No / Significant work has been completed in arriving at what have been put forward as `best practices' for a variety of facets of production/operations management (POM). Organizations are becoming global in their operations. In this environment, there is a desire to learn from this 'proven' best practice and to use the generic ideas, concepts and techniques 'world-wide'. However, it is becoming apparent from a range of fragmented evidence that 'best practices' developed and successful in one context are not necessarily directly transferable to a comparable alternative. More detailed examination suggests that national culture has a significant role to play in determining the precise nature of a best practice in POM, and how universal it might be in its application. This paper examines structures within which to view facets of POM in order to identify one that will facilitate exploration of cultural issues. There follows an identification of what might be considered to be an appropriate range of cultural dimensions along which POM best practices may be considered. A review of the evidence from the literature of cultural impacts on aspects of POM is presented. This is used to support the development of a generic framework to examine this interface more comprehensively.

QC 20100614

Assembly lines are no longer systems designed to produce as much as possible at the lower cost. Nowadays several factors such as mass customization and variation in demand have led the manufacturers to consider the flexibility of the assembly systems as one of the most important facts to take into account when designing an assembly line. In this context, this study attempts to test a new paradigm of the workload balance, which is based on a dynamic allocation of the assembly operations. In order to test the hypothesis, a real assembly system of engines has been used as a base model to implement the new approach. The work developed, uses the simulation as a means to carry out the study, which has required the development of several simulation scenarios. The hypothesis has been studied from two different approaches; on one hand a total dynamic allocation of assembly operations, which was expected to cause a wide operational range of the stations. On the other hand, the second approach implements a flow control which aims to reduce the operational range and workload fluctuations. The results obtained show a significant improvement of the system performance in comparison with the current assembly line. It has been found that any improvement implemented in the system is directly reflected in the total performance of the line, regardless if the improvement is made in a system constraint. Moreover, the results have proven a better response of the system to changes in the frequency of models production.  Finally, based on the results, this study suggests several paths of future work in order to acquire the needed information to implement the hypothesis in the real world context. / Flexa project

MSc (Eng), School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg 2017 / The purpose of this research was to investigate the effectiveness of Learning factories in imparting Lean principles in order to build Business Improvement skills of mining workforces. This study was conducted at a training centre established by a mining company in South Africa. Two groups of participants with employees at two different employment levels were trained at the centre in foundation Lean principles. The Kirkpatrick model for evaluating effectiveness of training was chosen as a tool that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of this Lean training. This was achieved using before-and-after questionnaires, visual observations and process data from improvement projects identified by the participants. The results showed that the Learning Factory is effective in imparting the Lean skills across hierarchy levels in a mining operation within a short space of time. Furthermore, all employees arrived at the same overall Lean understanding post training regardless of their starting point. Where project implementation was done, it was found that the participants were able to apply most of the Lean principles in the workplace. A major shortcoming observed was that the main focus was on technical aspects of Lean with little regard for other aspects that contribute to sustainable Business Improvement such as change of culture. Lastly it was found that while the Learning Factory can assist in building Lean capability in an implementation, the other success factors such as management buy-in and workforce support can enhance this effort. One recommendation is to do a study to determine the interrelated nature of the factors that drive a successful Lean implementation and the role that a change management program like ADKAR can play to maximise success. / MT 2017

MSc (Enginnering), Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment / In recent years companies have made increased use of Lean Manufacturing audits to measure the degree of Lean Manufacturing implementation within their organizations. Thereafter, a gap analysis highlights areas for improvement, which leads to increased Operational Performance. This approach may be flawed. The audit may measure Lean Manufacturing characteristics that are not beneficial or the Lean Manufacturing audit may be inaccurate due to auditor bias or inadequate scope. The result is frustration and a lack of belief in the effectiveness of Lean Manufacturing as a competitive strategy. This study tests the hypothesis that “Lean Manufacturing audits drive improvements in Operational Performance.” A sample company comprising sixty four organizations operating in a job shop and Batch operations management environment is used as a case study. The organizations manufacture and service high value added products for heavy industry. The Lean Manufacturing audit developed to assess the effectiveness of Lean Manufacturing audits in driving Operational Performance uses Lean Manufacturing characteristics commonly used in previous research. These characteristics include policy deployment, standardized work, visual management and housekeeping, quick changeover techniques, total preventative maintenance, continuous improvement, error proofing, cultural awareness, material control and level production. Commonly used Operational Performance measures such as On-Time-Delivery, Inventory turns and Direct Labour Utilization are used to assess Operational Performance. A range of independent auditors were used to gather data on the extent of implementation of Lean Manufacturing and Operational Performance measures. Structural Equation Modelling is used to relate the results of the Lean Manufacturing audits to Operational Performance. This is the first known paper to use Structural Equation Modelling in measuring the extent of implementation of Lean Manufacturing to Operational Performance. Lean Manufacturing audit results have a significant correlation to Operational Performance but with a high degree of variation in Operational Performance not accounted for by the results of the Lean Manufacturing audit. This variation is caused by the inadequate scope of the audit relative to Operational Performance measures as well as auditor bias. Lean Manufacturing audits are effective in driving improvements in Operational Performance provided that the scope of the audit is expanded to include office functions, supplier networks and customer and branch distribution networks. A recommended audit framework is suggested in this research. A large scale study of a number of different companies should be conducted to verify the results of this research using the audit framework developed.

by Yeung Wei-ming. / Bibliography : leaf 116 / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1984

Photocopy of typescript. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

The second is a. project management problem with task subcontracting. The project owner (P0) outsources the tasks in his project to different subcontractors (SCs), with contracts to govern the completions of the tasks and the associated costs and bonus. We model the subcontractors' task processing problem as a Cooperative Game so that subcontractors can benefit by resource sharing and execution time rescheduling. We prove that our cooperative game is balanced and propose a core allocation vector constructed from the optimal dual solution. Meanwhile, the project owner's optimal strategy to design the contracts is also obtained by implicit optimization skills. / The third problem we consider concerns about manufacturing outsourcing, where multiple manufacturers outsource their jobs to a third-party firm. The manufacturers book time windows from the third-party to process their jobs whose processing times are stochastic. Due to the capacity limitation of the third-party and the uncertainty in their processing times, it may be beneficial for the manufacturers to cooperate, provided that a proper cooperative mechanism can be devised. We model this problem as a Cooperative Game. However, it is more than a Sequencing Game commonly studied in the literature, because we consider the optimal booking decisions and the random processing times, which make it possible for the manufacturers to achieve a risk pooling effect by collaborating and booking together. We prove that the outsourcing game is balanced in the situation where the unit booking cost for each time window is unique. We also construct a core allocation based on the core vector derived form a Permutation Game. A main breakthrough is that the connective admissible rearrangement assumption is removed for the stochastic sequencing/booking game, following Slikker's technique. / This thesis investigates three problems in operations management, by using different concepts and techniques in Game Theory. The first problem is a two-echelon supply chain problem involving wholesaling, transporting and retailing of certain kind of perishable product. A key characteristic of the problem is that the upstream supplier adopts a. Group Buying Scheme (GBS) as his pricing mechanism and the downstream retailers, taking into consideration of the supplier's pricing mechanism, their respective market demands and other retailers' likely reactions, compete with each other to maximize their profit respectively. We model this problem as a. Stackberg game where supplier is the leader and retailers are the followers. Furthermore, the retailers' optimal ordering problem is solved by applying the solution concepts in Competition Game Theory and we prove that the Nash equilibrium always exists. Moreover, the equilibrium is the only Pareto optimal Nash equilibrium and a strong equilibrium as well. Finally we show that the GBS pricing mechanism, as compared with the traditional Flat Price scheme, can bring the supplier and retailers to a win-win situation. / Zhang, Feng. / Adviser: Xianqiang Cai. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-02, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-140). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese.

The aim of this research was to determine the extent of use, by Australian manufacturers, of lean manufacturing techniques, and the current and future implications for industrial designers. A survey was conducted to gather data on organisation demographics, the role of the industrial designer, production techniques and product development. The survey was distributed to 220 manufacturing organisations undertaking product development in Australia. The number of surveys returned was 134, representing a 60.9 percent response rate. The surveyed organisations represented a broad cross-section of Australian manufacturers by size, location and industry. Manufacturing organisations were categorised into three groups: lean manufacturers, emerging users of lean manufacturing and non-lean manufacturers. It was concluded that lean manufacturing is being adopted by Australian manufacturers and that lean manufacturing is impacting on the role of the industrial design. In general, the data obtained in this research confirms views expressed in the literature that describes current changes in the manufacturing industry. This literature suggests that design will become the next competitive 'weapon', and become a central part of organisational strategy. However, the data also suggests the design profession has still some way to go to adequately grasp its full professional potential, particularly in the area of product development management. The results indicate that industrial designers underperformed in five functional areas that could be considered fundamental to the service normally provided by industrial designers and they have not exceeded expectations in any of the functions included in the survey. It was found that overall, industrial designers were not regarded highly by organisations as a source of new product ideas. Another troubling finding was that industrial designers were generally not perceived as being suitable to manage product development groups. The results of this research could be used to guide educational institutions in regard to curricula for industrial design courses so that future graduates may more effectively fulfil industry requirements.