Status of engineering change management in the engineer-to-order production environment: insights from a multiple case study

Engineering Changes (ECs) are a fact of life for companies in the Engineer-To-Order (ETO) production environment. Various Engineering Change Management (ECM) strategies, practices and tools exist, but no explicit distinction has been made regarding ECM in different production environments. Using a multiple case study method, this article investigates how ETO companies manage ECs and how ETO characteristics influence ECM. A generic ECM framework was developed and used to map ECM in the cases. The study showed that ETO companies use similar practices for handling ECs, while ECM tools are either not used by the companies or used to a very limited extent. It was found that the use of some ECM practices and tools is complicated by specific ETO company characteristics. However, no reasons were found for the lack of computer-based tools, change propagation and impact assessment tools, change reduction and front-loading tools, and design tools. This suggests, firstly, that there is vast room for improvement in ETO companies when it comes to ECM; and secondly, that the applicability of such tools should be further tested in the ETO environment. Based on the findings, some suggestions as to how ECM can be improved in ETO companies are given to practitioners.     

Towards an Integrated Workload Control (WLC) Concept: The Performance of Due Date Setting Rules in Job Shops with Contingent Orders

Workload control (WLC) is a production planning and control concept developed for make-to-order companies. Its customer enquiry management methodology supports due date setting, while its order release mechanism determines when to start production. For make-to-order companies, due date setting is a strategically important, complex task where unconfirmed jobs place demands on capacity which are contingent on a quotation being accepted by the customer. Yet most prior WLC research has begun at the order release stage with a set of confirmed orders with predetermined due dates. In contrast, this paper focuses specifically on customer enquiry management and uses simulation to compare and contrast the performance of 11 due date setting rules in a job shop where part of the workload consists of unconfirmed or contingent orders. The best results are achieved by a finite loading rule which explicitly considers the workload of contingent orders when estimating lead times. This enables demand to be levelled over time, allowing due dates to be short and reliable – thereby improving both the competitiveness of a make-to-order company and the customer service level it is able to offer. Future research should focus on integrating customer enquiry management, and its due date setting rule, with order release control.     

Impacts of using a performance measurement system in supply chain management: a case study

The study examines how the utilisation of a new performance measurement system (PMS) influences supply chain management (SCM) and what kind of impacts the new system has on the performance of the supply chain. The paper utilises a longitudinal research setting where the data was gathered in two semi-structured interview studies after an action research project in which a new measurement system was designed and developed. The findings show how a PMS serves as a catalyst of inter-organisational knowledge transfer and promotes shared learning. The results also show how knowledge transfer and shared learning led to improved performance of the supply chain. The paper contributes by opening up the practical mechanisms through which performance measurement provides value for SCM and by showing how inter-organisational transfer of performance information catalyses learning and performance improvement. The paper looks beyond the design of performance measures and provides a view on the practice of supply chain performance management. The paper illustrates how sharing performance information amongst supply chain companies improves managers’ awareness of shared targets and the status of network operations. This also resulted in improved performance in the studied case network. Overall, the results encourage organisations to engage in network-level performance measurement and share performance information with their network partners.     

Applying performance measures to support decision-making in supply chain operations: a case of beverage industry

Performance measurement systems (PMS) have commonly been applied to evaluate and reward performances at managerial levels, especially in the context of supply chain management. However, evidence suggests that the effective use of PMS can also positively influence the behaviour and improve performance at an operational level. The motivation is to accomplish organisational goals, namely to increase supply chain flexibility by responding to evermore-varying customer demands in a timely manner. The purpose of the study described in this paper was to develop a conceptual framework that adopts performance measures for ex-ante decision-making at an operational level within the supply chain. To guide the research, five questions were asked and subsequently key gaps have been identified. In an attempt to fill the gaps, a case study at a major global brand beverage company has been carried out, and as a result, a conceptual framework of the PMS has been developed. Overall, the research offers a foundation of the applicability and impact of PMS in the supply chain and provides a framework that attends to some of the potential uses of PMS that so far have not been practically applied. The outcomes from the testing indicate that the initial gaps identified in the literature have been addressed and that the framework is judicious with scope for practical applicability. The framework is deemed worthy of further testing in different operational contexts of the supply chain.     

Computer-aided production management issues in the engineer-to-order production of complex capital goods explored using a simulation approach

This paper describes the exploration of manufacturing planning and control issues in the capital goods industry using a simulation approach. The companies produce products which have deep and complex product structures and are produced in low volume on an engineer- or make-to-order basis (ETO, MTO). The work reported here draws on the results of surveys of companies involved in the manufacture of capital goods which identified their characteristics of ETO and MTO capital goods companies and their strategic issues. The planning and control approaches adopted in the manufacturing facilities and the difficulties experienced in the application of computer-aided production management (CAPM) systems were also examined. The simulation model developed enables complex manufacturing systems to be modelled and was configured to represent a typical ETO/MTO facility using industrial data. A series of full factorial experiments were performed to explore a number of production management problems identified in surveys including capacity planning, assembly planning and scheduling strategies. Conclusions are drawn on the effects on performance and capacity of: applying minimum set-up and processing times for both major and minor activities; using different data update periods and assembly lead times; and adopting various scheduling and despatching approaches. These results are compared with those obtained by other workers who used survey techniques alone, and have implications for the manufacturers of capital goods.     

A decomposition approach for the performance analysis of a serial multi-echelon supply chain

Over the last decade, supply chain coordination has attracted much attention in the context of industrial logistics systems, because of the role played in production support logistics. There is a growing interest in the analysis and measurement of performances, because performance analysis allows us to build supporting decision tools for the design, planning and management of the supply chain. This paper presents an analytical approach for performance analysis based on a decomposition principle. The approach is applied to a serial supply chain that consists of two levels of suppliers, a production plant and a distribution centre, and operates as a pull system. This configuration is typical for bulk materials such as grain. The method allows us to approximately calculate performance indicators (such as customer satisfaction and inventory levels) taking into account all the interactions between the different echelons of the supply chain. The accuracy of the approximations is confirmed by the results obtained via a simulation model. Numerical analysis allows us to outline interesting and non-intuitive behaviour of the performance indicators for different stages of the supply chain.     

超声波流量计在天然气计量中的故障诊断研究

针对超声波流量计在川气东送管道天然气计量中的应用,通过分析超声波流量计的工作原理,结合现场应用,对常见的超声波流量计故障及计量误差问题进行总结,指出在超声波流量计应用中应注意的维护工作要点,从而降低超声波流量计的测量误差,保证贸易计量的公平公正性。     

A framework for diagnosing the delivery reliability performance of make-to-order companies

Improving performance in terms of delivery reliability is increasingly important for make-to-order (MTO) companies. Detecting improvement opportunities requires a structured diagnosis of the current performance. General problem-solving literature provides structures for diagnosis processes in general, but – depending on the performance problem to be diagnosed – a theoretical framework based on domain-specific scientific knowledge is required. This paper presents a framework for diagnosing delivery reliability performance in MTO companies. The framework consists of a diagnosis tree that structures the diagnosis process, enabling one to navigate from the achieved performance to the underlying causes related to production planning and control (PPC). A theoretical foundation, enabling the possible causes of unreliable deliveries to be structured, is based on recent scientific developments in PPC literature. Three case studies exemplify the use of the framework. The developed framework shows its particular strengths in (1) selecting the right problem areas, (2) providing the right diagnosis instruments, and (3) detecting causes related to PPC decisions. It also supports diagnosis from quantitative data available in standard ERP software packages and enables diagnosis triangulation using qualitative data from the underlying decision processes.     

顾客体验管理的概念、实施框架与策略

顾客体验管理是战略性地管理顾客对产品或公司全面体验的过程,它是一种注重顾客参与的、动态的、系统性的顾客关系管理模式.建立以顾客体验的需求识别、影响因素分析、创造与完善以及绩效评价为核心内容的顾客体验管理框架,可以确保企业在对顾客体验需求进行准确把握的基础上,为处于生命周期不同阶段的顾客创造和传递符合其需要和价值层次的特定体验.在实施顾客体验管理过程中,企业需要关注体验式文化的建立、员工的招募和培训、体验式产品的设计、体验式营销环境的建立等多个环节.     

Understanding the impact of non-standard customisations in an engineer-to-order context: A case study

Companies operating with an engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing strategy produce customised solutions for their customers. While they may be able to build on a base of existing sub-solutions, e.g. standard product structures, modules or parts when engineering a customer-specific solution, they often have to create something completely new to satisfy customers’ requirements. However, it is not always clear to ETO companies what the costs associated with making customer specific solutions are, or which product or project characteristics drive costs and in what business processes. Therefore, it is not clear to companies if it is actually profitable for them to fulfil all of their customers’ requirements. Hence, making it relevant to understand how creating non-standard customisations impact project profitability. This paper presents a framework for how ETO companies can quantify the impact of the complexity associated with non-standard customisations when cost data is only available at the project level. The framework is theoretically founded; it is based on statistical regression and a definition of a complexity index for non-standard customisations. The framework is validated in the context of an ETO case company and empirical data is presented.     

Review of supply chain configuration and design decision-making for new product

The nature of competitive markets continuously pushes manufacturers to develop new products to meet the increasingly diversified customer demands. Manufacturers thus have to handle the complexities generated during the total life cycles of various product types, from product design to procurement, production, marketing and recycling. Though some management practices in mass customisation help to improve the performance of manufacturing systems, there are still some fundamental problems not covered. Joint decision-making of product and supply chain design, for example, is one of them. The existing industrial practice tends to treat these two problems separately. Decoupling these two problems decrease the design complexity but may lead to suboptimal decision outcome. To enhance understanding of the interconnected decisions for supply chain management and product design, this review collects related literature on this topic and focuses on the analysis of existing papers from an operation research perspective.     

Capacitated lot sizing with alternative routings and overtime decisions

Material requirements planning (MRP) is a basic tool for performing detailed material planning function in the manufacture of component parts and their assembly into finished items. MRP's managerial objective is to provide ‘the right part at the right time’ to meet the schedules for completed products. However satisfying end customer demands faster with lower inventories implies smarter scheduling which must simultaneously reflect actual capacity conditions. Therefore, the need is to schedule both capacity and materials simultaneously. Since MRP does not consider the availability of capacity resources to schedule production, consequently the schedules so developed are usually capacity infeasible. This paper proposes a three-step procedure to develop capacity feasible material and production schedules in a finite capacity environment. In the first step, an LP model produces capacity feasible but lot size relaxed planned order releases for all end products and assembly components which are then fed into a MRP processor, where a bill of material (BOM) explosion process generates material plans. Finally, these material plans are introduced to another LP model which assures that capacity feasibility is again restored. The mathematical models developed consider restrictions on lot sizes as well as alternative production routings and overtime decisions. A numerical example also is provided and some future research directions are outlined.     

Improving the design phase through interorganisational product knowledge models

This paper focuses on the use of interorganisational knowledge models with the purpose of standardising engineer-to-order (ETO) products. Such product variant reductions can lead to decreased costs for both the ETO company and its suppliers without reducing sales. In spite of the attention that supply chain integration has received in the literature, supply chain integration with a focus on the integration of product knowledge in ETO companies and their suppliers has not received much attention. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to define this type of supply chain integration. The concept is investigated by a case study, which supports the claim that supply chain product knowledge integration is an approach for increasing the competitiveness of ETO companies and their suppliers. Given the gap in the literature, the paper may potentially open a new horizon for studying supply chain integration.     

Assessing value of customer involvement in engineered-to-order shipbuilding projects using fuzzy set and rough set theories

Customer involvement plays a crucial role in engineered-to-order (ETO) projects. The present study investigates the involvement of customers, with thorough technical knowledge, as resources and co-producers. The study also analyses the impact of customer involvement in sourcing decisions and project execution on project performance (PP) of ETO shipbuilding projects by considering project and customer characteristics. The contributions of this study to the current body of knowledge on customer involvement in ETO projects are twofold. First, it demonstrates that customer involvement at different stages of shipbuilding projects have differential impacts on PP. Customer involvement in sourcing decisions during the early stages of the project has a positive impact, whereas involvement in project execution during the later stages of the project has a negative impact on PP. Second, it reveals that project complexity and customer type together significantly affect the PP. Therefore, the role of project complexity and customer type as potential contingent factors in explaining PP is emphasised. This study also makes a significant methodological contribution by demonstrating the use of fuzzy inference system and rough set theory to analyse qualitative inputs from interviews, when conducting surveys is not possible.     

Order confirmation mechanism for collaborative production networks

To avert risk, today's companies perform business with little capital investment. They invest only on the core activities which gain higher profit and outsource non-critical production activities to their partner companies (subcontractors or sourcing companies). Hence, a customer order is normally completed by a collaborative production network formed by the partner companies. However, co-ordinating those loosely and distributed companies to meet the uncertain demands from the final customers is not simple. This research suggests an order confirmation mechanism that allows synchronizing the available capacities over the supply network. The mechanism is developed based on a factory agent system and a design of three protocols: (1) protocol for normal condition, (2) protocol for abnormal condition, and (3) protocol for cancellation. Based on the protocols, messages and procedures are designed. The design is also deployed on a distributed computing environment to illustrate the feasibility and applicability.     

Production management model integrating the principles of lean manufacturing and sustainability supported by the cultural transformation of a company

The search for superior production performance has been used by companies to overcome competition in the current global economic scenario. Efficient manufacturing connected to environmental initiatives provides a company with favourable conditions for maintaining uniform and continuous improvement in its competitive performance, while providing operational versatility to respond quickly to volatile markets. As production is one of the most expensive areas for a company, many organisations have sought a new management model for their production system that provides substantial productivity gains, cost saving opportunities and higher customer satisfaction. This study proposes a model of production management and an implementation method integrating the principles of lean manufacturing and sustainability, supported by cultural transformation at the company. Its objective was to achieve productivity gains and improvements on customer satisfaction, as well as develop the ability to provide quick responses to market changes in a globalised economy. The implementation of the proposed model should be gradual, initially addressing fundamental principles, and should operate simultaneously with, and in the same environment as, workforce development and organisational transformation initiatives, to create sustainable improvements.     

基于数据指标体系的网络消费商业模式创新模型构建研究

目的 对网络消费商业模式可度量评估的创新模型进行构建研究,从而揭示其创新机会。方法 以设计与数据驱动商业模式创新的理念来组织网络消费商业模式的内容要素与创新路径,并以用户为中心创建面向网络消费商业模式内容要素的度量框架,在此基础上探索以绩效度量系统（PMS）为原理的基于数据指标体系的创新模型。结果 设计师可以利用设计思维参与并引导商业模式创新设计,以用户为中心生成有效的商业模式内容要素及相关绩效指标,加强企业绩效的基准管理。结论 以用户为中心,重构网络消费商业模式的5个内容要素与创新路径;以价值驱动因素为基础设计和选择内容要素的度量参考项,从而构建度量框架;绩效度量系统（PMS）包括财务和非财务关键绩效指标（KPI）,可以支持商业模式创新过程;基于关键绩效指标（KPI）与价值驱动因素的强关联性,通过衡量已有15个价值驱动因素（度量参考项）来设计相应的44个关键绩效指标（KPI）,最终生成创新模型。     

泛在电力物联网在北京经济技术开发区的应用探索

泛在电力物联网是物联网在电力领域的具体体现，建设泛在电力物联网是推进"三型两网"建设的关键环节，也是实现能源转型的必要手段。阐述了泛在电力物联网的定义，从供电公司角度出发，根据北京经济技术开发区实际情况，讨论了依托地区特点的泛在电力物联网实施策略和实际应用场景，分析了可能遇到的问题。得出结论：随着泛在电力物联网的深入建设，供电公司能够为电力客户提供多元化服务，提高客户满意度；地市供电公司能够依托泛在电力物联网开展更多电力相关业务；泛在电力物联网的安全性、实用性、有效性是发展面临的首要问题。     

面向订单设计型企业的制造执行系统的研究

制造执行系统是面向车间的管理信息系统,它填补了上层计划管理系统和底层的工业控制之间的信息"鸿沟".在面向订单设计型企业中实施制造执行系统,可以加强企业迅速响应客户需求的能力.分析了面向订单设计型企业的特点,在此基础上归纳了面向订单设计型企业对制造执行系统的要求.提出了一种适合面向订单设计型企业的制造执行系统功能模型.利用UML技术,抽象出制造过程的基本类,为以面向过程的思想开发制造执行系统提供参考.     

Dynamic restructuring process for self-reconfiguration in the fractal manufacturing system

To meet the rapidly changing customer needs in the manufacturing environment, future manufacturing systems must be dynamically and flexibly reconfigured. The fractal manufacturing system (FrMS) is one of the new manufacturing paradigms that can meet such requirements. The basic component of the FrMS is referred to as a fractal. Consisting of self-similar agents, each fractal autonomously cooperates and negotiates with others to coordinate its tasks. Dynamic restructuring process (DRP) supports reorganization of the system configurations so that the FrMS can be adapted to dynamically changing environments. Although traditional approaches have endeavoured to demonstrate reconfigurability of a manufacturing system, they are not accurate enough to meet the requirements of circumstances such as high-level autonomy in reconfiguring the system architecture. In this paper, therefore, the DRP, which embodies self-reconfigurability of a system, is proposed focusing on the FrMS. To check the effectiveness of the DRP, we have developed the FrMS test bed and conducted the experimentation on the DRP. A simulation study has been conducted to show the effectiveness of the DRP under an illustrative situation.