean-pull strategy can reduce the cycle time and achieve a reduction of 34.57% in WIP. The automated material handling systems (AMHS) stocker utilisation can be reduced from 62.13% to 18.49% without additional investment or facilities. Sensitivity analysis indicates the maximum daily throughput will achieve over 10% improvement. The empirical results from this pilot study provide useful managerial insights for the production control of array manufacturing.     

Towards a holistic sustainability index for measuring sustainability of manufacturing companies

Competition from low wage countries and the adoption of free market strategies have forced manufacturing firms to recognise and implement productivity enhancement strategies. This research defines a holistic sustainability index embedding several performance indices. The aim of this study was to establish a relevant framework that would assess the current situation of an industry through aggregation of environmental, social, economical as well as manufacturing variables. The proposition has its roots in trends and gaps in the sustainability literature of manufacturing industries and is based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. A list of indicators measuring the industry performance based on an AHP scoring methodology is proposed. The next stages include grouping industries according to common deficiencies across the four dimensions and establishing a cooperation framework. The food manufacturing industry is the main target in this study and will benefit from adopting sustainable long-term policies. By recognising the importance of social–environmental sustainability and taking the initiative to pursue it, profits will grow as a positive effect of such policies. The added value is twofold: (1) coupling all sustainability dimensions, often addressed in silos and (2) integrating manufacturing indicators which enable the analysis of interrelationships with sustainability.     

Implementation of Industry 4.0 and lean production in Brazilian manufacturing companies

The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies has been deemed as a strategy to increase product quality and make manufacturing processes more efficient. However, the way that these technologies are integrated into existing production systems and which processes they can support is still under investigation. Thus, this paper aims to examine the relationship between lean production (LP) practices and the implementation of Industry 4.0 in Brazilian manufacturing companies. To achieve that we use data from a survey carried out with 110 companies of different sizes and sectors, at different stages of LP implementation. Data collected were analysed by means of multivariate analysis. Our findings indicate that LP practices are positively associated with Industry 4.0 technologies and their concurrent implementation leads to larger performance improvements. Further, the contextual variables investigated do matter to this association, although not all aspects matter to the same extent and effect.     

Flexible practices for mass production goals: economic governance in the Indian automobile industry

This paper explains the remarkable restructuring of the Indianautomobile industry. It argues that firms have had to deploynew governance modes (flexible industrial practices) for economiccoordination to overcome supply bottlenecks and meet expandingdemand. Firms that failed to adopt these practices performedpoorly, while firms that attained economies of scale were ableto graduate to exploiting economies of scope. The industry experiencesuggests that new governance modes can serve mass productiongoals in developing economies and not just cushion market volatility,for which they were designed.     

Air pollution control in ferroalloy manufacturing industries: an Indian regulatory assessment

Ferroalloy manufacturing involves many unit operations and unit processes. Commencing from the material handling to manufacturing and product collection, a ferroalloy plant emits a wide range of air pollutants. The selection of appropriate air emission control technology is, therefore, very important in such a situation. In this article, few case studies from Indian operating plants are analyzed from the standpoint of installed air pollution control devices. Analyses revealed design flaws in many of these air pollution control devices leading to their collapse with the deterioration of the ambient air quality. As regulatory measures, recommendations are made specifying the air pollution control devices to curb air emission from various stages of the ferroalloy making operations for meeting the air emission standards. Prior to putting forward recommendations in this article, described are the different aspects of the ferroalloy manufacturing with the emphasis of source of emission for both particulate matter as well as gaseous pollutants.     

Model to measure the degree of competitiveness for auto parts manufacturing companies

The automotive industry has been at the forefront of the globalisation process as a result of increasing global design and manufacturing. This has imposed a heavy burden on local auto parts producers. To enable a better understanding of this problem, this paper proposes a model to measure the degree of competitiveness for auto parts manufacturing companies. The study starts by analysing the current competitive forces governing the relationship among automotive assemblers and their first-tier suppliers and proposes a model that establishes (a) a competitive standard and (b) a measure called the degree of competitiveness, to be used to evaluate how similar (or dissimilar) a given company is compared with the aforesaid standard. The proposed conceptual model was tested in real-life situations by applying it to three Brazilian auto parts manufacturers with well-known competitive positions. The model was able to reproduce the same competitive position as those perceived by the market. The model and findings cannot be generalised for other industrial segments without some review and adaptation of the competitive factors considered. If required, a different set of competitive factors could be selected while maintaining all other aspects of the model as proposed.     

汽车动力总成主动悬置系统分层控制策略研究

针对汽车动力总成主动悬置系统结构特点,考虑作动器动态特性对系统控制精度的影响,提出了一种分层控制方法。在对三自由度1/4车主动悬置系统分析的基础上,推导了悬置系统和电磁作动器控制电路的数学模型,采用分层控制策略对悬置部分和作动器电路部分设计了上、下层控制器。上层悬置控制器采用综合性能较好的LQR控制,并利用遗传算法对其性能指标权重系数进行优化;下层作动器电路部分采用简单实用的PID控制,并利用粒子群算法对其参数进行优化。最后,通过对所设计的主动悬置系统设置两种典型工况进行仿真验证。结果表明:相比于传统控制,按照分层控制策略设计的主动悬置系统能够针对汽车不同工况实施更精确的控制,并且具有较强的鲁棒性和力跟踪性。     

Modeling the effects of digital transformation in Indian manufacturing industry

Digital transformation has become the new norm and is perceived as an important component to transform the firms’ businesses. It has revolutionized the way in which firms conduct their businesses. However, the literature has not widely examined the holistic impact of key antecedents of digital transformation on manufacturing firm performance. The study aims to identify the antecedents of digital transformation and demonstrates the mediating role of digital transformation on firm performance. Using PLS-SEM modeling reveals that there is a considerable impact of competitive pressure, organizational mindfulness, IT readiness, and strategic alignment on digital transformation. Also, digital transformation mediates the effects of the antecedents on the performance of the firm. The practitioners and firms would be motivated to seize the digital transformation advantages as an opportunity to improve firm performance.     

Application of system dynamics modelling for a sustainable manufacturing system of an Indian automotive component manufacturing organisation: a case study

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Over the last few decades, the manufacturing industry has been a major contributor to pollution and consumes a greater portion of the world´s...     

Quality improvement practices and the effect on manufacturing firm performance: Evidence from Mexico and the USA

A comparison of organizations in Mexico and the USA demonstrates that, for these two countries, different quality improvement approaches are related to actual quality and financial performance. For 345 firms multiple quality improvement variables are correlated with seven quality measures, four financial measures, and one operating performance measure. Results suggest that in both countries an increase in employee involvement leads to improved quality-a decrease in internal failure costs, the percentage of items defective, and costs of quality. In Mexico an increase in employee knowledge about quality improvement and customer focus also leads to improved quality (as measured above). In the USA, but not in Mexico, the quality improvement approach relates to financial performance. An increase in senior executive leadership and an increased emphasis upon both design and conformance in the USA leads to an improved return on assets and increased net profit. In each country similar distributions from respondents regarding individual items that improve quality can be found, yet statistical modelling demonstrates country-specific models best explain quality improvement/performance relationships. This suggests culture-specific quality improvement models are necessary to better understand how quality may be improved globally.     

Original equipment manufacturers (OEM) manufacturing strategy for network innovation agility: the case of Taiwanese manufacturing networks

Manufacturing companies in newly industrialized countries contribute substantially to their global innovation networks. Those manufacturers perform not only production and physical distribution functions, but also design and engineering functions in the processes of bringing new products world-wide. This paper examines the relationship between manufacturing strategy of those original equipment manufacturers (OEM) suppliers and network innovation agility. No single best strategy can fit all OEM suppliers. They can choose either to be dedicated OEM service providers or to sell their own-brand products. Either strategy can be effective in terms of innovation agility. However, once the OEM manufacturing strategy has been chosen, a manufacturer should adopt an appropriate way to manage its product innovation process. A dedicated OEM supplier should emphasize manufacturing flexibility and pursue a product modularity strategy to enhance network innovation agility, while cross-functional integration is the key for successful manufacturers with own-brand products. For both dedicated OEM suppliers and own-brand ones, market orientation is essential for network innovation agility. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.