Quality and process improvement are a major concern of business and industry the world over. A good indicator of the increasing interest in quality is the number of quality-related awards that have been instituted in various parts of the world in the past few years. To implement their quality improvement programmes, many organizations require simple guidelines that can be followed in practical terms. This book is designed to be such a guide. The book presents techniques through which quality and process improvement can be achieved in any business, service, or manufacturing organization. Above all, the book shows the steps to improving quality, increasing productivity, reducing product development costs, and meeting the challenges of competition.

Implementing co-operative production networks is a major strategic target of many small- and medium-sized enterprises to secure and foster future competitiveness on the global market. Beginning with the strategic management and going down to the operational product development and operations execution, this book gives a detailed overview of the different key issues of setting up strategic production networks. Management concepts, the required information technology as well as best practices are introduced and discussed by leading researchers from Germany, Switzerland and China. The book aims at supporting managers responsible for setting up global or regional co-operative production networks as well as researchers and students working on this matter.

The primary aim of Project Management is to facilitate the successful completion of projects. For this reason it puts particular emphasis on the importance of careful preparation and strategic co-operation within the project team. The first part of this new textbook offers a description of the project-based approach to the work environment, an analysis of when such an approach is appropriate and an account of how to make projects work. In addition, this part of the book discusses the role of planning software within the project environment. Part Two of the book describes the practical tools and skills needed to tackle projects. A number of the skills outlined in Part Two are also relevant to learning contexts other than projects. This new edition offers additional material on the life-cycle of the project: from setting up to completing a project. New sections deal with skills such as brainstorming and decision making in the project group. The text makes for required reading for project management students everywhere.

This is a challenging, innovative, and timely new look at implementing Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) by one of the field's leading trainers and authors. The book takes into account the economic upheavals of recent years and demonstrates that TPM is less about moving maintenance tasks to operations than moving accountability for aggregate output of the plant to operators. The author goes on to show that effective TPM - TPM reloaded -- requires a radical difference in management's view of the worker and even tougher, a radical change in the way workers view their own role. This is a challenging, innovative, and timely new look at implementing Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) by one of the field's leading trainers and authors. The book takes into account the economic upheavals of recent years and demonstrates that TPM is less about moving maintenance tasks to operations than moving accountability for aggregate output of the plant to operators. The author goes on to show that effective TPM - TPM reloaded -- requires a radical difference in management's view of the worker and even tougher, a radical change in the way workers view their own role.Introduction: TPM in 2010 Introduction to TPM Who is TPM for? What Does TPM Do? Why Today? Operator is the keyPillars of TPMHistory of TPMWhy Did TPM Come from Auto Assembly? Some important questions about where the idea for TPM came from Life under TPM A Day in the Life of a TPM ShopTPM Has Two AspectsPromises MadeSelling TPMTotal plant involvement TPM basics TPM: The Basic IdeaThe intention of TPM is engagementTPM is a TEAM Based ActivityTPM and lean manufacturing and maintenanceJIT (Just in Time) Five Elements of TPMMaintenance MaintenanceThe Basic Activity of TPM is PM OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) Measuring Equipment Effectiveness is an Essential Part of TPM Different OEE models OEE is ConfusingExample of OEE TPM activities Return to new conditionsMini-manual for OperatorsTasks (Getting Down to the Nitty-Gritty) TPM team meetingsTypical team activity is conducting a 1-point lessonRCA for operators Lean Maintenance Facts of Life What Are We Trying to Do? One Problem However - Past SinsGround rules of equipment: What are the Life Cycle Phases of Equipment? CMMS MRP II interfaceThe CMMS Work Order Visual Work Place BenefitsExamplesWhen is too much too much TPM Installation Seven Steps to Reach Full Autonomous MaintenanceWhy Do One Out of Two TPM Installations Fail? Successful TPM InstallationsKey Concepts for the TPM InstallationLook Out; Problems Ahead! Steps in Introduction of TPM in an Organization Training For TPM to Work, You Better Be Great at Training. Effective TrainingCertified Operator, Mechanic Training Structures to keep TPM going Structure for Remembering To Do TasksTPM reportingKeeping TPM on track Is TPM for you? How to decide TPM is for youTPM Feasibility Study

Lean Six Sigma has evolved progressively over time from quality efforts within an enterprise that are independent, to complex systems changing the concept from a simple network to complex alliance formation among firms. The changes created by these transformations present novel challenges and issues to new and established businesses alike. Lean Six Sigma Approaches in Manufacturing, Services, and Production presents emerging research-based trends in the area of global quality lean six sigma networks and analysis. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach focusing on research, cases, and emerging technologies, this title provides insight and support to researchers, students, executives, managers, and practitioners concerned with the management of quality and efficiency across industries.

Lean Manufacturing has proved to be one of the most successful and most powerful production business systems over the last decades. Its application enabled many companies to make a big leap towards better utilization of resources and thus provide better service to the customers through faster response, higher quality and lowered costs. Lean is often described as "eyes for flow and eyes for muda" philosophy. It simply means that value is created only when all the resources flow through the system. If the flow is stopped no value but only costs and time are added, which is muda (Jap. waste). Since the philosophy was born at the Toyota many solutions were tailored for the high volume environment. But in turbulent, fast-changing market environment and progressing globalization, customers tend to require more customization, lower volumes and higher variety at much less cost and of better quality. This calls for adaptation of existing lean techniques and exploration of the new waste-free solutions that go far beyond manufacturing. This book brings together the opinions of a number of leading academics and researchers from around the world responding to those emerging needs. They tried to find answer to the question how to move forward from "Spaghetti World" of supply, production, distribution, sales, administration, product development, logistics, accounting, etc. Through individual chapters in this book authors present their views, approaches, concepts and developed tools. The reader will learn the key issues currently being addressed in production management research and practice throughout the world.

Beginning in the mid-2010s, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has seen remarkable changes in information technology which have blurred the boundaries between the physical, digital, and biological worlds. Industry 4.0 has enabled so-called "smart factories" in which computer systems equipped with machine learning algorithms can learn and control robotics with minimal need for human input. While smart technology has enabled many manufacturing businesses to increase efficiency and cut costs, many others are still struggling with implementing it. This book aims to help students, practitioners and industry leaders to become change agents and take their first steps on the path of transformation. Smart Business and Digital Transformation addresses the challenge of becoming "smart" from three different perspectives: smart factory, smart industry, and smart environment. Covering technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), mobility, 5G, Big Data analytics, the book shows how enterprises can take advantage of them and ultimately beat the competition. The book considers the importance of operational processes, business models, and organizational culture. The contributing authors and editors, based at Corvinus University, present a multi-dimensional picture of industry 4.0 which is both diverse in its voices and unified in its vision. Smart Business and Digital Transformation meets the growing demand for a textbook that not only presents the latest concepts and theories but is also practical for planning, managing, and implementing digital transformation in practice. The chapters include case studies to demonstrate the practical applications, and each chapter ends with review and discussion questions to develop students' skills and competencies. Students of business and digital transformation on advanced undergraduate and MBA courses will find it an indispensable guide to a vibrant and challenging topic.

Examining the dynamics of competence-building processes at the firm level, this book looks at a sample of Japanese and European companies engaged in the field of optoelectronics. The concept was derived from the notion of firm-specific competences which are closely related to the firm's intangible assets and accumulated technological bases. Several factors affect the rate and direction of competence-building, chief among them being primary markets, top management strategy and the evolution of research and development organization, and organizational learning. The book also introduces a technique to assess competences using three types of data on US patenting, scientific publications and qualitative interview data.

Der dritte Band der Worterbucher enthalt Produktionsprozesse und ihre Begriffe aus der Produktionstechnik wie Werkzeugmaschinen, Maschinen- und Fertigungssysteme, Maschinenelemente und -eigenschaften sowie unterschiedliche Arbeitsplatze. Weitere Themen sind die Fertigungssteuerung mit Maschinenrusten, Prozessmesstechnik und -uberwachung, Informationssysteme, CAD/CAM und Betriebsdatenerfassung sowie Produktionsplanung und Arbeitsvorbereitung, Materialfluss und Logistik, Lagerung, Handhabungs- und Fordermaschinen, Kostenrechnung und Qualitatssicherung.

Vol. III of the dictionary deals with the central concern of manufacturing engineering, i.e. manufacturing processes and the methods and mechanisms of controlling them. Thus, the volume is interesting for both production engineers and managers. It covers pure production technical terminology (machine tools, production systems, system configurations, machine peripherals, etc.) but also related subjects like organization, logistics and quality. Correspondingly, it also contains a broad range of terms and definitions, e.g., on process control and monitoring, production data acquisition, CAD/CAM, material flow systems including storage, transportation and handling as well as production planning and optimization, cost accounting and quality management.

Le volume III des dictionnaires traite des techniques de production et de leur commande et interesse donc a la fois les ingenieurs et les gestionnaires de la production. Sont decrits des entites liees aux techniques de production comme les machines-outils, les systemes de fabrication, les elements de machines et leurs proprietes, ainsi que les differents postes de travail. D autres concepts concernant la commande des fabrications avec leur preparation, la metrologie des procedes et leur surveillance, les systemes informatiques, les CAO/FAO et les enregistrements de donnees, ainsi que la planification de la production et les etudes de fabrication, le flux des materiaux et la logistique, le stockage, les machines de manutention et de transport, le calcul des couts et l assurance qualite."

This book offers new insights into the complex set of activities and decisions of product innovation management. It provides concepts, methods, and tools that can help accelerate the introduction of successful products to the market in an increasingly competitive and changing business landscape. It also offers examples and case studies, and it is the result of more than 20 years of study, research, and consulting carried out by the two authors in the field of innovation management. The book discusses the demanding challenges of product innovation and offers practitioners guidance on how to respond to these challenges. It presents a three-level framework (the "innovation pyramid"), which reflects the core components of a firm's innovation capability: first, intelligence - absorbing information and knowledge from the outside world by looking beyond the familiar territories of the current market, technology, and customers; second, discovery - exploring opportunities for innovation through creative ideation and technology experimentation; and third, development - transforming opportunities into profitable new products and services.

This proceedings volume examines the state-of-the art of productivity and efficiency analysis and adds to the existing research by bringing together a selection of the best papers from the 8th North American Productivity Workshop (NAPW). It also aims to analyze world-wide perspectives on challenges that local economies and institutions may face when changes in productivity are observed. The volume comprises of seventeen papers that deal with productivity measurement, productivity growth, dynamics of productivity change, measures of labor productivity, measures of technical efficiency in different sectors, frontier analysis, measures of performance, industry instability and spillover effects. These papers are relevant to academia, but also to public and private sectors in terms of the challenges firms, financial institutions, governments and individuals may face when dealing with economic and education related activities that lead to increase or decrease of productivity. The North American Productivity Workshop brings together academic scholars and practitioners in the field of productivity and efficiency analysis from all over the world. It is a four day conference exploring topics related to productivity, production theory and efficiency measurement in economics, management science, operations research, public administration, and related fields. The papers in this volume also address general topics as health, energy, finance, agriculture, utilities, and economic dev elopment, among others. The editors are comprised of the 2014 local organizers, program committee members, and celebrated guest conference speakers.

Product design is becoming increasingly challenging as product complexity increases dramatically with the advent of autonomous control and the need to achieve zero emissions. Companies continue to have poor product launches with significant numbers of recall campaigns and high after-sales warranties. It is important that potential product failures are identified and fixed during the design of a product. Failure modes found late after the design has matured are normally easy to find with some being identified by the customer but are often difficult and expensive to fix since modifying one part will often have a knock-on effect on other parts causing other problems. Discovering failure modes early in the design process is often difficult requiring rigorous and comprehensive analysis but once found such failure modes are usually easy and cheap to fix. This book presents an approach to product design based on Failure Mode Avoidance that utilizes a series of strongly interrelated engineering tools and interpersonal skills that can be used to discover failure modes early in the design process. The tools can be used across engineering disciplines. Despite engineering being largely a team activity, it is often the case that little attention is paid to the team process after the team membership has been identified, with membership normally being based on technical expertise. In addition to technical expertise, an effective engineering team requires individual engineers to work together efficiently. Good leadership is also required with the leader able to both manage change and encourage individual team members to work to the best of their ability. The book interweaves technical skills, team skills, and team leadership in a way that reflects their real-life interrelationship. The book tells the fictional story of a small engineering team and its leader as they implement the skills introduced in the book and follows their experiences reflecting individual difficulties, enthusiasm, humor, and skepticism in applying the methodologies and tools for the first time. In addition, the story tells of team members' interactions with their management and peers within a company that, having been very successful, finds itself in financial difficulties. It promotes constructivist learning through the reader empathizing with the characters in the book. These characters ask questions that are typical of those that learners will ask about the subject matter. Learning reinforcement is also integrated into the storyline as a natural and unobtrusive feature. The book is intended to be read like a novel from cover to cover with a storyline that motivates the reader to read on. While including in-depth technical examples the book is not intended as a seminal text on Failure Mode Avoidance or team skills but is intended to give the reader an understanding such that they are motivated to learn more. Having read the book, it can be treated more typically as a textbook by returning to some of the technical detail or looking to further reading such as that identified in the book.

The importance of supply chain management has increased over the last few decades. Today, entire supply chains are competing with each other instead of individual companies. As such, supply chain management has become a way for companies to set themselves apart from competing companies and their supply chains. Interestingly, supply chain management mainly focuses on efficiency-oriented topics rather than effectiveness-driven issues, in particular the design of supply chains from manufacturing sites downstream, instead of upstream from the customer.

The Supply Chain Differentiation Guide offers a modern approach to supply chain management. While for many years "one-size-fits-all" approaches to supply chain management were very common, the current efforts of managers and academics alike focus on the simultaneous management of multiple supply chains. Despite the interest of the business sector in the management of multiple supply chains, academia has largely neglected this topic to date. The Supply Chain Differentiation Guide addresses this shortcoming, introducing both established and cutting-edge management methods to the context of supply chain differentiation and providing inspirations for how to improve corporate operations.

Authored by a team of experts, the new edition of this bestseller presents practical techniques for managing inventory and production throughout supply chains. It covers the current context of inventory and production management, replenishment systems for managing individual inventories within a firm, managing inventory in multiple locations and firms, and production management. The book presents sophisticated concepts and solutions with an eye towards today's economy of global demand, cost-saving, and rapid cycles. It explains how to decrease working capital and how to deal with coordinating chains across boundaries.

This book focuses on issues related to entrepreneurship and SME management on the African continent by providing insights from different conceptual, empirical and case studies. In doing so, it focuses on context-specific challenges for conducting entrepreneurial activities or business endeavors in smaller firms in the African continent. The book responds to calls for more research about African businesses given the acknowledgement of scholars, students and policy makers around the world who realize the increasing and growing economic importance of the African continent. In addition to serving as a source book for more in-depth studies by assisting the reader in gaining increased understanding of the topics covered, complementing the different parts with reviews, the book also elaborates on issues such political unrest, corruption, untrained personnel and environmental concerns. Entrepreneurship and SME Management Across Africa: Context, Challenges, Cases will be useful to academics with an interest in different entrepreneurial contexts in general, and Africa in particular, and for students interested in regional business practices, as well as for practitioners and policy makers.

Total Quality Management is the single most important management methodology available to achieve and maintain world class performance and competitiveness. This book shows senior management how to implement TQM, with clear explanations of the principles behind it. It is an indispensable guide book for senior managers in all sections of industry and commerce, at all stages of putting into practice the quality improvement process. The second edition presents five case studies representing large and small companies in diverse businesses. The constant theme is the achievement of significant business benefit from a determined and practical approach to the implementation of total quality.

Multiobjective Scheduling by Genetic Algorithms describes methods for developing multiobjective solutions to common production scheduling equations modeling in the literature as flowshops, job shops and open shops. The methodology is metaheuristic, one inspired by how nature has evolved a multitude of coexisting species of living beings on earth. Multiobjective flowshops, job shops and open shops are each highly relevant models in manufacturing, classroom scheduling or automotive assembly, yet for want of sound methods they have remained almost untouched to date. This text shows how methods such as Elitist Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm (ENGA) can find a bevy of Pareto optimal solutions for them. Also it accents the value of hybridizing Gas with both solution-generating and solution-improvement methods. It envisions fundamental research into such methods, greatly strengthening the growing reach of metaheuristic methods. This book is therefore intended for students of industrial engineering, operations research, operations management and computer science, as well as practitioners. It may also assist in the development of efficient shop management software tools for schedulers and production planners who face multiple planning and operating objectives as a matter of course.

The Practice of Quality Management presents the results of eleven ground-breaking research projects in quality management. It is the first collection of research papers by academics in this area. The projects are empirical studies on total quality management that suggest new ways to think about quality. The objective of the research found in this book is to develop theory and to assist practice. Thus, this volume is of interest to both academic researchers and practising managers. The chapters fall into four categories: `Performance', `Understanding TQM', `Organizations', and `Using TQM'. All of the chapters show that there are many different applications and research issues associated with quality. The chapters on `Understanding TQM' suggest that it is possible to develop and test theories of quality. The chapters on `Performance' demonstrate that studies of the operational and financial effect of quality can yield positive results. Many thinkers on quality consider that organizational impacts of quality are the most important drivers of the quality process. The chapters on `Organizations' present evidence on how quality programs affect human resource management, and organizational structure. Finally, the chapters on `Using TQM' present several studies of applications of quality management.

Students of logistics, transportation, and supply chain management, as well as international managers will find International Logistics: Global Supply Chain Management an essential reference for understanding how cargo is moved around the world. A comprehensive guide that includes the theory and practice of global supply chain management, International Logistics: Global Supply Chain Management uses current, real-world issues to make the material as relevant as possible, notwithstanding the fast-paced nature of this industry. Yet, the author also includes the theory and history of global supply chain management to provide a deeper understanding of the intricacies involved.
Logistics and transportation are the key elements of business and international trade. Based upon his experience in over 120 countries, including private industry, the military, and the United Nations, the author challenges conventional wisdom by discussing the myth of supply chain management and offering penetrating questions on the role of information systems.
International Logistics: Global Supply Chain Management is distinct in the following ways: A balanced approach between theoretical research and real-world practice, Cutting-edge, original graphics help explain concepts better than any current book, Instructor's Manual provided by the author upon request. Combined with pedagogical features and real-world case studies, International Logistics: Global Supply Chain Management is a must-have textbook for students of logistics, transportation, and supply chain management students, as well as a reference for international managers.

This work develops a quantitative structured methodology for managing the development of new products for highly competitive markets. Particular attention has been given to integrating a number of experimental tools and concepts within a common framework including marketing research. Taguchi methods, value benchmarking, value engineering, total quality management, activity based costing, concurrent engineering, statistical quality control, systems engineering, and organization are often treated today as related but separate tools and concepts. The reader should gain an understanding of how these tools complement each other and when they can be used most effectively to aid product decision making.

Currently, the challenge for manufacturing organizations is how to achieve their expected profit by continuously improving productivity or reducing costs. Manufacturing organizations have been using different improvement approaches to achieving cost reduction and productivity improvement for years by eliminating various losses and waste structures, such as excess inventory, excessive workforce, excessive capacity, excessive utility consumption, and so on. But is the problem solved? Unfortunately, no! Often manufacturing companies focus on maximizing the flow and meeting customer needs but forget their real aim - to make a profit for their stakeholders. Too many organizations meet customer expectations by seeking to continuously synchronize the flow to market demand but forget to check that they are doing it profitably enough to ensure business continuity and prosperity. When the financial results show that they are not so profitable, it is already too late. Moreover, the strategic direction of systematic improvements according to the sales trend - depending on the current degree of production capacity utilization and its dynamic effects on cost structures - is deficient in many manufacturing companies. So, would the failure of strategic and profitable systematic improvements be an option? Of course not! If the ultimate goal of the organization is to create target profit for stakeholders, then the behavior and strategic systematic improvements must be directed to those scenarios, strategies, tasks, problems, and "production levers" that are best based on creating the target profit. That's what Strategic Kaizen thinking does - the simultaneous and consistent achievement of systematic operational and financial improvements in a strategic and operational manner. It achieves both synchronous operations at market demand by fulfilling takt time and profitable operations in accordance with profit demand by fulfilling takt profit. In short, the Strategic Kaizen mission is striving for the fulfillment of the ideal state of operations called synchronous profitable operations. In this book, the author, while presenting in detail the seven processes of Strategic Kaizen methodology, exposes the answer to historically incomplete thinking of productivity improvements for target profitability. The uniqueness of the book is reinforced by the detailed presentation of the successful application of the Strategic Kaizen thinking over the years in two multinational manufacturing organizations operating in highly competitive markets, addressing the synchronous profitable operations for both the sales increase scenario and the sales decrease scenario. Moreover, it presents examples of the practical application of the "white-collar" Strategic Kaizen. Essentially, by adopting the Strategic Kaizen methodology presented in detail in this book to consistently achieve the ideal state of a manufacturing organization, organizations will enter a new paradigm of thinking of strategic improvements - Strategic Kaizen thinking - to meet annual and multiannual target profits in a unique and effective way that operates according to its own strategic and operational management system.

Having a team that knows how to adapt and innovate quickly can make all the difference in these challenging and competitive times -- for your organization and you personally as a leader. Leaders as coaches are crucial for a true learning organization, and high-performance teams need and want their leader to coach -- not tell. But not just any kind of coaching! Coaching that is enabling and inspiring because it increases adaptiveness and creativity -- with each individual and the whole team -- so they achieve important goals together. That's what the Coaching Kata helps leaders to learn. Take a fresh look at this five-phase, dual-purpose coaching model, become the leader you always wanted to be, and your team needs you to be. This business novel will transform the way you see and lead your team.

The physical distribution of products is an important element in the marketing operations of all productive enterprises, and in many cases efficient distribution is the most important single factor leading to success. With the emergence of post-industrial society the role of distribution has come to increasingly be viewed as a generator of wealth in the economy, attracting the interest of public policy makers anxious to influence investment, employment and efficiency in the sector.

First published in 1982, this book isolates the major trends affecting the main institutions in distribution and contrasts the processes of change amongst the countries and regions of the European Economic Community. Structural change in the industry is related to spatial change in the regions and comparisons made of the varied public policy responses in member countries. An interesting and relevant reissue, this title will be of particular value to economics and business students with an interest in the development of the European consumer and post-industrial Europe.