Reconfiguration: a key to handle exceptions and performance deteriorations in manufacturing operations

During a manufacturing operation, exceptions may occur dynamically and unpredictably. Their occurrence may lead to the degradation of system performance or, in the worst case scenario may interrupt the production process by causing errors in the schedule plan. This paper classifies three families of exceptions: (1) out-of-order events such as machine breakdowns, (2) operational out-of-ordinary events such as rush orders and (3) deteriorations of manufacturing resource performance such as reductions of machines' utilization. In all cases, in order to maintain an adequate level of system performance, it is necessary to detect exceptions, to diagnose them quickly and to recover them by taking …

Artificial intelligence to counteract “KPI overload” in business process monitoring: the case of anti-corruption in public organizations

PurposeThe nature and amount of data that public organizations have to monitor to counteract corruption lead to a phenomenon called “KPI overload”, consisting of the business analyst feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information and resulting in the absence of appropriate control. The purpose of this study is to develop a solution based on Artificial Intelligence technology to avoid data overloading and, at the same time, under-controlling in business process monitoring.Design/methodology/approachThe authors adopted a design science research approach. The authors started by observing a specific problem in a real context (a healthcare organization); then conceptualized, designed and imple…

Networking strategy as a strategic management tool

Many research studies in operations and strategic management have investigated how different kinds of decisions regarding business relationships can positively affect firm’s operations performance, resources endowment, and competitive position. Very few studies exist trying to illuminate the actual behavior of managers when making strategic decisions concerning their company relationships with other companies as opposed to normative theory. By collecting data from 13 business agreements from 3 firms, the purpose of this paper is explore linkages between the “set” of strategic objectives that managers are willing to pursue and the “set” of networking decisions that they actually consider whe…

Information Exchange Supply Chain under inventory inaccuracy: a simulation study

The objective of this paper is to contribute at quantifying the impact of inventory record inaccuracy on operational performance and customer service level in collaborative supply chains. To this purpose we analyse the impact of shrinkage errors in the inventory item recording activity in an “information exchange supply chain”, i.e. a supply chain in which companies share information about market demand and use such information for placing orders to their suppliers. We present the mathematical formulation of such a supply chain model and we conduct a numerical simulation and a sensitivity analysis over different level of errors.

Arborescent Supply Chains: the effect of OUT policies

The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the smoothing replenishment rules on a divergent supply chain. To this purpose we simulate a classical four echelon serially- linked supply chain model and an arborescent supply chain model under two scenarios, i.e. classical OUT and smoothing replenishment rule. We show that the divergent supply chain structure always performs worse than the serial supply chain and how smoothing the order pattern may decrease this discrepancy.

Open Innovation practices on firm performance: evidences from biotech industry

The research presented in this paper explores the effect of Open Innovation (OI) on firm performance in the biotech-pharma industry sector. Specifically, although existing researches on OI effectiveness have separately investigated the effect of OI practices on innovation and financial performance, this study evaluates the concurrent effect of all those practices on both such performance dimensions in a single framework. We claim the importance for a manager to explore concurrently the influence of specific OI practices both on innovation and economic-financial performance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of 120 companies listed on NASDAQ Biotechnology Index.

Impact of reverse logistics on supply chain performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of reverse logistics on order and inventory variance amplification in a single-echelon supply chain (SC) and to propose a new order policy for dampening such amplification. Design/methodology/approach – A general review of the literature on sustainable operations and on the impact of reverse logistics on SC performance provides the foundation for the study. The authors use difference equation math approach for modelling and analysing a closed SC. A proper design of experiment and data collected from the European Union statistics validate the obtained numerical results. Findings – The variability of reverse flow in a closed loop S…

Will collaborative partners’ selection enhance sustainability performance of firms? An empirical study

Main purpose of this paper is to study the role of collaboration for sustainability, in success of business performance. Businesses can have collaborations with many players such as suppliers, logistics operators, clients, intra- and inter-departmental collaborations, for various purposes including the sustainability. We use qualitative approach, mainly semi-structured interviews to understand various dimensions of collaboration namely sharing of valuable information, physical resources both tangible and intangible. We try to understand the collaborative relationships of focal companies under study with its suppliers, buyers and logistics partners. Further, we will study the impact of colla…

Groupthink and Project Performance: The Influence of Personal Traits and Interpersonal Ties

Contains fulltext : 166103.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) This study explores whether the negative impact of “groupthink concurrence-seeking behavior” (GTB) on business process reengineering (BPR) projects is affected by group members personal traits and interpersonal ties within the group. To this purpose we conduct and present the results of a longitudinal controlled field experiment over 18 BPR projects lasting 3 months and involving 18 teams comprising 71 first-year MBA students. The main contribution of this study is twofold. First, we explicitly consider and measure the core construct of groupthink phenomenon: that is, GTB. Existing organizational behavior literature has, …

Negotiation models in manufacturing e-marketplaces

This chapter describes the negotiation model adopted by the Customer and Supplier Negotiation Agents in the agent based architecture described in Chapter 2. The chapter is structured as it follows: in the first section the use of automated negotiation in modern market scenario is motivated; in the second section, starting form the contributions presented in the scientific literature, automated negotiation will be analysed and a taxonomy will be proposed. The third section is dedicated to the e-market context discussed in this book and in particular the impact of negotiation in manufacturing e-marketplaces will be stressed: its impact is strictly related to the electronic nature of e-marketp…

Reconfigurable control of robotized manufacturing cells

This paper investigates the field of manufacturing system control. The addressed subject is indeed very fascinating, due to the importance that it has reached in the last decades both at research and industrial level. On the other hand, it seems to the author that most of the complexity intrinsic to the subject itself relies on the different meanings or levels of abstraction that both the terms ''manufacturing system'' and ''control'' may symbolize. The presented research aims to face the topic in a concrete fashion, i.e., by developing a control software system for a specific, although easy to be generalized, robotized manufacturing cell. Two different development methodologies, from the c…

Inter-firm relationship design for achieving supply network responsiveness

An Agile methodology for Manufacturing Control Systems development

Robotized manufacturing cells are required more and more often to process high variety of short life-cycle product. This increases the need for methods and techniques for easy reconfiguration of software programs running in Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), i.e., devices able to control manufacturing systems. PLCs run embedded code characterized by a procedural nature that does not make it quite reconfigurable. In this paper we propose an AGIle COntrol System Development (AGICOSD) methodology that uses various practices of Agile software development methodologies and the Design By Contract (DBC) practice for modeling and programming manufacturing control systems. In this context we prop…

Manufacturing Strategy: Production Problem Analysis for Assessing Focused Flexibility

The objective of this chapter is to define an operationalization pattern which supports decision makers and managers in determining the level of manufacturing flexibility competences, given the business strategy and the manufacturing structure of the firm. This should drive the production system design and configuration activity. Specifically, this chapter presents an innovative approach to develop a manufacturing strategy, which is based on the idea that information on potential production problems that the manufacturing system could face throughout a given long-term planning horizon should be used as a starting point to determine the level of flexibility that the system should possess.

Modelling the NPD process in virtual organizations

Closed-loop supply chains: What reverse logistics factors influence performance?

This paper analyses the inventory and order flow dynamics in closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs). In this kind of supply chains the reverse flow of materials entering the system for recycling purposes complicates the way in which inventories should be managed and replenishment policies should be designed. Specifically, we analyse the relationships between some reverse logistics’ factors (remanufacturing lead-time, return rate of recycled products, reverse order policy, and number of supply chain tiers) on the order and inventory variance amplification. We firstly perform a systematic literature review of the related studies. Secondly, by adopting a difference equation math approach and design…

Distributed intelligent control of exceptions in reconfigurable manufacturing systems

In order to react to the continuous and unpredictable changes in product demand, in product variety, and in process technologies, reconfigurable manufacturing systems allow quick adjustment of production capacity and functionality by rearranging or changing their modular components. In this kind of system, operation management issues, such as exception handling policies, become more complex since correct reconfiguration strategies have to be selected. This paper explores the potential of the reconfigurability feature to be a basis for the development of new strategies to handle out-of-the-ordinary events in the production process; in particular, maintaining production flow when machine brea…

Explaining the relationship between socially responsible products and the operations of the firm: The case of equine assisted therapy

Abstract Although there is a growing interest in social responsibility in research as well as in practice, the majority of studies on corporate social responsibility do not explicitly investigate operations management issues when adopting socially responsible practices under the “people” pillar of sustainability. This paper, dealing with the theme of social responsibility in operations management, aims at clarifying the complex relationship between socially responsible product/service and the operations of the company. The empirical context of the study is the sport industry, where the attention to social issues is well established. We used a mixed theoretical-empirical approach to develop …

MODELADO DE UNA PLATAFORMA DE E-MANTENIMIENTO, CMMS Y CBM

The information and communications technologies (ICT) are increasingly used in society and business. ICT have become a key element for business development and the improvement of activities in all departments. Analogously, the rise of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), Condition Based Maintenance (CBM), and the use of remote devices and functions such as e-maintenance, have opened great possibilities for maintenance optimization. Those techniques have resulted in the emergence of technological challenges such as interoperability between different systems in order to exchange and coordinate information. In this context, the application of business process modelling is a cruc…

Insights on Partial Information Sharing in Supply Chain dynamics

This paper provides an assessment of partial Information Sharing (IS) in Supply Chain (SC). We study the dynamics of collaborative multi-echelon structure, characterized by an increasing level of information visibility among partners. To do so, we mathematically model six four-echelon serial SCs via difference equations and conduct numerical simulations on the basis of a robust design of experiment. Results shows how (1) as the extent of IS increases, the performance of whole SC improves as well, and (2) the impact of IS depends not on which particular members are involved but on the number of collaborative members.

Integrating Manufacturing Equipments Using a Shop Floor Control System

A generic manufacturing system must interact with an environment characterized by a strong competition and by continuous technological changes. For this reason there is the necessity to make the system easily and economically modifiable in its hardware and software configuration. One of the main problems in making a manufacturing system re-configurable concerns its control system which has to be accordingly scalable and object oriented. This paper presents a methodology for making a manufacturing control system actually reconfigurable and adaptable to hardware changes in the manufacturing systems components. In particular, a PC-based shop-floor control system has been realized. Such system …

Production planning in reconfigurable enterprises and reconfigurable production systems

Reconfigurable enterprises and reconfigurable production systems represent nowadays one of the key responses towards the organisational and manufacturing needs arising in the new era known as mass customization. The paper proposes an Agent Based approach for the production planning activities in reconfigurable enterprises, characterized by complex, articulated and geographically distributed production capacities contended by many product families and composed by reconfigurable production systems that allow quick adjustment of production capacity and functionality consenting to manufacture different products of the same part family.

Control system requirements for achieving hardware and operations reconfiguration of a manufacturing cell

Open innovation and firms performance: state of the art and empirical evidences from the bio-pharmaceutical industry

The research presented in this paper explores the effect of inbound, outbound and coupled open innovation practices on firms' performances in the biopharmaceutical industry. Specifically, although existing researches on open innovation effectiveness have separately investigated the effect of open innovation practices on innovation and financial performance, this study evaluates the concurrent effect of these practices on both such performance dimensions in a single framework. We state the importance for a manager to explore concurrently the influence of specific open innovation practices both on innovation and economic-financial performance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of …

A DSS for Strategic Planning

This chapter presents an innovative approach for assisting entrepreneurs in making long term capacity decisions in Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMSs). AMSs require high investment costs in manufacturing equipment, human resources and technology knowledge. Such high investments together with the wideness and the variability of the competition scenario contribute to increase the perception of the risk for industrial entrepreneurs especially in SMEs. This problem could be approached by providing the entrepreneur with a Decision Support System (DSS) able to assist her/him in making long term capacity decision in AMS. The DSS proposed in this chapter allows the entrepreneur to plan its produc…

Evaluating the Impact of Demand and Inventory Management Policies on Bullwhip Effects in Production Networks

Digital health technology enhances resilient behaviour: evidence from the ward

PurposeIn the healthcare management domain, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the role of resilience practices in improving patient safety. The purpose of this paper is to understand the capabilities that enable healthcare resilience and how digital technologies can support these capabilities.Design/methodology/approachWithin- and cross-case research methodology was used to study resilience mechanisms and capabilities in healthcare and to understand how digital health technologies impact healthcare resilience. The authors analyze data from two Italian hospitals through the lens of the operational failure literature and anchor the findings to the theory of dynamic capabilities.Findings…

Evaluating multi-lateral negotiation policies in manufacturing e-marketplace

How selection of collaborating partners impact on the green performance of global businesses? An empirical study of green sustainability

In recent days, both collaboration and sustainability have become an integral part of many global supply chains to achieve business excellence. Although previous literature and actual practices confirmed the successful implementation of sustainability practices through supply chain collaborations, it is not clear how collaborating partners can support financial and environmental performance, and hence strengthen the partnership performance in the global supply chains. To address this practice-based research question, we test the theoretical underpinning of suppliers and logistics partners in relation to required skills selection. We capture the depth of interdependencies in collaborations f…

Product Recalls and Supply Chain Responsiveness

The increase in product recalls which occurred in recent years is mainly due to the globalization of the supply chains, in particular the outsourcing and offshoring of manufacturing and distribution. Besides being the main cause of recall, in this paper we argue that outsourcing (domestic and international) and offshoring may also affect the supply chain responsiveness in managing the recall itself. We test a number of hypotheses on this theme empirically on the pharmaceutical sector by using data collected from the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Off-line Programming and simulation for automatic robot control software generation

In this paper an off-line programming approach for welding robots is presented. The approach is based on the integration of a software tool for robot simulation and an user-friendly interface for automatic generation of the control program. The user can graphically arrange the components in a robotic work-cell and simulate the movements and operations of robotic arms before converting motions and operating sequences in controller-specific tasks. This methodology guarantees high level of flexibility of the robotic system when high variety of work-pieces needs to be welded. The approach has been implemented and tested in a real welding work-cell.

A strategic framework for firm networks in manufacturing industry: An empirical survey

Firm networking is becoming more and more the most important competitive strength in nowadays competitive environment. Such an evidence is partially neglected by the classical strategic analysis of firms competitiveness which mainly looks at the firm strength and weakness not in relationship with its capacity to build competitive networks. For such a reason, in the last years, many theoretical approaches have stressed the importance of networks to gain competitive advantage. In this paper, the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic framework that mainly underlies at firm networks organisation is proposed. Very briefly, it is argued that network…

High Level Planning of Reconfigurable Enterprises: a Game Theoretic Approach

Reconfigurable Enterprises (REs) represent production networks made of different and geographically dispersed plants that, in case of unpredictable market changes, can be reconfigured in order to gather a specific production objective. However, REs effectiveness and efficiency depend on the extent to which global performance is obtained. Basically two approaches are available to reach coordination: centralised or decentralised planning tools. In this paper, the authors propose a novel cooperative game theoretical approach for distributed production planning at high level of a RE; the proposed approach has been benchmarked in front of both a distributed one, based on negotiation, and a centr…

Networking Strategies as Enabler for Competitive Advantage Creation: market-based and resource-based Perspectives

This paper explores the potential of networking strategy as a source of competitive advantage by integrating market-based and resource-based logics. It contributes to production economics literature by considering not just supply chain network structures but also others kinds of network that can emerge from horizontal agreements (i.e. alliances, partnerships, joint ventures, consortia, etc.). The paper reviews the literature and develops propositions regarding how make/buy/make together decisions, governance mechanisms and network-base structures allow firms both to pursue pre fixed operations performance objectives and obtain/create valuable resources. The practical applications of the pro…

Current economic downturn and supply chain: The significance of demand and inventory smoothing

The aim of this article is to analyse and quantify the effects of demand and inventory smoothing into supply-chain performance, facing the extreme volatility and impetuous alteration of the market produced by the current economic recession. To do so, we model a traditional serial three-stage supply chain and we test five settings of order smoothing under two shocks in the market demand, and we measure effects in terms of internal process benefits and customer service level of all supply chain partners. Results show that the implementation of this inventory strategy should be based on reward schemes; in fact a higher level of smoothing can generally improve the performance of the upstream st…

Methodological Approach to Studying the dynamics of production networks: a Discrete Event Simulation Model

This paper shows how discrete-event simulation represents an appropriate tool for approaching the dynamics of production networks. Three important factors influencing production network dynamics, specifically finite production capacity, manufacturing lead time, and its variability are discussed and a basic discrete-event simulation model is presented. Such model, which in its basic form represents a simple retail/distribution two-stage supply chain, is then extended in order to take into account those factors that can not be included in a classical control theoretical model.

How risk considerations can affect inter-organization relationship decisions

The new trends in inter-organization relationships push towards network solutions: companies are interested in relationships with partners and customers to overcome resource dependence, enter too risky market or simply differentiate their business portfolio. The present study focuses on network organization aiming at highlighting threats and opportunities to investigate the double nature of the risk concept. In literature the risk concept is often associated to the amount and probability of business losses and the effort is on manage the risk at operative level. In this paper the risk is evaluated in pair with the opportunities is brought in and the risk management is tackled both at strate…

Editorial: Special Issue on Collaboration, Information Sharing and Integration in Supply Chains: Models for Decision Making

The effect of inventory record inaccuracy in information exchange supply chains

Abstract The goal of this paper is to quantify the impact of Inventory Record Inaccuracy on the dynamics of collaborative supply chains, both in terms of operational performance (i.e. order and inventory stability), and customer service level. To do so, we model an Information Exchange Supply Chain under shrinkage errors in the inventory item recording activity of their nodes, present the mathematical formulation of such supply chain model, and conduct a numerical simulation assuming different levels of errors. Results clearly show that Inventory Record Inaccuracy strongly compromises supply chain stability, particularly when moving upwards in the supply chain. Important managerial insights…

Networking strategies as enabler for competitive advantage creation: a market-based and a resource-based perspectives

The purpose of this work is to explore the potential of networking strategy as a source of competitive advantage by integrating market-based and resource-based logics. According to the former logic a firm identifies operations performance objectives as drivers for achieving its wished competitive position and advantage. According to the latter logic the firm achieves a competitive advantage through the obtainment and/or the creation of valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and not substitutable resources. Both operations performance objectives and strategic resource needs should, thus, directly affect networking strategy decisions. The question is whether they effectively do and how. In thi…

Networking strategy for competitive advantage

This paper explores the potential of networking strategy as a source of competitive advantage by integrating market- based and resource-based logics. It contributes to operations management literature by considering not just supply chain structures but also others kinds of network that can emerge from horizontal agreements (i.e. alliances, partnerships, joint ventures, etc.). The paper reviews the literature and develops propositions regarding how make/buy/make together decisions, governance mechanisms and network-base structures allow firms both to pursue operations performance objectives and obtain/create valuable resources. A case study supports the propositions and shows a practical app…

A user-friendly control system to easy reconfigure a manufacturing cell

Generic manufacturing enterprises need to interact with an environment characterized by a strong competition. In order to react to the mutable requests of market, control systems should confer to the manufacturing system capabilities for easy modifiability, and this can be achieved by reducing the necessary time to reconfigure the existing system. Following this main requirement, this paper presents a user-friendly control system that pursues three operational goals: - Ability to easy re-program the sequence of operations of the manufacturing equipments of a manufacturing cell; - Reconfigurability of the system, by allowing to add/remove a new/existing component in/from the manufacturing ce…

Best practice strategies in business process redesign: an experimental study

This paper presents investigates the determinants for best practices’ adoption in business process redesign. Specifically, we evaluate the role of the best practices in business process redesign by exploring their adoption dependences from the process typology and the goals of the redesign project. In order to answer to our research questions, we conducted an experimental study over 18 business process redesign projects carried out by 18 teams of students. The experimental study shows that there exists a business practice strategic orientation in redesigning a process, i.e. evident correlations exist among the adoption of specific practices with the adoption of other specific practices, but…

Strategic alignment of business network forms and single companies’ objectives

In this paper the most significant theories on firm networking are reviewed and an innovative strategic perspective that underlies at firm network organization is proposed. It is argued that networks are differently organized according to three basic strategic objectives: gaining efficiency, collecting knowledge, pursuing globalization. The research is supported by secondary data analysis based on a sample of about 115 case studies published in different journals and magazines.

An Agent based architecture for added value services in manufacturing neutral e-marketplaces

Business agreements objectives and decisions: a field research

PurposeMany research studies in operations management (OM) and strategic management (SM) investigate how different kinds of firm decisions regarding business relationships can positively affect a firm's operations performance, resource endowment, and competitive position. Very few studies exist, however, that have attempted to illuminate the actual behaviors of managers when making strategic decisions about their intercompany relationships; rather, most existing studies focus on normative theory. The purpose of this paper is to explore linkages between the “set” of strategic objectives that managers are willing to pursue, the “set” of networking decisions they make, and the “set” of busines…

Supply Chain Collaboration in Craft Production: empirical evidences from the food and beverage industry

This paper empirically analyzes collaborative relationships among craftsmen and their suppliers in the food and beverage industry. Despite the recent return to traditional manufacturing methods triggered by customers’ attention, the literature debate on supply chain collaboration, in this field, has received limited research attention. In particular, the paper aims at investigating information and knowledge sharing in craft production environments by addressing the following research questions: RQ1. What type of information and knowledge is shared? RQ2. What are the main antecedents that lead to exchange information and knowledge with suppliers? RQ3. What are the benefits? The qualitative c…

Revisiting the patient–physician relationship under the lens of value co-creation and defensive medicine

PurposeThis study formulates a new archetypical model that describes and re-interprets the patient–physician relationship from the perspective of two widespread phenomena in the healthcare delivery process: value co-creation (VCC) and defensive medicine (DM).Design/methodology/approachGrounded in the existing literature on VCC and DM, the authors designed and conducted 20 in-depth interviews with doctors (and patients) about their past relationships with patients (and doctors). After putting the recorded interviews through qualitative analysis with a three-level coding activity, the authors built an empirically informed model to classify patient–physician relationships.FindingsThe authors i…

THE EFFECT OF INBOUND, OUTBOUND AND COUPLED INNOVATION ON PERFORMANCE

The focus of this paper is on exploring linkages among Open Innovation practices and firm performance. While, in the last ten years, a certain amount of papers facing such issue has been published, most of them treat inbound, outbound, and coupled innovation practice processes separately respect to different dimensions of innovation and financial performance. We argue that the concurrent influence of specific Open Innovation practices on both innovation and economic-financial firms' performance has not been investigated so far into the literature and it is of primary managerial importance. We empirically test our framework on a sample of 105 companies listed on the Industrial Machinery and…

Demand Sharing Inaccuracies in Supply Chains: A Simulation Study

We investigate two main sources of information inaccuracies (i.e., errors and delays) in demand information sharing along the supply chain (SC). Firstly, we perform a systematic literature review on inaccuracy in demand information sharing and its impact on supply chain dynamics. Secondly, we model several SC settings using system dynamics and assess the impact of such information inaccuracies on SC performance. More specifically, we study the impact of four factors (i.e., demand error, demand delay, demand variability, and average lead times) using three SC dynamic performance indicators (i.e., bullwhip effect, inventory variability, and average inventory). The results suggest that demand …

A Production Scenarios Generation Tool for Manufacturing Strategy Characterization

Integrating ERP SYSTEMS IN VERTICAL SUPPLY CHAINS WITH NEGOTIATION TOOLS

The relationship between Value Co-creation and Defensive Medicine

The purpose of this study is to analyse the patient-physician relationship from the perspective of its consequences in terms of risk of defensive medicine behaviour and of likelihood of value co-creation occurrence. We develop, first, a theoretically informed model which explains the patient-physician relationship in terms of the two phenomena above mentioned; we then collect qualitative empirical data, elaborate on the theory, and develop an empirically informed model. The main result of this research is the definition of four archetypes of the patient-physician relationship, whose discussion leads to theoretical contributions and managerial implications.

On the Bullwhip Avoidance Phase: The Synchronised Supply Chain

Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse the operational response of a Synchronised Supply Chain (SSC). To do so, first a new mathematical model of a SSC is presented. An exhaustive Latin Square design of experiments is adopted in order to perform a boundary variation analysis of the main three parameters of the periodic review smoothing ( S ,  R ) order-up-to policy: i.e., lead time, demand smoothing forecasting factor, and proportional controller of the replenishment rule. The model is then evaluated under a variety of performance measures based on internal process benefits and customer benefits. The main results of the analysis are: (I) SSC responds to violent changes in demand by re…

Production networks dynamics: analytical or non-analytical modelling?

Inventory record inaccuracy in supply chains: the role of workers' behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of inventory record inaccuracy due to behavioral aspects of workers on the order and inventory variance amplification. Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopt a continuous-time analytical approach to describe the effect of inbound throughput on the inventory and order variance amplification due to the workload pressure and arousal of workers. The model is numerically solved through simulation and results are analyzed with statistical general linear model. Findings – Inventory management policies that usually dampen variance amplification are not effective when inaccuracy is generated due to workers’ behavioral aspects. Sp…

UML design and AWL programming for reconfigurable control software development of a robotic manipulator

The goal of the presented research is to face the topic of reconfigurable control software development in a concrete fashion, i.e., by presenting a control software system development approach which has been used for a specific, although easy to be generalized, robotized manufacturing cell component. In particular, a methodology for the control software development of a planar robot (2-degrees of freedom) is presented, from the conceptual design to the actual implementation. The methodology suggests UAL and object-oriented modeling and programming techniques for the design phase, while AWL programming language run by a PLC for the implementation phase. The analysis has been conducted consid…

A Theoretical Framework For Collaborative Engineering In New Product Development In The Automobile Industry

Operation management in reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Reconfiguration for error handling

Abstract Reconfigurable manufacturing systems offer quick adjustment of production capacity and functionality in response to unpredictable market changes as being systems designed at the outset for rapid change in system configuration, its machines and controls. During the production process, out-of-ordinary events occur dynamically and unpredictably both at the system (machine breakdowns, change in job's priorities, etc.) and at the cell level (tool failures, robot collisions, etc.). Such exceptions interrupt the production process by causing errors in the schedule plan (system level) or in the task plan (cell level). Error handling is the policy meant for reacting to errors caused by the …

R&D supply chain and innovation performance: the contingent role of the firm’s position in the network

This paper conceptualizes the supply chain of innovation as a sub-set of the whole innovation network. We focus on the relationship between the activities of purchasing/selling R&D and the firm’s innovation performance. Specifically, we examine how the position of the firm within its innovation network moderates this relationship. Our empirical setting consists in cross-sectional data about 1772 agreements signed by biotech companies between 2006-2010. We find, first, anecdotal evidence of both the existence of the innovation supply chain and the phenomenon of firms’ positioning along it. Second, we find that information richness positively moderates the effect of purchasing R&D services on…

Shaping collaboration in new product development through negotiation and auctions

Impact of Business Strategy on Production Problem Dynamics

The magnitude of a product recall: offshore outsourcing vs. captive offshoring effects

The escalation in product recalls in recent years is attributed to the rise of globalisation and associated challenges of offshoring. Extant SCM research suggests that product recalls have a significant negative impact on financial performance, but gaps exist relative to the managerial actions to minimise their impact. Recall response strategies have become more important in the press, given that a single recall may result in the mandatory withdrawal of millions of products from the market, with firms incurring enormous logistics costs and brand damage. In this study, we address this gap in the research, and using a measure of product recall defined as the volume of products withdrawn from …

The curvilinear effect of manufacturing outsourcing and captive-offshoring on firms' innovation: The role of temporal endurance

Abstract This paper aims to contribute to the open debate in the literature on the effect of global sourcing strategies on firm performance by studying the consequences of manufacturing outsourcing and captive-offshoring for the innovation capability of the firm. We grounded our hypotheses based on the outsourcing and offshoring literature and by narrowing our focus to the effects of persisting in their adoption over time. We tested our hypotheses using data from a sample of 368 manufacturing companies listed on NASDAQ stock market. The paper provides theoretical explanations and empirical findings for the inverted U-shaped influence of keeping doing captive-offshoring on new product develo…

Negotiation in Distributed Production Planning Environments

Mass customization and global competition push enterprises to adopt proper business models able to capture all the opportunities arising from emerging competition rules. An increasing number of industrial enterprises distribute their production capacity world wide to achieve lower production costs, lower distribution costs (due to the closer proximity to customers), and deeper knowledge of customer needs. As a drawback, coordination of the different production plants and the balance among plants and enterprise goals represent a critical issue in the network management. In this context the paper looks at the production planning problem, adopting a traditional hierarchical time-based perspect…

Business networking strategy: operations management and organizational economics different perspectives

Achieving operations performance objectives through networking strategy

The main objective of this paper is to investigate how firms make strategic networking decisions in order to pursue competitive advantage. Literature analysis with theory building purposes and two case studies to support our theoretical findings and to explore the linkages between networking strategy and operations performance objectives constitute our research methods. Our analysis led to the definition of networking strategy in terms of decisional dimensions, and found effective linkages between networking decisions made by managers and wished operations performance objectives.

How firms are using networking decisions to achieve strategic objectives: Building theories from four case studies

Many research studies in OM literature have investigated how different kinds of focal firm decisions regarding business vertical relationships (i.e. with both suppliers and buyers) can positively affect firm’s operations performance and thus improve its competitive position. In this paper we extend this genre of study by also considering business horizontal relationships (i.e with competitors and firms that own complementary capabilities) and by considering the impact of business relationships not only on focal firm’s operations performance but also on its resources endowment. We present four cases that describe what are the strategic manager intents (in term of operations performance and r…

Reconfigurable design of PLC-based control systems

Strategic Planning in Advanced Manufacturing Systems: a Decision Support System

This chapter presents an innovative approach for assisting entrepreneurs in making long term capacity decisions in Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMSs). AMSs require high investment costs in manufacturing equipments, human resources and technology knowledge. Such high investments together with the wideness and the variability of the competition scenario contribute to increase the perception of the risk for industrial entrepreneurs especially in SMEs. This problem could be approached by providing the entrepreneur with a Decision Support System (DSS) able to assist her/him in making long term capacity decision in AMS. The DSS proposed in this chapter allows the entrepreneur to plan its produ…

Negotiation mechanisms for capacity allocation in distributed enterprises

Abstract The paper proposes an agent based approach for the capacity allocation in distributed enterprises, characterized by complex and articulated organizations and by geographically distributed production capacities contended by many product families. In such a scenario the process of allocating the production capacity to the single customer order is one the major bottlenecks of the production planning activity as far as many organizational decisional levels are involved and market turbulence implies a continuous retuning of the capacity allocation plan. A high grade of reactiveness is needed. Agent based approaches and negotiation models, by decentralizing the decisional control and sim…

Improving Of The Productivity And The Quality Of A Manufacturing Robotized Cell For Mig/Mag Welding

During the last years, globalization and the necessity to reduce production costs have pushed industry to employ more and more manufacturing robotized cells. This trend has been assimilated by arc welding too. The use of robotic systems allows to increase the performance of productive systems by means of reduction in lead-time, reproducibility of processes and increase in quality. However, process automation needs pre-scheduling of manufacturing cell movements and also a setup of different welding parameters, such as power provided by the welding generator, arc length and robot speed, all of which allows to get a joint without defects. An online scheduling of robotic systems brings certainl…

Negotiation Models in Manufacturing E-Marketplaces

This chapter describes the negotiation model adopted by the Customer and Supplier Negotiation Agents in the agent based architecture described in Chapter 2. The chapter is structured as it follows: in the first section the use of automated negotiation in modern market scenario is motivated; in the second section, starting form the contributions presented in the scientific literature, automated negotiation will be analysed and a taxonomy will be proposed. The third section is dedicated to the e-market context discussed in this book and in particular the impact of negotiation in manufacturing e-marketplaces will be stressed: its impact is strictly related to the electronic nature of e-marketp…

Supply chain of innovation and new product development

This paper conceptualizes the supply chain of innovation of a company as its supply chain not related to physical goods exchanges but to R&D commodities exchanges. R&D commodities, being the outcomes of research activities, are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, projects, etc. Spe- cifically, we focus on the relationship between the activities of purchasing/selling R&D commodities and the propensity of the firm to develop new products; we examine how the position of the firm within its innovation network moderates this relationship. The empirical setting of the research consists of a cross- sectional dataset of 544 biopharmaceutical companies that hav…

Management by objective enhances innovation behavior: An exploratory study in global management consulting

The goal of this study is to explain the complex effect of management by objective practices on employees' innovative behavior. Instead of considering individual goal orientation and/or formal creativeness-related goal assignment (as in the recent literature), the focus of this paper is on exploring whether the official adoption of management by objective practices may foster employee innovative behavior. Basing on the results of 2 exploratory interviews with 2 senior managers of 2 global consulting companies, we build our conceptual model. We use a goal-based view to this purpose. Then, we test the model by using data collected by surveying 80 consultants employed in 17 different managemen…

Role of collaborative supply chain of innovation in firm’s performance

This work depicts the Supply Chain of Innovation (SCoI) including only those kinds of relationships related to the purchase and selling of R&D commodities. The theoretical framework represents the propensity of a firm in improving its innovation performance thanks to its collaboration experience and positioning in SCoI. We validate our theoretical framework on a sample of 208 biotechnology companies involved in 814 SCoI agreements. Our results show the positive direct impact of SCoI collaboration experience on innovation performance and a mediating role of positioning in SCoI on the abovementioned link.

Economical Models for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Dedicated manufacturing lines (DML), flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are, nowadays, the three production paradigms representing three ways of thinking and implementing production systems. Nevertheless, very few researches aim at clearly defining the convenience of such three manufacturing paradigms with regards to the market and competition characteristics in which the company plans to play. This chapter goes toward such a direction; in particular, an investment model for each kind of manufacturing system (DML, FMS, RMS) is proposed; these models are able to consider several market and competition issues such as product demand dynamic over…

Do horizontal relationships matter to production and operations managers?

This paper shifts the focus of production, operations and supply chain management business relationships from the vertical to the horizontal side and calls for more research on this issue. The main intent is to provide managerially oriented arguments regarding the linkages between the achievement of operations-related goals and decisions related to horizontal business relationships. Specifically, we address the following research question: Does a linkage exist between production and operations objectives and the decisions a company makes about horizontal agreements, particularly horizontal governance mode choice? To answer this research question, we develop literature-based hypotheses and c…

How firm boundaries are drawn

While many studies exist regarding the firm choice to make vs. buy, there has been little study about the choice between make, buy or ally. In this paper we investigate how firms choose among make, buy or make together when they have to organize a particular transaction. In particular we develop theory-based hypothesis that link the theoretical determinants of firm’s boundaries to the governance choice. In order to test such hypothesis we operationalize the main constructs in measurable variables and we collect information for that. The final sample represents 4316 mergers and acquisitions, alliances, and divestitures announced and completed by 88 of the first-ranked 100 members of the 2000…

Simulation Modeling and Queueing Networks for Mass Customizable Production

The relationship between Bullwhip Effect and lead times variability in production – distribution networks

Shared Leadership Regulates Operational Team Performance in the Presence of Extreme Decisional Consensus/Conflict: Evidences from Business Process Reengineering

Internationalisation level, Distribution of Decision-Making Power and Alliance Formation: Evidence from the Italian Machine Tool Industry

We explore how internationalization-orientation and family business-configuration influence the propensity of Italian Machine Tool (MT) firms to sign strategic alliances. Starting from the industry sector analysis and literature review we propose a conceptual framework explaining alliance formation determinants. Our study uses the information provided by a representative sample of Italian MT firms. We argue and our data validate that the centralization of decision-making power acts as a moderator enhancing the positive effect of the internationalization on the firm inclination in signing agreements with other companies.

Business process oriented design of ERP systems for small and medium enterprises

An Object Oriented approach for Flexible Manufacturing Control Systems Analysis and Design using the Unified Modelling Language

In reacting to global competition and rapidly changing customer demands, industrial business organizations have developed a strong interest in flexible automation. The aim of flexible automation focuses on achieving agility in handling uncertainties from internal or external environments. Modeling complex structures, promoting reuse, and shortening the development time cycle are particularly significant aspects in the analysis and design of CIM systems, where heterogeneous elements have to be integrated in a complex control architecture. The design methodology for FMS control software involves the abstraction of an FMS and the estimation of the system performances. The aim of this activity …

Comparative study of the environmental footprints of marinas on European Islands

AbstractPorts have been key elements in Europe's economic development. This situation is even more relevant on islands, which are highly dependent on the maritime sector. Consequently, over the years, ports with diverse functionalities have been established both in mainland Europe and on its outlying islands. This article discusses the environmental impact of leisure marinas on European islands, especially as they are closely linked to economic development through tourism. The aim is to study the environmental impact of these infrastructures by determining the carbon and water footprints of marinas on European islands in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. The results obtained enable the au…

The influence of reverse flow on the dynamics of closed-loop supply chains

The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of reverse logistics’ factors on the order and inventory variance amplification in a closed-loop supply chain. We adopt a difference equation math approach for analysing a closed-loop supply chain. Results show how the return flow positively affects both the inventory variance and the bullwhip effect independently of the number of echelons. On the contrary, an increasing remanufacturing lead-time negatively affects both the two metrics studied independently of the above mentioned settings. However, when the number of echelons increases, the benefit provided by the return flow tends to decrease.

Social sustainability practices and operations management: an empirical study of Italian equestrian centres

Although implementing social sustainability practices surely affects the operations and supply chain management of the company very few researches in the field of OM and SCM have been dedicated to this topic. Grounding on the literature on social sustainability and looking at the context of equestrian centres, where activities related to Therapeutic Horseback Riding (THR) and other social sustainable practices are very common, this paper offers a number of theoretical argumentations and empirical analysis about how being social sustainability oriented (or just adopting one or few social sustainability practices) may affect the operations of a company and, in turn, influence firm’s performan…

Simulation Modeling Using Agents For Mass Customization

Reconfigurable enterprises and production networks — virtual structures of manufacturing enterprises that coalesce and vanish in response to a dynamic marketplace — are one of the main enabler paradigm for mass customizable production. The design and coordination of production networks to changing market dynamics are challenging tasks. Simulation provides the ability to develop prototypes of such complex systems cost effectively and in shorter duration. This Chapter describes how simulation can be utilized in conjunction with multi agent system techniques to develop realistic prototypes of complex decision support systems for the design of coordination strategies in large-scale mass customi…

Defining collaboration rules in mechatronic Industry

Small and medium companies in order to survive in the global market should promote the creation of partnerships and business networking. Thanks to business networks, in fact, they can reach efficiencies, improve their knowledge and increase their degree of internationalization. The industrial district is a very common type of business network model, especially in Italy. Belonging to an industrial district increases companies inclination to sign inter-firm collaboration contracts such as alliances, outsourcing and joint ventures. However, some Italian districts, mostly those recently constituted and localized in the south of Italy, such as the Sicilian Mechatronic District (SMD), lacks of ac…

An IT-enabled supply chain model: dynamic databases for network decision policy

Telemedicine the role of the patient-doctor relationship

The aim of this work is to study whether and how the characteristics of the existing relationship between a patient and her/his doctor impact the patient’s propensity to switch to telemedicine. We build a conceptual model which hypothesizes a direct effect of the patient-doctor relationship on the propensity to telemedicine, with the perceived efficacy of the healthcare service as the mediator. To collect data, we used the survey methodology. The results confirm the hypothesis about the positive effects of both a good patient-doctor relationship and the patients’ perceived value on the patients’ propensity to switch to telemedicine.

Organizational model and operations performance: a longitudinal study of Italian Judicial Courts

The study focuses on six Italian judicial courts that recently implemented a new organizational model based on the so-called "Ufficio Per il Processo" (UPP) and gathers qualitative and quantitative data over a two-year period (pre- and post-UPP). The research investigates the relationship between court clerks' organizational models and operations performance. The results indicate that the different types of organizational models are associated with improved performance when compared to the pre-implementation level depending on the cases’ congestion level the court has to deal with. The findings highlight the importance of considering the organizational structure in optimizing judicial court…

Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development

In this paper, we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialisation are considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper, we fulfil the following research objectives: (1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; (2) examine how the structural embedd…

Production Planning in Production Networks: Models for Medium and Short-term Planning

Distributed production networks are structures which are considered able to provide the organisational agility and efficiency necessary to compete in the global market. The performance of such organisations heavily depends on the ability of those involved in the network to coordinate their activities. Two approaches are available for managing complex distributed production networks: a centralised approach, where a unique entity (the planner, for instance) has all the necessary information to make planning decisions for the entire network; or a decentralised approach where each entity in the network has the necessary information and knowledge to make autonomous planning decisions, while the …

Business Process-oriented design of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for small and medium enterprises

In the last few years, many organizations have used business process modelling as an effective tool for managing organizational changes. However, process modelling has rarely been exploited for supporting the entire business process management life cycle. This includes the design of business processes as well as their implementation and control. The adoption and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is a crucial issue if referred to small and medium-sized enterprises. The main problem is that the cost of implementation of ERP, intended as the process of customization of the ERP system towards the actual enterprise business processes, overtakes the cost of ERP acquisit…

Defensive behavior in healthcare: the role of organizational factors

Defensive medicine occurs when a healthcare practitioner performs treatment or procedure to avoid exposure to malpractice litigation. Being the consequences of such a behavior nefarious both in terms of patient care, healthcare operations and cost, much has been done in terms of research and practice with the aim to reduce the likelihood of its occurrence. Because defensive medicine is strictly related to the doctor perception of the risk of litigation and its legal repercussions, in the last years, jurisprudence and insurance contract studies in healthcare focused on this topic, as well as national laws have been introduced with the goal of contrasting it. This paper argues and demonstrate…

External knowledge sourcing for R&D activities: antecedents and implications of governance mode choice

This paper investigates how internal and external factors affect the choice between alliances and joint ventures (A&JVs) and mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for the external sourcing of research and development (R&D) activities, and whether or not such a choice is really con- tingent, that is, is it the best choice in terms of its impact on firms’ innovative performance under those circumstances? We build a set of hypotheses based on both the transaction-cost theory and the resource-based view, and test them through a secondary data source analy- sis. We found that companies adopt either R&D M&A or A&JV depending on internal (e.g. resources and capabilities, innovation experience) and exter…

E-maintenance platform: a business process modelling approach

Las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (TIC) se utilizan cada vez más en la sociedad y en los negocios. Las TIC se han convertido en un elemento clave para el desarrollo empresarial y la mejora de las actividades en todos los departamentos de una organización. Análogamente, la creciente importancia de los Sistemas de Gestión de Mantenimiento asistido por Ordenador (CMMS), Mantenimiento Basado en la Condición (CBM), y la aplicación de dispositivos remotos y funciones como el e-mantenimiento, han abierto grandes posibilidades para la optimización del mantenimiento. Estas técnicas han dado lugar a la aparición de retos tecnológicos, tales como la interoperabilidad entre diferentes…

HORIZONTAL CO-OPERATION IN SUPPLY CHAIN IN AN E-MARKET ENVIRONMENT