半導體產業在近二十年來一直在我國經濟發展舞台上扮演積極重要的角色，其績效自然是研究者欲探索之重點。在管理會計頗有作用的作業制成本制度，其提供不同於以往傳統成本制度之資訊，在在替全球知名企業創造更具優勢的管理績效。本研究之重心即在：以深入訪談及田野實證研究方式探討半導體公司導入作業制成本制度後，所發生的績效變化、變化時間與相關資訊，用實證資料檢視作業制成本制度與公司實際經營績效之間的關係，為作業制成本制度在企業之成效作一較為完整且具實務運用的描述，進而提供後續推行作業制成本制度之研究價值，並給予實務界導入作業制成本制度之相關資訊，以作為我國企業推動作業制成本管理制度之參考。 　　本研究以田野實證之資料為主，並以迴歸方式驗證作業制成本資訊釋出前後對企業生產成本與品質之影響，實證結果顯示成本會隨資訊釋出而降低，品質則不會有所變化，表示作業制成本制度確實可以幫助管理者從事成本抑減之工作；也得到品質不會在短期內改善之結論，暗示作業制成本制度之財務績效先於品質績效，資訊使用者之熟練程度差異可能影響績效之出現與否。 　　基於研究所得結論，本研究建議個案公司可以將成本下降之經驗擴散至全廠區，藉由新制度教育員工成本與獲利觀念，並針對員工之使用感想修正個案公司之作業制成本制度。同時也建議未來的研究者，對品質與作業制成本制度甚至成本之關係，作更進一步之研究。 / Using field study method, this study focuses on the relationship between the manufacturing performance of the semi-conductor industry and activity-based costing system information. The analysis suggests that with better decision based on activity and cost driver information, the actvity-based costing information will reduce manufacturing costs while leave quality unchanged. 　　In conclusion, empirical results reveal that manufacturing costs actually decrease with the release of activity-based costing information, while manufacturing quality remains the same. The finding shows that the release of activity-based costing information can reduce the manufacturing costs, but there may not be an immediate effect of quality improvement, suggesting that cost can actually be improved by the activity-based costing system, and quality may need more time and skill toward activity-based costing to change.

The development of information technology (IT) shortens the distance between people, blurs the boundaries among countries. People confront unprecedented shock in both living and working styles. Facing the era of speed, the firms have to recognize what their surviving competence is. Generally the adoption of IT indicates the efficiency and effectiveness of a firm. Therefore, the first centerpiece in this study is to examine the influence of adoption of IT on the manufacturing performance of thefirms. With its high quality and excellent process capability in manufacturing industry, Taiwan has currently become the "global manufacturing center". Nowadays Taiwan's firms will contract the orders of production and sales from global division of labor rather than simple manufacturing orders. The challenge that Taiwan's firms will confront in the future will be supply chain management (SCM), which is also a key issue for a firm to enhance its competence. Therefore, the second centerpiece in this study is to examine the influence of supply chain management on the manufacturing performance of the firms. Supply chain management has become a good tool of the firms in their business management. Therefore, the third centerpiece in this study is to examine the relationship between supply chain management and the development of IT, and their influence on the manufacturing performance of the firms. 79 semiconductor downstream firms were used as target of sampling for data collection, while effective recalling rate is 37%. The result of this study indicates: 1. The application extent of IT with the capability of SCM reaches significant level. 2. The capability of SCM with the manufacturing performance reaches significant level. 3. The application extent of IT with the manufacturing performance does not reach significant level.

When the profit is compressed by the cost, quality, delivery, efficiency and flexibility in the tranditional industries, it is always the focus for the academic community and the field about how to build up two basic forces of competition: ¡§quick response¡¨ and ¡§competitive advantage¡¨ in the trends toward continuously short life cycle of product and extremely small amount yet many varieties of product. Applying lean production with ¡§small quantity yet most variety¡¨ to the activities of business operation is expected to create a highly lean and refined enterprise through the process of management in the company operation and to make more benefits to reach the goal of business and survive in the field. This research discusses if ¡§customer participatation¡¨, ¡§the relations with suppliers¡¨ and ¡§the management technique of organization¡¨ quoted from the the management concepts of lean production influence manufacturing efficiency and also treats the correlation between them. Furthermore, it verifies the difference between each dimension of management concept of lean production mentioned above with the organization performance. It takes the tranditional manufacturing industry in Taiwan as the objects of sampling and collects the cognitions of the interviewed on the three measuring dimensions including relation with suppliers, the management technique of organization, and customer participatation to the agreement degree for the execution inside organization and also the agreement degree to suppliers. The raw data are verified by SPSS software package and we get some conclusions below: There is remarkable positive influence between the suppliers with lean production and manufacturing performance. The factor of suppliers¡¦ participation has direct influence, and the next is information feedback from suppliers. But no direct influence existed to those suppliers with JIT delivery. There is remarkable positive influence between the management technique of organization and manufacturing performance. We find direct positive effect between manufacturing process SPC and employees¡¦ participation EMP. But there is no remarkably direct influence to ¡§Pull production¡¨, ¡§Continuous production process¡¨, ¡§ Shorten preparing time¡¨ and ¡§Total production maintenance¡¨. However, the influences of ¡§ Shorten preparing time¡¨, ¡§Total production maintenance¡¨ are bigger than ¡§Pull production¡¨ and ¡§Continuous production process¡¨. There is remarkable positive influence between the customers with lean production and manufacturing performance. Mainly direct influence effect for customer participation exists but no direct influence effect for information feedback from suppliers relatively. There is remarkable positive influence between the suppliers with lean production and customers¡¦ participation. The study finds that there is direct influence effect for information feedback from suppliers and customers¡¦ participation. Second are suppliers¡¦ participation and suppliers with JIT delivery. The result of this research provides managers in the manufacturing industry a path to improve the manufacturing performance of company by undertaking 5 remarkable indexes: (1) Suppliers¡¦ participation, (2) Information feedback from suppliers, (3) Management of manufacturing process, (4) Employees participation, (5) Customers¡¦ participation. Enhancing the relations with suppliers as well as customer participation, and upgrading management technique of organization will effectively improve the quality and delivery performance for the suppliers. Also it improves the manufacturing performance, and promotes the satisfication level of customers to increase enterprise¡¦s competition at last.

A produtividade e competitividade de empresas intensivas em capital é muito dependente do grau de utilização de sua capacidade industrial. Muitos indicadores têm sido utilizados para medir o desempenho da manufatura, dentre eles o Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Contudo, somente altos índices de OEE não garantem um desempenho superior em uma fábrica. Alguns autores sugerem que a adoção de indicadores com maior abrangência como o Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) é mais adequada à medição e análise do desempenho global da manufatura por contemplar a influência de outras áreas da organização sobre a utilização da capacidade de uma fábrica. Esta pesquisa discute a aplicação do OEE em empresas cuja competitividade depende fortemente da sua habilidade em racionalizar a utilização da capacidade industrial e explora indicadores derivados da sua utilização. Com este propósito é realizada uma revisão bibliográfica da literatura para identificar suas limitações, relacionar os indicadores derivados do OEE e caracterizá-los como ferramentas gerenciais que podem oferecer uma perspectiva mais global à medição do desempenho da utilização da capacidade. Além disto, um estudo de caso é desenvolvido em uma empresa processadora de alimentos para identificar como se pode envolver os diversos agentes responsáveis pelas perdas de capacidade de produção, inclusive aqueles que atual além da área de manufatura, para eliminação ou controle deste problema. O estudo mostra que a aplicação do OPE além do OEE pode tornar a detecção da causa raiz de problemas mais eficaz, além de induzir a integração da estratégia de produção com outras estratégias funcionais e desta forma promover o aumento do desempenho global da manufatura. / Process industries have to strive to attain high resource utilization so as to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the market. Many indicators have been used to measure their manufacturing performance, one of them is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). However, high OEE values per se do not ensure superior global performance. Some authors suggest that the consideration of indicators with broader magnitude such as Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) is more appropriate to measure and analyze the overall manufacturing performance since it also reflects the impacts of support areas on a plant\'s capacity utilization. This research reviews the application of OEE in companies that depend heavily on the ability to rationalize the utilization of their production capacity and explores the use of indicators derived from it. With this purpose, a literature review is presented to identify the limitations of OEE, to enumerate indicators derived from OEE and characterize them as management tools that may offer a more global perspective to the measurement of capacity utilization. Moreover, a case study is developed in a food processing company to identify how the diverse agents responsible for the losses in production capacity including those who perform beyond the manufacturing function, can be involved in the effort to eliminate or control this problem. The study shows that the use of OPE besides OEE can make the detection of the root cause of problems more effective and induce the integration of manufacturing strategy with other functional strategies, and thus promote the increase of overall manufacturing performance.

A produtividade e competitividade de empresas intensivas em capital é muito dependente do grau de utilização de sua capacidade industrial. Muitos indicadores têm sido utilizados para medir o desempenho da manufatura, dentre eles o Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Contudo, somente altos índices de OEE não garantem um desempenho superior em uma fábrica. Alguns autores sugerem que a adoção de indicadores com maior abrangência como o Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) é mais adequada à medição e análise do desempenho global da manufatura por contemplar a influência de outras áreas da organização sobre a utilização da capacidade de uma fábrica. Esta pesquisa discute a aplicação do OEE em empresas cuja competitividade depende fortemente da sua habilidade em racionalizar a utilização da capacidade industrial e explora indicadores derivados da sua utilização. Com este propósito é realizada uma revisão bibliográfica da literatura para identificar suas limitações, relacionar os indicadores derivados do OEE e caracterizá-los como ferramentas gerenciais que podem oferecer uma perspectiva mais global à medição do desempenho da utilização da capacidade. Além disto, um estudo de caso é desenvolvido em uma empresa processadora de alimentos para identificar como se pode envolver os diversos agentes responsáveis pelas perdas de capacidade de produção, inclusive aqueles que atual além da área de manufatura, para eliminação ou controle deste problema. O estudo mostra que a aplicação do OPE além do OEE pode tornar a detecção da causa raiz de problemas mais eficaz, além de induzir a integração da estratégia de produção com outras estratégias funcionais e desta forma promover o aumento do desempenho global da manufatura. / Process industries have to strive to attain high resource utilization so as to increase their productivity and competitiveness in the market. Many indicators have been used to measure their manufacturing performance, one of them is the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). However, high OEE values per se do not ensure superior global performance. Some authors suggest that the consideration of indicators with broader magnitude such as Overall Plant Effectiveness (OPE) is more appropriate to measure and analyze the overall manufacturing performance since it also reflects the impacts of support areas on a plant\'s capacity utilization. This research reviews the application of OEE in companies that depend heavily on the ability to rationalize the utilization of their production capacity and explores the use of indicators derived from it. With this purpose, a literature review is presented to identify the limitations of OEE, to enumerate indicators derived from OEE and characterize them as management tools that may offer a more global perspective to the measurement of capacity utilization. Moreover, a case study is developed in a food processing company to identify how the diverse agents responsible for the losses in production capacity including those who perform beyond the manufacturing function, can be involved in the effort to eliminate or control this problem. The study shows that the use of OPE besides OEE can make the detection of the root cause of problems more effective and induce the integration of manufacturing strategy with other functional strategies, and thus promote the increase of overall manufacturing performance.

The objective of this study is to investigate the strategic factors that influence the overall performance of manufacturing organisations in different industries. Strategic groups were identified using cluster analysis and their overall performance was evaluated. Structural equation modelling was used to verify the existence of significant linkages between competitive factors and firms' overall performance within the identified strategic groups. The results of this study pointed out to the existence of a relationship between strategic group membership and firm's overall performance. Overall, the results tend to emphasise the importance of viewing manufacturing performance from a system-wide perspective.

The literature on manufacturing performance measurement underscores the importance of operational performance measures, as well as aggregate organisational measures. However, research aimed at quantifying and tracking such measures from both operational and organisational perspectives has been slow in forthcoming. The Manufacturing Operational Effectiveness (MOE) indicator introduced and tested in this study lends itself to both operational performance measures and aggregate organisational performance measures of the manufacturing system performance. The results of several simulation scenarios utilising actual manufacturing data clearly illustrate the utility of MOE. These results have both operational tactical and strategic organisational practical implications. Operational effectiveness and strategic competitiveness can be tracked and improved through the systematic utilisation of MOE.

The Doctoral Thesis builds and tests a theoretical model that evaluates the contribution of shared knowledge and information technology to manufacturing performance. This is achieved through a sectorial research study among Manufacturing, Quality and R&D groups in the global economy era of the 21st century. Theoretically, our research stands uponthe 'knowledge-based theory of the firm'. The theory has received influences from earlier research lines. It is considered to originate from the 'epistemology' of the cognitive philosophers and -through contradiction to the 'transaction cost economics' and the traditional product-based or competitive advantage view-it builds heavily upon the 'resource-based theory'. Starting with an analysis of previous empirical studies and by means of a productive synthesis, we develop the Shared Knowle! dge and Information Technology evaluation model which we later use in order to test the investigation hypotheses. Survey data collected from 51 medium to large sizeindustrial companies with a total of 112 manufacturing groups, representing 5 industrial sectors (alimentation, automotive, chemical and pharmaceutical, electro-mechanical,and textile) were analyzed to test the model. A methodology, particularly deployed for the Thesis and the proposed evaluation model, was developed. Its key elements are:(a) Two types of questionnaires, addressing the inter-group relationships andthe performance issues respectively, were developed and pilot tested prior to being used as the principal researchinstruments.(b) Design of the indicators and measures has been carried out using two types of measures, general and multiplicative, for all the variables. Manufacturing group performance has been conceptualized in two parts: operational and service performance. (c) Key-informant methodology has been used for selecting ourresearch responders.(d) Validity threats have been given special attention and three different types of validity criteria are applied. (e) Path analysis, a regression-based technique that permits testing of causal models, has been used. The investigation hypotheses have been tested and found to be fully or partially supported, by the significance -or insignificance- of the relevant paths.(f) Finally, four confirmatory tests have been conducted in order to further secure the validity of the hypotheses.As shared knowledge and information technology (IT) are central points of our investigation, we have focused on the issues of Knowledge Management (KM), and we have purposely directed our research on specific IT Systems for Supporting Collaboration and Knowledge-based Work. Our final target was to connect both shared knowledge and information technology to manufacturing performance, the subject matter of our investigation. Today's global economy era is the environment of our study, so it was under this perspective als! o that: (a) we have examined theinfluences of the globalization phenomenon to the recent information technology developments; (b) we have regarded KM and sharing knowledge in practice as an answer to globalization. Finally, our conclusions are presented together with a reference to the study's limitations and some recommendations for future research. Based on the literature and the results of our research we are demonstrating that the two main findings of the study -the proved significant contributions of (a) shared knowledge to the manufacturing group performance, and (b) information technology to, mainly, the manufacturing group performance and, secondarily, to sharing knowledge- are useful to researchers and the business community alike. Manufacturing, Quality and R&D groups have the opportunity to increase shared knowledge and, in this manner, to positively affect manufacturing performance by developing mutual trust and influence through repeated periods of positive face-to-face or IT-based communication, social interaction and common goal accomplishment.

[pt] O tema principal desta tese é a operacionalização da flexibilidade de manufatura, a partir de duas abordagens: teórica e empírica. A abordagem teórica visa a discussão com base em uma extensa revisão da bibliografia, da flexibilidade de manufatura e a sua operacionalização. No tocante à operacionalização, destaca-se a existência de diversos aspectos considerados indutores, como a tecnologia de processo, métodos de gerenciamento da produção, gerenciamento de recursos humanos, tecnologia de informação, processo de desenvolvimento de produtos e os relacionamentos na cadeia de suprimentos. Dentre esses aspectos, verificou-se a necessidade de aprofundamento na questão que trata dos relacionamentos na cadeia de suprimentos, em especial os relacionamentos produtor- fornecedor. Após o desenvolvimento do referencial teórico sobre os relacionamentos na cadeia de suprimentos, no sentido de apresentar as características gerais e seus efeitos sobre a flexibilidade de manufatura, passou-se a uma análise empírica com o foco no relacionamento produtor- fornecedor. A escolha desse indutor para a condução do estudo empírico deu-se em função da emergência do papel dos fornecedores na definição das estratégias do produtor e da importância das relações entre produtor e fornecedor na criação e desenvolvimento de vantagens competitivas. Além da construção de um referencial teórico - útil para a discussão da operacionalização da flexibilidade de manufatura como fonte de vantagens competitiva e preparação para futuras pesquisas - a tese também atende à demanda por estudos empíricos tão importantes para o avanço das pesquisas sobre o tema. Nesse sentido, buscou- se responder às duas questões de pesquisa: como se caracterizam os relacionamentos produtor-fornecedor quanto aos aspectos de confiança/comprometimento, compartilhamento de informações, desenvolvimento de fornecedores e desenvolvimento conjunto de produtos nas empresas estudadas? E como se dão os impactos dos aspectos de relacionamento produtor-fornecedor sobre a flexibilidade de manufatura e o desempenho da manufatura nas empresas estudadas? O estudo envolveu quatro empresas de manufatura em uma investigação da influência de quatro aspectos de relacionamento produtor-fornecedor - confiança/comprometimento, compartilhamento de informações, desenvolvimento de fornecedores e desenvolvimento conjunto de produtos - sobre três dimensões externas de flexibilidade de manufatura - mix, novos produtos e volume. A análise estendeu-se à observação dos efeitos generalizados dessas relações sobre o desempenho da manufatura dos níveis da flexibilidade de manufatura apresentados pelas empresas estudadas. / [en] The purpose of this dissertation is to study the operationalization of manufacturing flexibility, focusing on aspects of relationships in the supply chain and their impact on manufacturing flexibility. The research involves four manufacturing companies for studying the influence of four aspects of buyer-supplier relationship - trust/commitment, information sharing, supplier development and joint product development - on three external dimensions of manufacturing flexibility - mix, new products and volume. The study also observes the generalized effects of these relationships on manufacturing performance and on the levels of manufacturing flexibility shown by the companies studied. The buyer-supplier relationships are deeply analyzed and their general characteristics and effects on the operationalization of manufacturing flexibility are presented. In addition, the analysis of scope and achievability factors indicated the presence of little explored flexible resources in the companies studied. Finding ways for operationalizing flexibility must be seen as a priority question to obtain competitive advantage in manufacturing systems. This work shows how the relationships between the buyer and supplier can influence several external dimensions of manufacturing flexibility and, consequently, manufacturing performance.

Thesis (MBA (Graduate School of Business))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Globalisation, constant innovations and well-informed customers have made modern business environments dynamic and complex. Organisations, with their ever-changing business models, are striving to improve the quality of their products and services. Congruently, several management theories have evolved. Total Quality Management (TQM),Just in Time (JIT), Benchmarking, Lean Management, Balanced Scorecard and Six Sigma are some of the more well known. Each movement with its own life span, its share of popularity and level of acceptance has the same basic goal – improvement in quality by measuring performance. Recent years have seen an upsurge in the approaches and contributions to the field of performance measurement. Are these management theories just a flavour of the month or do they add value. The object of this study is to provide industry specific manufacturing business with a Manufacturing Performance Measurement Matrix Model, which can be used over time to measure improvement and serve as a basis for Knowledge Management. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Globalisering, konstante inbring van veranderinge en goed ingeligte kliënte het die moderne besigheidsomgewing dinamies en kompleks gemaak. Organisasies, met hulle ewig veranderende besigheidsmodelle, streef daarna om die kwaliteit van hulle produkte en dienslewering te verbeter. Verskeie bestuursteorieë het as gevolg hiervan ontwikkel. Die mees bekende bestuursteorieë is onder andere: Total Quality Management (TQM), Just in Time (JIT), Benchmarking, Lean Management, Balanced Scorecard en Six Sigma. Elkeen van hierdie planne, met sy eie leeftyd, porsie van die gewildheid en vlak van aanvaarding, het dieselfde basiese doel – verbetering van kwaliteit deur die meet van prestasie. Onlangse jare het ‘n opvlam gesien in die benaderings en bydraes tot die veld van prestasiemeting. Is hierdie bestuursteorieë net ‘n nuutjie of is hulle waardevol vir die besigheidswêreld? Die doel van hierdie studie is om industrie spesifieke vervaardigingsbesighede met ‘n Vervaardigings Prestasiemetings Matriks Model te voorsien wat deur die verloop van tyd verbeterings kan meet en kan dien as ‘n basis vir die bestuur van kundigheid.