一种单元制生产方式设备布局问题的研究方法

单元制生产方式是适合于目前多品种、少批量市场需求环境下产生的先进生产制造方式,基于单元制生产方式的设备布局是实现精益生产的重要硬件支撑.对单元式生产方式下的设备布局进行了研究,把该种形式的设备布局分成两个阶段:第一阶段是制造单元的设计,第二阶段是对划定的制造单元进行布局,形成最终的设备布局.分别建立了相应的数学优化模型,通过实例验证了该方法的可行性和有效性.     

Development of technology and service thinking for technical personnel: Action research at a Japanese monitor maker

The importance of services within technology-based business in terms of customer value is increasingly well-understood by manufacturing companies. Manufacturing companies are trying to restructure their business models by adding the concept of service that is required to make a process of value co-creation with customers. Human resources are a core factor in the implementation of this notion in the practical field. In a technology-based business, technical personnel must have not only technology-oriented thinking but also service-oriented thinking in order to generate new value propositions. In this work, we propose an approach to transform the way of thinking and support knowledge co-creation with others with a focus on new corporate value propositions. We combined a service innovation chart with a business model thinking methodology to create a new approach intended for the development of technology and service thinking within technical personnel. Our objective is to help manufacturing companies create a service climate and clarify the knowledge co-creation process. We conducted action research by introducing our approach to 25 technical personnel employed by a Japanese monitor maker and obtained data including feedback on its usability and the impact on corporate business models. The findings of this study will help personnel to generate technology and service-based innovation concepts, thereby promoting servitization in technology-based companies.     

The use of best design practices: An analysis of US navy contractors

Rapid and successful introduction of new products is a potentially significant source of competitive advantage for manufacturing firms. Organizations need to identify and manage those critical elements of the product development process (PDP) that have a positive influence on new product success. This research identifies the distinctive product development and design practices, policies and tools currently followed by companies (Navy contractors) that participated in an empirical research study known as the Best Manufacturing Practices Program. A summary of practices reported in the case studies is compiled using content analysis techniques, and the most interesting practices by individual companies are highlighted. We find numerous examples of sophisticated CAD techniques being used to enhance the development process, including expert system design advisers, computer simulation, and design databases. Companies are emphasizing the design policies of concurrent engineering and teamwork, and documenting design process knowledge into design manuals. Company effort still appear focused primarily on the phase of detailed design rather than the concept selection phase.     

Assessing manufacturing strategy definitions utilising text-mining

The variations in Manufacturing Strategy (MS) definitions create confusion and lead to lack of shared understanding between academic researchers and practitioners on its scope. The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical analysis of the paradox in the difference between academic and industry definitions of MS. Natural Language Processing (NLP) based text mining is used to extract primary elements from the various academic, and industry definitions of MS. Co-word and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) provide empirical support for the grouping into nine primary elements. We posit from the terms evolution analysis that there is a stasis currently faced in academic literature towards MS definition while the industry with its emphasis on ‘context’ has been dynamic. We believe that the proposed approach and results of the present empirical analysis can contribute to overcoming the current challenges to MS design and deployment – imprecise definition leading to its inadequate operationalisation.     

Manufacturing knowledge management strategy

The study sought to understand the components of knowledge management strategy from the perspective of staff in UK manufacturing organizations. To analyse this topic, we took an empirical approach and collaborated with two manufacturing organizations. Our main finding centres on the key components of a knowledge management strategy, and the relationships between it and manufacturing strategy and corporate strategy. Other findings include: the nature of knowledge in manufacturing organizations; the relevance of (in)formal processes; top-down and bottom-up communication; taking ownership for information processes. We also make comments on the development of action plans for better knowledge management. The implications are that, for an integrated approach to knowledge management strategy in manufacturing organizations, involvement across the organization and at all levels is necessary.     

Comparisons between drum–buffer–rope and material requirements planning: a case study

Drum–Buffer–Rope (DBR) is an alternative approach to manufacturing planning and control that is not as formally tested as Material Requirements Planning (MRP) systems which have traditionally been around for years. Yet, some reports indicate very good performance for DBR and the associated use of synchronous manufacturing principles. But how do these systems compare and relate to one another? Based on our experiences of studying a Bearing Manufacturing Company that actually made the transition from an MRP system to a DBR system, we conduct simulation-based experiments in this paper with the objective of providing a more formal comparison between these two systems than what has been offered in prior literature. To our knowledge, this is the only study of its kind that uses a real-world setting to evaluate key differences and convergence points between comprehensive MRP and DBR systems. Our results show that even though the MRP and DBR systems position inventory differently and provide different dynamic responses to customer demand, there are several operating policies that can be implemented in either system. While the DBR performance in our simulation model was clearly superior to a nominal MRP implementation, we show that even within the constraints of the structural design of MRP system, policy modification based on DBR principles can significantly reduce these performance differences. This finding has an important implication for practising managers who need not necessarily switch from a MRP system to a DBR type of a system (as was done by our case-study firm) in order to take advantage of attractive features of the DBR system. Future researchers can use our study to understand more fully how these Structural Design and Operating Policy differences can be further exploited to implement unique systems that combine the best features of both DBR and MRP systems.     

Hybrid simulation modelling as a supporting tool for sustainable product service systems: a critical analysis

Manufacturing companies are increasingly shifting their value proposition from a product-centric perspective to Product-Service-System (PSS). This evolution allows companies to improve the customisation of their offer and to contribute to reduce material flows and consumption, thus enhancing sustainability. However, when companies introduce PSS offers, they have to face higher complexity and dynamism, as customer behaviours, process requirements and sustainability assessment must be considered during the design and the development of the new solutions. In this paper, after the identification of the main PSS dynamic features, the authors argue that business process simulation (BPS) could represent an effective tool to cope with the dynamics and the complexity entailed in a sustainable PSS. This paper analyses and compares existing BPS approaches identifying the hybrid simulation (HS) modelling as a promising approach. In fact, according to the critical PSS features, HS allows grasping PSS features and integrating customer, company and environmental sustainability perspectives into the model, thus, supporting effective PSS design and assessment. These findings have been validated in a test case where a hybrid model (integrating Discrete Event Simulation with Agent-Based Modelling) has been compared against a pure DES model. The results highlight the advantages of the hybrid modelling approach with respect to DES in supporting the engineering of a sustainable, customer-oriented PSS provision process.     

A knowledge accumulation approach based on bilayer social wiki network for computer-aided process innovation

Under the fierce competition, manufacturing companies pay more attention to innovation and the knowledge that enables innovation. Manufacturing process innovation is a knowledge-intensive activity, and efficient knowledge accumulation is the prerequisite and basis for computer-aided process innovation (CAPI). Hence, this research aims to build an open knowledge accumulation approach to obtain organised and refined process innovation knowledge (PIK). By considering the similarity of PIK network with biological neural network and combining the technical characteristics of social network with wiki, a novel PIK accumulation schema based on bilayer social wiki network is proposed. In social wiki network environment, PIK is accumulated in public knowledge space through participants’ social interactions and knowledge activities. The process of knowledge fusion is investigated to form the preliminary knowledge containing collective intelligence, and the mechanisms of collaborative editing and collaborative evolution are studied to refine the knowledge. The outcomes of this study lay the foundation for knowledge application of CAPI. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach.     

DEM simulation for optimal design of powder mixing in a ribbon mixer

A ribbon mixer is often employed in powder mixing in a wide range of engineering fields. The structure of the ribbon mixer is extremely complicated. This structure makes it difficult to understand the mixing mechanism by experimental approaches due to problems related to accurate sampling. At present, the mixing mechanism in the ribbon mixer is empirically identified as convection, despite a lack of precise assessment. Additionally, experimental investigations to find the optimal design of the ribbon mixer have not been sufficiently conducted because of its prohibitive cost. As such, there is a lack of sufficient discussion concerning the design for better mixing in the ribbon mixer. Numerical technologies represent a promising approach for solving the aforementioned problems. Significant improvements in computer hardware have enabled numerical models such as the discrete element method (DEM) to be positively employed in powder mixing. In the current study, an identification approach is developed for convective mixing, and besides, the study explores an effective parameter for better mixing in the ribbon mixer using the DEM. A swept volume measurement approach due to paddle movement is newly developed to identify the main mixing mechanism as convection. Sensitivity analyses are performed to find an effective parameter for better mixing. Through the sensitive analyses, the blade width is indicated as an important factor for achieving better mixing. Moreover, this study shows that the relationship between the swept volume and mixing index remains, even if the paddle width changes. Thus, the swept volume measurement method is revealed as useful for identifying the mechanism as convection in the ribbon mixer. Thus, not only novel finding regarding the blade width for better mixing but also the development of an approach for identifying convective mixing in the ribbon mixer is presented herein. Incidentally, convection being the dominant mechanism is consistent with the novel finding regarding blade width achieving better mixing.     

Structural and infrastructural practices as elements of content operations strategy. The effect on a firm's competitiveness

Some extant theoretical studies and different empirical results have demonstrated that a firm's behaviour explains several notable competitiveness microeconomic foundations, based on a wide bundle of elements. Firms can directly control most of these elements; in this paper, we will focus on those related to operations management. Therefore, products, processes, technology, equipments or quality control systems will centre our attention. These, and some additional elements, constitute decisions within the operations management area that must be included in the content of operations strategy. Operations strategy can be conceptualized as a set of decisions or practices with regard to structure and infrastructure variables. On the one hand, these strategic decisions influence a firm's abilities successfully to reach some competitive priorities such as cost, quality, delivery and flexibility, and, on the other hand, to obtain the expected performance. This research analyzes which are the main structural and infrastructural practices that constitute operations strategies in manufacturing companies, and investigates the effect of these decisions on some firm competitiveness indicators.     

Drivers and consequences of an innovative technology assimilation in the supply chain: cloud computing and supply chain integration

Cloud Computing are innovative technologies that are being applied in the main business functions in the supply chain. This study aims to reveal the determinant factors (drivers and a relevant outcome) of the level of use or assimilation of Cloud Computing in the supply chain. In order to test three hypotheses we conducted an empirical study in 484 companies from sectors in an intermediate position in the supply chain. The data gathering method consisted of a telephone survey using a computerised system (CATI). We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the hypotheses. The empirical study reveals that Advanced Manufacturing Technologies pursuing the internal efficiency of the supply chain (Intra-organisational IT) and IT for capabilities in e-business/e-commerce seeking external connection of the supply chain with other companies (Inter-organisational IT) are drivers of Cloud Computing assimilation. Furthermore, supply chain integration is one of the major consequences of Cloud Computing assimilation in the supply chain.     

Bidirectional relationship between network position and knowledge creation in Scientometrics

Based on the 3100 papers published in the international journal Scientometrics retrieved from Web of Science database over the period 1996–2015, we utilize three-stage least squares (3SLS) to investigate the bidirectional relationship between authors’ network position and knowledge creation. Furthermore, our research is of great benefit to better understanding of the interplay of knowledge and collaboration networks on knowledge creation. The empirical results confirm that the prolific co-authorship and international co-authorship have positive and significant effects on the knowledge creation. The results from the 3SLS estimation models using the number of publications and citations as dependent variables also show that the structural holes of an author in the collaboration networks and her/his knowledge elements in knowledge networks have positive effects on her/his knowledge creation. These findings suggest that structural capital of an author and his/her knowledge elements are important influence factors of the quantity and quality of research output. The results of the models in this paper suggest that authors with better performance in knowledge creation are more likely to attract collaborators and occupy structural holes. In summary, we fill the research gap in exploring the bidirectional relationship between authors’ network positions (in terms of degree centrality and structural holes) and research output.     

Knowledge management performance measurement based on World-Class Competitive Advantages to develop strategic-oriented projects: Case of Iranian oil industry

Knowledge Management (KM) is one of the main sources for achieving World-Class Competitive Advantages (WCCAs), and is also an incentive for the development of strategic-oriented projects. Because subsidiaries of the oil industry are always looking for WCCAs to implement their strategic-oriented projects, it is important to measure WCCAs-based KM performance. We offered a WCCAs-based Knowledge Management Performance Measurement (KMPM) instrument to develop strategic-oriented projects and validated it in the Iranian oil industry. Based on an in-depth review of previous studies, the indicators of KMPM that could lead to WCCAs were extracted. Then, an exploratory factor analysis and a confirmatory factor analysis were used to identify and confirm the criteria of the proposed instrument. Based on the proposed instrument, the KM performance of the subsidiaries of the Iranian Ministry of Petroleum (MoP) was assessed, and finally, strategic-oriented projects were suggested. Our proposed instrument includes four main criteria, namely “knowledge quality”, “knowledge utility”, “knowledge innovation”, and “business results”, all of which are valid in the Iranian oil industry. Our findings also present 17 strategic-oriented projects. The policymakers and the top managers of the surveyed companies could obtain more knowledge regarding measuring the WCCAs-based KM performance, and utilize it to develop their strategic-oriented projects. The present research is one of the first studies of its kind that provides a WCCAs-based KMPM instrument and expands the literature on KMPM and WCCAs.     

Implementation specification for software process improvement supportive knowledge management tool

Software process improvement (SPI) is a long-term journey, which is made comfortable by many means. The most dominant and preferred plan is a knowledge driven methodology with which software development organisations are experimenting. To have a look and feel of knowledge and its management, it has become essential to have a standardised knowledge management tool (KMT) that comprises specifications like-acquisition, representation, sharing and deploying. Although several tools and techniques are available for managing knowledge to solve domain problems, it is felt in the knowledge society that no standard KM tools exist that would facilitate SPI. In this piece of implementation work, the authors outline the features that are deemed significant to implement a KMT that drives the journey of SPI. Four process areas are chosen and four subsystems are identified in covering these process areas. A series of studies conducted among organisations requiring the support of a KMT in making a decisive SPI initiative are also discussed with elaborate and significant results. Implications of this work demands the cooperation of software development companies with the research community in finding a better approach to their improvement program.     

An innovation process model for identifying manufacturing paradigms

Increasing changes in an organizational context require establishing an innovation process model for identifying manufacturing paradigms. Although many manufacturing paradigms have been developed since 1970, there is no innovation process model for manufacturing paradigms. In order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of developing a new manufacturing paradigm, this paper proposes the Manufacturing Paradigm Innovation Model (MPIM), which is composed of the Manufacturing Paradigm Tree (MPT), Innovation Sources for manufacturing paradigms, and the Manufacturing Paradigm Innovation Process Model (MPIPM). MPT can depict the relationships among the objectives and the practices of a manufacturing paradigm. With MPT, the manufacturing paradigm can be understood more effectively and holistically. MPT can help assess the maturity of a manufacturing paradigm and help identify a new manufacturing paradigm. The Innovation Sources can direct innovators to seek new practices when developing the new manufacturing paradigm. MPIPM consists of eight stages to develop the new manufacturing paradigm. MPIPM can be illustrated by examining the history of Toyota Motor Corporation between 1948 and 1963 when lean production was pioneered.     

基于敏捷制造思想的车间模式探讨

敏捷制造是国际上近几年提出来的新的制造方式，已得到了世界各工业发达国家的高度重视。本文提出了基于敏捷制造的车间模式进行探讨的思想，并针对车间的功能、组成与结构、行为等进行了讨论。     

A study of Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRPII) implementation in China

In manufacturing organizations, the largest and most important information systems are Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRPII) systems. These systems, in use in the US since the 1970s, have been implemented by an increasing number of Chinese companies. In this study, we evaluate the factors of influence and benefits realized by Chinese firms through MRPII. Based on survey responses from 93 companies in China, we analysed the factors that significantly influence the benefits of MRP, using the Additivity and Variance Stabilization (AVAS) and the Projection Pursuit Regression (PPR) methods. Applying AVAS and PPR methods established the functional relationship between the benefits achieved and the extent to which problems are encountered in implementation, the degree of involvement by different functional areas during the implementation and the number of functional modules used.     

Relationships between lean product development enablers and problems

The lean product development (LPD) approach uses lean principles and enablers (tools, techniques and practices) to reduce waste and continuously improve the product development processes (PDP). Other than reducing product development lead time, LPD also aims at improving quality by reducing problems that might occur during the process. Several LPD enablers are proposed in the existing literature; however, there is limited knowledge on how these enablers may effectively counteract the occurrence of problems in the PDP. We empirically tested the association between 4 groups of LPD enablers and 11 groups of LPD problems in a sample of 64 companies that are undergoing lean implementation in the shop floor and administrative areas. There are two major contributions here. First, we propose an empirically validated instrument for assessing the adoption of LPD enablers and the incidence of LPD problems in companies filling an existing gap in the literature. Second, we provide understanding on how LPD enablers can mitigate the incidence of LPD problems, allowing companies undergoing lean implementation to better manage their PDP. Moreover, some results demonstrate that the association between enablers and problems may not be as suggested in the existing literature.     

Manufacturing perspective of enterprise application integration: the state of the art review

Manufacturing enterprise today has become a matter of effective and efficient application of information technology and knowledge-based engineering. Several new manufacturing paradigms such as virtual enterprise (or extended enterprise) and mass customization have resulted in a highly distributed and autonomous manufacturing system. On the one hand, this will increase the competitiveness of a firm in terms of quickly meeting dynamic changes in the market; on the other hand, this will also increase the difficulty of integrating different information and knowledge systems residing in each member firm. This integration is also called enterprise application integration (EAI) (here the term application means information systems or software systems for supporting manufacturing or service activities). The methodology for EAI has been studied for at least a decade; but no satisfactory solution has been found from a practical viewpoint. EAI is becoming even more difficult due to the boom in various enterprise information and knowledge systems (and also to ever increasing competition in the technical software market). The study presented in this paper conducted a critical analysis of existing solutions to EAI. We consider EAI as having two generic issues: semantic integration and syntactic integration. The main problem of semantic integration reduces to the general problem of enterprise or business modelling. The main problem of syntactic integration reduces to the general problem of software architecture of enterprise applications which enables interoperability between any two EAs. While the first issue is studied in the manufacturing field, the second issue is studied in the computing engineering field. In this paper, both issues are put together under the context of EAI and studied. The result of the study, together with our experience with one Canadian manufacturing firm, has led to the identification of several issues to be addressed in the future. We also outline possible ways to approach these issues.     

Application of interpretive structural modelling for analysing the factors influencing integrated lean sustainable system

The modern manufacturing systems recognize the importance of adopting lean and sustainable manufacturing principles. Especially, Indian automotive component manufacturing organizations are interested in adopting the integrated lean sustainable manufacturing system. An appropriate methodology is required for enabling the organizations to identify the dominant factors. In this context, this article presents the interpretive structural modelling approach for identifying the mutual relationship among factors influencing the integrated lean sustainable manufacturing system. From the literature study and survey conducted among Indian automotive component manufacturing organizations, 25 influencing factors have been identified. Based on the study, top-management commitment in adopting integrated lean sustainable manufacturing and environmental knowledge occupy the bottom level of model which shows that it has more driving power. Efforts are being taken to implement the factors in the surveyed organizations.