In today's industrial and complex world, the progress of change is incredible. The amount of information which needs to be analyzed is very large and time has become more and more limited. Industries and firms of all sizes desire to increase productivity and sustainability to keep their competitive edge in the marketplace. One of the best tools for achieving this is the application of Quality Engineering Techniques (QET). This book will introduce the integrated model and the numerical applications for implementing it.

The scale of China's innovation ambitions inspires worldwide commentary, much of it poorly informed. Focusing on electricity, telecommunication and semiconductors, this book offers a richly detailed account of China's innovation efforts. Massive application of human, policy and financial resources shows great promise, but institutional obstacles, conflicting objectives, ill-advised policies and Soviet-era legacies inject inefficiencies, resulting in a complex mosaic of success and failure in both technical and commercial dimensions. State Grid leads the world in high-voltage power transmission, while domestic semiconductors lag behind the international frontier. Electricity and telecom providers record impressive technical advances, but overinvestment and inefficient operation contribute to high costs and prices. Nuclear power combines technical excellence with commercial weakness. Cost reduction rather than new technology underpins commercial success in solar materials. The book's granular studies look beyond specific technologies to incorporate the policy matrix, regulatory structures and global developments into the appraisal of China's innovation achievements.

A unique and comprehensive source of information, this book is the only international publication providing economists, planners, policymakers and business people with worldwide statistics on current performance and trends in the manufacturing sector. The Yearbook is designed to facilitate international comparisons relating to manufacturing activity and industrial development and performance. It provides data which can be used to analyse patterns of growth and related long term trends, structural change, and industrial performance in individual industries. Statistics on employment patterns, wages, consumption and gross output and other key indicators are also presented.

In today's hyper-competitive, global marketplace, a manufacturing company needs a competitive edge if it is to survive and grow. That edge could be anything from superior manufacturing technology to innovative product design; from patent protection to solid, well-established customer relationships. One competitive edge available to all manufacturers, but realized by only a few, is the ability to accurately measure, control, and optimize costs throughout a product's entire life cycle. The lack of a methodology to engineer cost optimization into every product makes attaining and maintaining profitability all that the more difficult. Cost Engineering provides a means for a manufacturer to achieve and sustain profitability by designing and manufacturing products to specific cost requirements. It incorporates a variety of proven methodologies including cost estimating, cost control, and cost optimization. Features: Describes the components and organization of an effective cost optimization process Provides detailed explanations of cost estimating techniques for many of the most common manufacturing processes Explains the selection and use of appropriate cost allocation methods Presents the fundamentals of cost-based negotiation Includes both proper and improper executions of cost engineering principles The details presented in this book are important to design engineers, manufacturing engineers, buyers, accountants, cost estimators, cost optimization specialists, and their managers and provides CEOs, COOs, general managers, product line managers, and plant managers with guidance on improving and sustaining profitability. .

Many production managers have de-stocked excessively large inventories, gone lean, experimented with continuous improvement processes and introduced new working practices. These interventions have largely failed. Businesses have also failed to invest in the workforce that undertakes improvements. This means that cash flow stops quickly, stocks are depleted to zero and customers lose confidence. Systems for Manufacturing Excellence looks at how people and technology work effectively together to generate high performance manufacturing and service operations. Not everyone is a Toyota but that does not mean we cannot learn from such businesses. The book will present a logic, variety of approaches and methods that underpin the different models of high performance used by 'world class' businesses. The authors use examples from their training with Toyota, work with Tesco, and many world class manufacturing businesses that form their research agenda. The book will help teams run each part of their production process for effectiveness and efficiency, with a high level of discipline that supports excellence in performance.

Solo para quienes no deseen caer en la crisis de la incompetencia" "Solo para los que tienen la disposicion de enfrentar los Goliat de los problemas" "El metodo no da pautas para salir de caceria, sino para domar el rinoceronte de los problemas" "Los Japoneses inventaron el TQM de la Calidad Total, los Norteamericanos los BPR las herramientas de la Reingenieria, y los KPI los indicadores de medicion, pero un Latino, la tecnica de ROER los problemas." "Util para los emprendedores que ven su exito en el horizonte" "Recuerde que se siembra cuando se debe y no cuando se quiere" "Se ordena la vaca cuando se debe y no cuando se desea" "Hay una manera y un momento correcto" Porque aplicar el metodo Roer 7*4 es mas efectivo y puntual ante los problemas. Es la efectiva manera de hacer que los pensamientos, sentimientos, ideas, impresiones, sean la fuente de la solucion integral y maneras de domar el tigre, venciendo los temores que el nos causa. Es una exitosa forma de aprender a solidificar las metas, disciplinadamente, trabajando con determinacion, calidad sobresaliente, ajustandose a las circunstancias, siendo honrado con uno y el entorno, aprovechando las oportunidades de servir, mediante el proceso de observar, escuchar, y apoyarse en la experiencia. Es vigorizar la mente con tecnicas efectivas y versatiles permitiendo la evolucion de la mente, creciendo en conocimiento y siendo un emprendedor de exito. Es la oportunidad de maximizar los recursos disponibles por medio de la apreciacion, y el sabio uso de los procedimientos estandarizados de la experiencia, evitando caer en el vacio de la incertidumbre. Es fortalecer las habilidades y contrarrestar las debilidades.

This book gives an overall description of China's manufacturing industry in the process of China's industrialization and comprehensively analyzes the development status, level, stage, problems, tasks and future development prospects of China's manufacturing industry. Under the background of Sino-US trade dispute, understanding China's manufacturing gives a rational analysis of the opportunities and challenges of China's manufacturing, deeply discussing the specific tasks which China's manufacturing is facing, such as the resolve of excess production capacity, technological innovation, intelligent manufacturing and green manufacturing, a service-oriented manufacturing and industrial base, and displaying the development prospect of China toward the high quality. Understanding China's manufacturing has a strong reference significance for comprehensive and appropriate understanding of the development of China's manufacturing industry, as well as good policy reference significance for promoting the high-quality development of China's manufacturing industry.

The team of authors see this book as a contribution to lifting the standard of debate and towards restarting in-depth comparative research. Concentrates on the seven countries which between them (excluding South Africa) account for 60 per cent of total manufacturing in sub-Saharan Africa. The contributors look at the role of manufacturing and industry in the development of these countries, arguing that future prosperity could be enhanced by a three-pronged approach to industrialisation. Published in association with the ODI

Steel is the foundational material of modern civilization and constitutes the core of industry, and yet, it is overproduced across the world. This supply glut is reducing margins and turning steel into a sunset industry. Steel consumes as much as four times the amount of raw materials as its produced volume, and the sheer bulk of the steel makes it costly to transport. Because of this, countries prefer to make their own rather than to source it across land and sea. The Indian steel industry has grown from being the tenth largest steel producer in the world in 1991 to emerging as the second largest, after China. This book aims to reveal, through data and the use of simple economic concepts, the mistakes that abound in the discourses surrounding the steel industry. Its main objective is to dispel the many myths that are perpetuated by policy makers and the industry in order to benefit a small coterie of large firms, and discusses how through such favours the Indian steel industry is set to lose out in terms of margins, products and growth in technology. It covers the unique role of the Indian state in the development of the broad base of steel production, and observes the change in the direction in policy, which reverses the economic equality of the past and promotes collusion among oligopolies leading to overexpansion in capacities. Economics of the Indian Steel Industry will be of interest to students of industrial economics and corporate strategy, as well as financial managers and policy makers.

Manufacturing in Europe is under great pressure from structural changes in the global economy. The high technical, social and cultural standards in Europe mean that our manufacturing enterprises lead the world but inevitably production and consumption continues to migrate to regions that allow higher profitability from lower costs of production with the promise of new markets. Structural changes in European industries will influence employment and welfare. However, there are signs of a new High-Adding-Value industrial revolution. This book has the answers that will allow us to avoid the negative consequences of this migration.

A new model of future manufacturing - ManuFuture - has been forged in discussion with the world's leading scientists in manufacturing and many experts from research, industry and economic policy. The results of this, the road to competitive and sustainable manufacturing, are captured in this fundamental book. The generic Model of ManuFuture, a Vision 2020 and a Strategic Research Agenda and the proactive initiatives required are presented here. They show the approach to manufacturing in the age of knowledge and the actions that must be taken.

This book explores methods and techniques to predict and eventually prevent financial distress in corporations. It analyzes the effects of the global financial crisis on Italian manufacturing companies and, more specifically, whether the crisis has increased the number of firms that are likely to fail. In the first chapter, the authors widely discuss the Corporate Financial Distress as well as the process and costs incurred. The second chapter is based on a review of the most used statistical models, splitting them into accounting-based and market-based models. The following chapter is dedicated to the methodology and the empirical analysis on Italian manufacturing companies from different industries. The last chapter presents practical evidence from Italian manufacturing companies during the recent financial crisis.

During the 1990s, an ambitious three-year research program identified the steps manufacturing companies must take to become globally competitive. The prestigious Next Generation Manufacturing (NGM) Project combined the insights and perspectives of business and academia's most astute thinkers. It featured the cumulative experience of over thirty top global manufacturing firms, the Agility Forum, the engineering and management schools of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology, as well as many other highly regarded organizations. The Project resulted in a vision for the future of manufacturing and a framework for action.

Next Generation Manufacturing is the first book to cover the NGM Project and its recommendations for creating and maintaining a successful manufacturing enterprise. It describes how manufacturing is continuing to evolve and the significant changes companies must make to remain competitive in the next decade.

Addressing the dilemmas faced by today's corporate management, the authors walk the reader through strategies for meeting corporate goals and the expectations of customers; the techniques and tools available to achieve them; and how to define success through measurements. They offer a comprehensive program for applying the product development techniques, metrics, and knowledge management approaches for stellar manufacturing.

Vital to next generation manufacturing is understanding the roles of innovation, knowledge, and people in ensuring the competitive readiness of a company. The book identifies the strategies to achieve this, including:
* Build a strong workforce
* Develop and implement advanced knowledge processes
* Use advanced manufacturing systems, processes, equipment, and technology
* Integrate competitive strengths

Included are real-world examples from participating firms in the NGM Project that have achieved NGM attributes, such as Chrysler and Boeing, as well as a full-length hypothetical case. Also provided are the methodologies for making a high-quality product at the lowest possible cost and getting it to market in the shortest possible time.

The authors have extended the work of the NGM Project by developing ways to link NGM with corporate strategic goals for achieving and sustaining profitability. They expand the concepts of NGM by covering management and financial issues that, until now, have not been fully addressed. The authors also provide a glimpse into the future, examining where manufacturing may be headed beyond the next decade.

For any manager or owner concerned about the long-term survival of their manufacturing enterprise, Next Generation Manufacturing provides the knowledge, strategies, and tools necessary for achieving success in the twenty-first century.

Praise for
NEXT GENERATION MANUFACTURING

"Jordan and Michel capture the diverse and often conflicting concerns of manufacturing business leaders worldwide. . . . The lessons [in this book] have widespread application in companies of almost any size."-Professor Peter Sackett, Head of Department, Cranfield University

"Throughout history, manufacturing of flint arrowheads to sophisticated computer chips has been a mainstay of societal growth. Indeed, technology epochs have been named for significant occurrences; e.g., the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing productivity fueled by mass production technology. We are now witnessing the start of one of these rare epochs, the Knowledge Age, manufacturing productivity fueled by information and knowledge technology. Next Generation Manufacturing provides an exciting insight into this emerging epoch; an easily read, accurate, and insightful book on manufacturing history in the making."-Gene Meieran, Intel Fellow, Intel Corporation

American cities are rediscovering the economic and social value of urban manufacturing. However, urban manufacturing is often invisible and poorly understood in terms of urban design, architecture, and policy. The Design of Urban Manufacturing brings a multidisciplinary approach to a new complex reality that urban manufacturing now sits squarely at the intersection of research, education, and neighborhood revitalization. Using cases studies from across North America and beyond, this book presents innovative approaches not only to the design of districts and buildings, but to the design of policy as well: the special roles that governments, local development corporations, and not-for-profit organizations all have to play in supporting manufacturing. This book presents current models for working neighborhoods where factories enable fine-grained, mixed-use communities and face-to-face contact while creatively solving the very real problems of goods movement and functional buildings. Design guidelines and policy recommendations are calibrated to different types of production districts. The Design of Urban Manufacturing is the essential resource for policy makers, designers, and students in urban design, planning, and urban and economic development.

For decades the crown jewels of Japan's postwar manufacturing industry, motorcycles remain one of Japan's top exports. Japan's Motorcycle Wars assesses the historical development and societal impact of the motorcycle industry, from the influence of motor sports on vehicle sales in the early 1900s to the postwar developments that led to the massive wave of motorization sweeping the Asia-Pacific region today. Jeffrey Alexander brings a wealth of information to light, providing English translations of transcripts, industry publications, and company histories that have until now been available only in Japanese. By exploring the industry as a whole, he reveals that Japan's motorcycle industry was characterized not by communitarian success but by misplaced loyalties, technical disasters, and brutal competition.

How is your business these days? Do the following sound familiar? Market share flat or falling? Margins being squeezed ever thinner? Increased competition from new players? Technology out-racing you? Customers wanting more than you can offer? In all businesses today the answer is - yes! For many, the solution is to focus on their core business processes - commonly known as Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Now some businesses have gone beyond BPR and are using holonic networks to respond to the rising challenges of business in the 1990s. Holonic networks give businesses the agility to rapidly change product and service capabilities to meet rapidly changing market demands, offering the following advantages:
* leverage - there is true synergy achieved by combining the best capabilities of many operations.
* speed - decision making is streamlined which shows up as improved time to market.
* flexibility - rapid change to product or service capabilities to match changing customer requirements.
* fast growth and high profits - improving customer responsiveness by 33% results in a growth rate of 300% and up to 500% more profit than competitors.
* sustainable customers - tough for competitors to wean them away.
* reduced capital requirement - shared costs and fuller use made of equipment.
* quick failure recognition - real-time operation recognizes and then fixes failure.
In this book, the authors describe how holonic networks and the virtual companies within them have been implemented in businesses as diverse as Ford, Hewlett Packard, Benetton and R Griggs, the company that makes Doc Marten shoes. Beyond Business Process Reengineering provides athought-provoking and practical examination of business today. For everyone in business being pulled through competition, technological change and their own reengineering efforts, it provides a new and radical alternative to downsizing, restructuring, cost reduction and strategic repositioning.

Leverage the flexibility and power of SAP MII to integrate your business operations with your manufacturing processes. You'll explore important new features of the product and see how to apply best practices to connect all the stakeholders in your business. This book starts with an overview of SAP's manufacturing integration and intelligence application and explains why it is so important. You'll then see how it is applied in various manufacturing sectors. The biggest challenge in manufacturing industries is to reduce the manual work and human intervention so that the process becomes automatic. SAP MII explains how to bridge the gap between management and production and bring sound vital information to the shop floor in real time. With this book you'll see how to ensure existing manufacturing and information systems share a common interface for all users in your enterprise. What You'll Learn Understand the functional aspects of SAP MII Implement SAP MII in different Manufacturing sectors Explore new technical features of SAP MII 12.x Integrate scenarios with SAP MII Discover practice guidelines Who This Book is for All levels of SAP manufacturing professionals.

This important work was designed as a companion volume to Organization and Management of Advanced Manufacturing. Together, these two volumes cover the spectrum of human factors issues relevant to the design, operation, and management of advanced manufacturing technology. Today, as manufacturing enterprises become more and more computerized, it is clear that their economic success will depend, to a large degree, on the symbiosis of social, technical, organizational and management, and ecological design efforts. This book reflects three major trends that have developed in this new era of manufacturing: the rapid spread of manufacturing capabilities worldwide...the emergence of advanced manufacturing technologies...and growing evidence that appropriate changes in traditional management and labor practices and organizational structures are needed. Design of Work and Development of Personnel in Advanced Manufacturing explains the urgent need for explicit philosophical acceptance of the vital importance of human work design and development of human resources in advanced manufacturing. Design of Work and Development of Personnel in Advanced Manufacturing presents a framework of problems, issues, and solutions which are relevant to the design of work and effective development of personnel in advanced manufacturing systems. It addresses problems that are experienced worldwide in the industry. The book covers problems of work design and analysis in advanced manufacturing - specifically such ergonomics design issues as cognitive task requirements, human supervisory control, development of human skill, educational requirements, technical choice from a technological perspective, and the dynamics ofhuman performance variability, including fatigue and boredom effects in automated systems. The book discusses the various problems of personnel development as they arise in the context of computer-aided decision support for human-based activity domains as manufacturing process planning, scheduling, maintenance, reliability, inspection, and product quality. Finally, the book discusses future trends in computer-integrated rather than computer-interfaced manufacturing technology, and related human factors issues. Design of Work and Development of Personnel in Advanced Manufacturing will prove to be invaluable to industrial and production engineers, plant managers, human resource personnel, researchers, and students.

This publication examines the legal aspects of the spare parts market from an IP perspective: specifically whether design protection for spare parts of a complex product extends to the spare part aftermarket, or whether that market should remain open to competition. The stakeholders' equally weighty arguments that must be balanced against are, on the one hand, the property interest in an earned IP right in the design of the part; and on the other, enhanced competition, likely reflected in lower prices. The mounting tension between these two positions is manifest an increased number of lawsuits in both the US and the EU. This book provides a discussion of the legal issues involved in this debate from a global perspective, with special focus on the EU and the US. Part I contextualizes the legal debate by discussing the historical background, the competitive situation and the respective stakeholder positions. Part II examines the relevant legal questions on a comparative basis, evaluating the likelihood of its adoption in the jurisdictions examined. Concluding that adoption is unlikely, Part III proposes a number of possible considerations meant to further compromise. Part IV concludes with a future outlook, specifically in light of the impact of technological development on this market.

An eye-popping, unauthorized expos? of the House of Barbie

From Boise to Beijing, Mattel's toys dominate the universe. Its no-fun-and-games marketing muscle reaches some 140 countries, and its iconic products have been a part of our culture for generations. Now, in this intriguing and entertaining expos?, "New York Times" bestselling author Jerry Oppenheimer places the world's largest toy company under a journalistic microscope, uncovering the dark side of toy land, and exploring Mattel's oddball corporate culture and eccentric, often bizarre, cast of characters.

Based on exclusive interviews and an exhaustive review of public and private records, "Toy Monster" exposes Mattel's take-no-prisoners, shark-infested corporate style. Throughout this scrupulously reported, unauthorized portrait, you'll discover how dangerous toys are actually nothing new to Mattel, and why its fearsomely litigious approach within the brutal toy business has helped their products dominate potential rivals such as Bratz.Introduces you to the larger-than-life personalities that have shaped Mattel's eccentric worldOffers an inside look- from an experienced author-at the scandals that have been a part of this iconic companyJerry Oppenheimer is also the author of "Madoff with the Money," an in-depth look at Bernie Madoff the man and his billion dollar scam

Engaging and accessible, "Toy Monster" shows you why today's toy business isn't always fun and games.

All companies which reach a critical size are faced with outsourcing decisions that can increase the value of their products and services primarily through lower costs, greater reliability and improved efficiency. Successful outsourcing decisions have an important knowledge dimension, where the outsourcing professionals need to be supported by historical and contextual knowledge regarding their own products performance but also the performance of suppliers. "Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" explains in detail how a manager can acquire, create, transfer and use knowledge that optimizes their outsourcing decisions and improves the changes of marketplace success.

"Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" gives examples of the key decisions that needs to be taken by managers regarding effective outsourcing. Decisions are divided around the structural and infrastructural aspects of outsourcing and the key knowledge that needs to be managed to support good decisions. The book contains illustrations and examples of key processes throughout and concludes with a section dedicated to case studies. These case studies represent a variety of manufacturing system types and sizes focused on supply chain integration, and which deploy various manufacturing paradigms including craft, mass, lean, adaptive, and sustainable manufacturing.

"Outsourcing in Manufacturing: the Knowledge Dimension" covers many theoretical and practical examples of critical outsourcing decisions, their knowledge aspects and how knowledge challenges can be dealt with in a systematic way. It provides a key resource for students, lecturers and industry managers looking to solidify their understanding and application of outsourcing decision making strategies.

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Hierarchical and Supply Chain Planning describes the application of hierarchical planning techniques to all major functional areas of supply chain planning, including production, distribution, warehousing, transportation, inventory management, forecasting and performance management. The book reviews well-known, original hierarchical production planning techniques and implementations dating back several decades and numerous more current hierarchical planning methods and applications covering an array of supply chain activities. A number of novel hierarchical planning techniques and algorithms covering different components of supply chain planning are offered as is an original approach for integrating supply chain measurements into systems such as the balanced scorecard which evaluate total firm performance. The book covers the interests of private industry practitioners, academic researchers, and students of operations, logistics and supply chain management and planning.

This book covers bleach plant effluents, that most polluting effluent from the pulp and paper industry. Disappearance of benthic invertebrates, a high incidence of fish diseases, and mutagenic effects on the aquatic fauna are some of the consequences of the disposal of bleach effluents into surface waters. This book describes environmental impact of bleach plant effluents, environmental regulations, and measures to reduce the pollution load by internal process modification and external treatment of bleach plant effluents.

American cities are rediscovering the economic and social value of urban manufacturing. However, urban manufacturing is often invisible and poorly understood in terms of urban design, architecture, and policy. The Design of Urban Manufacturing brings a multidisciplinary approach to a new complex reality that urban manufacturing now sits squarely at the intersection of research, education, and neighborhood revitalization. Using cases studies from across North America and beyond, this book presents innovative approaches not only to the design of districts and buildings, but to the design of policy as well: the special roles that governments, local development corporations, and not-for-profit organizations all have to play in supporting manufacturing. This book presents current models for working neighborhoods where factories enable fine-grained, mixed-use communities and face-to-face contact while creatively solving the very real problems of goods movement and functional buildings. Design guidelines and policy recommendations are calibrated to different types of production districts. The Design of Urban Manufacturing is the essential resource for policy makers, designers, and students in urban design, planning, and urban and economic development.

The work of Martin Schmuck empirically investigates the phenomenon of financial distress and corporate turnaround in the automotive supplier industry. Based on a sample of 194 publicly listed automotive suppliers, the effectiveness of managerial, operational, financial, and asset restructuring activities is analyzed in a multivariate research setting. Archetypes for successful turnarounds are identified and matched with strategies of non-distressed companies.

The rubber industry was an industry born in bankruptcy and built through bankruptcies. Many of the great rubber barons found themselves or company in bankruptcy courts. Bankruptcies defined the very nature and structure of the rubber industry we know today. Fortunately, the rubber industry has always proven as elastic as its product. The very man that invented rubber, Charles Goodyear, started out in a Philadelphia debtor's prison after failing in the hardware business. Amazingly near the end of his life he would return to prison again for debt problems over his failing rubber enterprise. Bankruptcy and failure would become part of the story of rubber. Harvey Firestone entered the rubber business after failing in other businesses, B. F. Goodrich after failing in earlier business endeavors such as oil drilling moved his failed rubber company from New England to start over in Akron, and F. A. Seiberling, founder of Goodyear Rubber, was forced out of the company he founded to avoid a total bankruptcy of the company and lost most of his personal wealth. Rubber proved far from an elastic gold, but it would be an industrial jewel, once conquered. In the early years, it was a search for an American location to process the rubber of the tropics. The industry would shift from its roots in New England to Akron, Ohio. The collapse of the industry is the story of the de-industrialisation of America.