A set of technical issues are addressed related to benchmarking best practice behavior in warehouses. In order to identify best practice, first performance needs to be measured. There are a variety of tools available to measure productivity and efficiency. One of the most common tools is data envelopment analysis (DEA). Given a system that consumes inputs to generate outputs, previous work has shown production theory can be used to develop basic postulates about the production possibility space and to construct an efficient frontier which is used to quantify efficiency. Beyond inputs and outputs warehouses typically have practices (techniques used in the warehouse) or attributes (characteristics of the environment of the warehouse including demand characteristics) which also influence efficiency. Previously in the literature, a two-stage method has been developed to investigate the impact of practices and attributes on efficiency. When applying this method, two issues arose: how to measure efficiency in small samples and how to identify outliers. The small sample efficiency measurement method developed in this thesis is called multi-input / multi-output quantile based approach (MQBA) and uses deleted residuals to estimate efficiency. The outlier detection method introduces the inefficient frontier. Both overly efficient and overly inefficient outliers can be identified by constructing an efficient and an inefficient frontier. The outlier detection method incorporates an iterative procedure previously described, but has not been implemented in the literature. Further, this thesis also discusses issues related to selecting an orientation in super efficiency models. Super efficiency models are used in outlier detection, but are also commonly used in measuring technical progress via the Malmquist index. These issues are addressed using two data sets recently collected in the warehousing industry. The first data set consists of 390 observations of various types of warehouses. The other data set has 25 observations from a specific industry. For both data sets, it is shown that significantly different results are realized if the methods suggested in this document are adopted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 1983. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references.

Orientador: Olivio Novaski / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-09T23:02:04Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sugai_Miguel_D.pdf: 1274322 bytes, checksum: 70a6b343805d0ccb0f6f8bb640c793dd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: As metodologias de redução de tempo de preparação (setup) ganharam importância quando se tornou necessário produzir em pequenos lotes e grande variedade com o mesmo sistema produtivo. No contexto histórico, recebe maior destaque a metodologia SMED (Single- Minute Exchange of Die) elaborada por Shigeo Shingo, consultor da Toyota Motors Company, que deu passos relevantes em termos conceituais e técnicos. Nos dias atuais, o uso do SMED nas indústrias brasileiras tem sido mais comum. Contudo, tem surgido a preocupação em realizar melhorias que possibilitam a plena recuperação da capacidade produtiva após o setup. Este período da retomada (fase pós-setup) não tem recebido muitas atenções e em alguns sistemas produtivos tem gerado muitas perdas. Este trabalho realiza uma revisão histórica e o estado da arte dos conceitos de setup e changeover (virada de produção) sendo que a principal contribuição desta tese é propor um Método de Classificação dos Elementos do Período da Retomada. Partindo das causas primárias do diagrama de Ishikawa, a classificação utiliza como base as informações da revisão bibliográfica e dos estudos de caso múltiplos (máquina individual, arranjo celular e linha de produção) realizados na indústria metal-mecânica. O resultado final foi o desenvolvimento do Método de Classificação dos Elementos do Período da Retomada e da Planilha de Classificação de Sentenças com o qual se avalia cada elemento do período da retomada conforme as categorias ¿geração de instabilidade¿, ¿intermediário¿ e ¿domínio¿ no período da retomada. Este método foi testado em outros dois estudos de caso de produção discreta para validar o seu conteúdo, embora contenha informações úteis para outros sistemas produtivos / Abstract: The setup time reduction methodologies gained importance when the industry was challenged to produce in small lots and high variety with the same production system. In the historical context, SMED methodology, elaborated by Shigeo Shingo, a Toyota Motors Company consultant, deserves special attention. His methodology has given prominent steps in terms of evaluation and technical concepts regarding setup time reduction methodologies. Today, the use of the SMED in the Brazilian industries has become commonplace. However, the concern to make improvements to achieve full recuperation of production capacity after setup has arisen. This run-up period has not received the necessary attention, leading to big losses in some production systems. This work is a historical review and a presentation of the state-of-the-art of setup and changeover concepts and, its main contribution, is proposing a classification method of the elements that cause the run-up period. Starting from the primary causes of Ishikawa's diagram, the classification is based on the information from bibliographical revision and from the multiple case studies (individual machine, cellular arrangement and production line) developed in the metal-mechanical industry. The final result is the Classification Method of Element that Cause the Run-up period in which each causal element is evaluated according to the categories ¿instability generation¿, ¿intermediate¿ and ¿domain in the run-up period¿. This Classification Method has been tested in other two case studies to validate the concept and it received the approval in cases of discrete production, although it also contains relevant information for other productive systems / Doutorado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

Orientador: Angela Maria Carneiro Araujo / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-04T03:50:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Santos_GliciaVieirados_D.pdf: 1719099 bytes, checksum: 4d6d8a2bf71c4cbe124101ab343b04db (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005 / Resumo: Esta tese analisa, a partir do local de trabalho e da percepção dos trabalhadores, os efeitos da globalização e da reestruturação produtiva para a produção, os trabalhadores da indústria de processo contínuo expostas ao comércio internacional e os sindicatos papeleiros. A hipótese central é a de que as mudanças associadas à globalização têm um rebatimento importante no interior das fábricas, modificando a correlação de forças entre os diversos atores envolvidos na produção e tendo na participação da mão-de-obra uma mediadora não-desprezível. A reestruturação na indústria de celulose e papel alcançou um amplo espectro: desde a reestruturação das cadeias produtivas no plano internacional, passando pela redefinição das estratégias gerenciais das empresas, ultrapassando os limites de suas fronteiras com mudanças nas relações com as comunidades locais e as firmas que integram a cadeia de fornecimento de produtos e serviços e, contemplando ainda, a reformulação das estratégias sindicais. Decisões gerenciais ¿técnicas¿ que ocultam uma dimensão ¿política¿ alteraram as relações de poder entre chefes, engenheiros e trabalhadores do chão-de-fábrica. Os procedimentos metodológicos adotados para a elaboração deste trabalho compreenderam: pesquisa bibliográfica, pesquisa de campo, pesquisa documental, análise de estatísticas sobre o mercado de trabalho, visitas a fábricas e sindicatos e entrevistas / Abstract: This thesis analyzes, from the perspective of the workplace and the frame of reference of employees, the effects of globalization and of productive restructuring on production, on the employees involved in industries that employ continuous processes and on the unions of the pulp and paper sector. The central hypothesis is that the changes linked to globalization have had a significant effect inside the factories, modifying the correlation of the strength of the many diverse players involved in production and they have also had a relevant mediating effect in terms of the participation of labor. The restructuring has reached a broad scope: going from the restructuring of the production chains, on an international scale, to the redefinition of the management strategies of the industries, and reaching beyond the industries internal boundaries through the changes brought on with respect to the communities and the companies that make up the supply chain and, also taking into consideration the reformulation of the strategies taken up by the unions. ¿Technical¿ management decisions that conceal a ¿political¿ dimension have altered the relationships of power among the bosses, engineers and other employees. The methodological procedures adopted include: bibliographical research as well as that of documentation, fieldwork, the analysis of statistics regarding the labor market, visits to factories and unions and interviews / Doutorado / Ciencias Sociais / Doutor em Ciências Sociais

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis uses data collected from a sample of thirty-nine Canadian and thirty-nine American manufacturing firms to provide an empirical foundation for the assessment of the performance of Canadian manufacturers through most of the twentieth century. The unbalanced panel of Canadian firms covers the years 1907-1990. The unbalanced panel of American firms covers the years 1902-1990. To quantify the performance of Canadian manufacturers I measure relative technical efficiency by calculating the total factor productivity (T.F.P.) and labour, capital and intermediate input partial factor productivities of the Canadian firms in my sample relative to the American firms. On average I find that the Canadian firms have had lower labour productivity and intermediate input productivities, but superior capital productivity. When measuring the productivity of the entire production process simultaneously there appears to have been no consistent and substantial T.F.P. difference between the Canadian and American firms, on average. To explain the variation in the partial factor productivities between my Canadian and American firms I disaggregate the total variation into differences due to domestically unique input prices, output levels, biased technology and neutral technology. In general the Canadian firms appear to have been responding to lower labour and intermediate input prices and higher capital costs by using the relatively expensive inputs conservatively and the relatively inexpensive inputs liberally. The Canadian firms also appear to have been adapting their technology in response to the unique input market conditions they faced. The evidence that the Canadian firms in my sample were choosing input combinations and technology which reflected the domestic input prices they faced indicates behaviour consistent with competent entrepreneur ship. Additional evidence illustrating the Canadian producers' responsiveness to idiosyncratic and continental changes in their input market conditions reinforces the partial factor productivity evidence: The performance of the Canadian manufacturers' in my sample of firms, with respect to total factor productivity and responsiveness to domestic input market conditions, suggests that on average Canadian manufacturers have traditionally performed at least as well as their American counterparts. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

My Ph. D thesis, Panic over the Pub: Drink and the First World War, considers the causes, consequences and control of popular drinking behaviour and how broader currents of social debate affected the perception of the alleged alcohol problem during the First World War, shedding new light upon government inclinations towards state control during the conflict. Within current historiography there is a consummate lack of understanding concerning the formation of opinion on the drink problem ‘from below’ and its effect upon the ‘high politics’ of the decision making procedure. My thesis considers how ‘drink’ and ‘leisure’ became increasingly contentious and a domestic problem due principally to established fears concerning working class behaviour and military failures on the Western Front. My thesis argues that moral panic, rather than factual certainties, dictated attitudes to drinking in Britain during the war. An investigation of the Central Control Board, a government body established to deal specifically with the drink problem in the exigencies of conflict, constitutes the central core of my thesis, together with an assessment of the role of Lord D’Abernon, Chairman of this organisation.

U.S. companies have implemented just-in-time purchasing (JITP) and total quality management (TQM) techniques to improve their global competitive position. The lack of empirical research on these techniques with firm's performance is the reason to explain further their strategic values as management innovations in different types and sizes of organizations. From a theoretical foundation on the relations between innovation, strategy and performance, the following research questions were generated: (1) Are JITP and TQM positively related to the firm's performance?, (2) Do the combination/sequence of implementing JITP and TQM have a relation with the firm's performance?, and (3) Is the relationship between JITP and TQM to the firm's performance moderated by any of industry type, firm size,firm type and/or duration of JITP and TQM techniques? A model is developed and hypotheses are proposed. A survey is mailed to firms operating in the U.S. that have implemented one or both techniques. Questionnaire items measuring JITP, TQM, performance, and moderating variables - industry type, firm size,firm type, and duration of JIT purchasing and TQM techniques— are either developed or borrowed from other studies. From rosters of the American Society for Quality Control and the National Association of Purchasing Management, 1884 target respondents result in a 20.3 percent response rate. Reliability and factor analysis of the constructs are established. The research model is tested by canonical correlation analyses before a separate hierarchical regression analysis of sets is run for each of the three performance factors: financial and market, time-based quality and material productivity. The extent of JITP and TQM implementation positively and significantly relate with firm's performance. Furthermore, the relation between JITP and financial and market performance is higher in industries that face high foreign competition. Firm size, firm type and duration of JITP and TQM techniques are nonsignificant moderators. An improved research model is offered.

To decrease the ecological footprint, humans either have to adjust their lifestyles, or the large scale industries must take corporate social responsibility. This study is based on the well-developed field of energy efficiency in industries by applying technology and organizational-focused proposals. The proposals are based on three different aspects, the economic, the environmental, and the social. These three aspects combined are called the triple bottom line perspective. An original case of the study objects energy balance was determined to develop the conclusions, with the simulation program IDA ICE. The study object was GKN ePowertrain, located in Köping. Energy efficiency cases were simulated in IDA ICE to observe the change in the energy balance. The cases and interviews of the employees were the foundation of the discussion where the improvements were critically reviewed from the triple bottom line perspective. The result shown that the temperature was too high for working conditions, the ventilation system consumes a large quantity of energy, and the internal flow of information is insufficient. In conclusion, GKN ePowertrain would increase their overall value by investing in a cooling system and more efficient heat exchangers for their ventilation system. These investments would notably increase their short term value of environmental sustainability and the social aspect. Furthermore, their economic value would increase in the long term. The cooling system would improve the working environment, and a new ventilation system would increase the heat recovery and decrease the energy consumed, even more than the consumption of the cooling system. Finally, GKN should also be more distinct in their information to the employees in the building regarding energy aims and their working environment, to have a positive gain of value in all the fields.