Within such disciplines as Management Science, Information and Computer Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and Operations Research, problems of cutting and packing (C&P)of concrete or abstract objects appear under various specifications although they have essentially the same logical structure. This book tries to give a description and categorization of C&P-problems as a whole, making them comparable in such a way as to clearly mark their similarities and differences with respect to the underlying planning problems. The purpose is to create a basis of knowledge which presents suggestions for selection, development and utilization of appropriate solution approaches. For this purpose the book - creates a consistent terminology for C&P problems, - developes anappropriate characterization scheme of 34 properties, and - typifies more than 300 real C&P-problems published in the German and English literature. Moreover, the book contains a collection of nearly 700 German and English references on C&P-problems.

While logistics has caught on as a vital component in China's national development plan, both government agencies at all levels and various types of enterprises have put considerable effort into propelling logistics to a new height. Recent logistics developments in China have witnessed a scene of significant boom dotted with few sporadic dips. This book, the third volume in the series on "Contemporary Logistics in China," is a must-read publication, which affords the readers a clearer view of the intrinsic consolidation and increased efforts made amid the recent advancements in China's logistics development. The research findings in this book reflect the expertise and diligence of a team of learned researchers in the highly-regarded Logistics Research Center at Nankai University. The book presents a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the progression and propagation of modern logistics in China, as well as a fresh look at some emerging hot issues with potential bearings on future logistics development. Researchers and practicing professionals alike will find this book an indispensable and timely reference and information resource.

The logic of Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) is usually implemented in production planning and control systems and therefore has a major impact on the performance of many real production systems. Much of what practitioners complain about, i.e. long lead times, high work-in-process, and large inventories, is due to the deficiencies of the MRP II concept. Thus, researchers are eager to find better models and methods to improve or to replace the current status. This book contains new ideas on master production scheduling, material requirements planning, lot sizing, sequencing and scheduling, and production control. Management scientists, industrial engineers, operations researchers, and computer scientists have contributed to present the state-of-the-art.

The problem with the way the safety industry functions is three-fold: (1) the dysfunctional relationship between business and safety leaders, (2) the practice of Results-Based Safety, and (3) the creation of a false reality. This book presents an insightful and practical approach to how you can move your safety program from Results-Based to Behavior-Based Safety. The move involves understanding what motivates behavior, utilization of consequences, practicing the seven steps of performance coaching, creating accurate safety campaigns, and defining evidence of a healthy Behavior-Based Safety program-this is the other side of safety.. The text: Defines the four major motivations, explains how they work, and how safety leaders can use the right motivation for the right person to help them practice safe behavior Explains how to maximize the impact of reinforcement consequences and minimize punitive consequences in a way that is alingned with an individual's motivation Implements the seven steps of performance coaching conversations, how safety and business leaders can model fluency and frequency to shape behavior to habit strength Provides clearly defined evidence of a healthy Behavior-Based safety program by measuring outcome like locus of control, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-actualization Highlights the distinction between Results-Based Safety (RBS) anecdotal practices from the science of Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) methodology Showcases how the distinct difference between a mechanistic and organic culture, and how the four phenomena can be utilized to drive safety culture on purpose Discusses the importance of expanding from lagging indicators to leading indicators for robust metrics and predictability Addresses how the significant negative impact of "telling people what to do" and re-focuses on coaching people on "what to think" The book provides definitions, examples, and applications that focus on how safety and business leaders can influence the behavior of people, impact their culture, and support healthy relationships. It will serve as an ideal text for students, professionals, and researchers in the fields of ergonomics, human factors, human-computer interaction, industrial-organizational psychology, and computer engineering.

A guide to managing cloud projects, Cloud Computing Strategies provides the understanding required to evaluate the technology and determine how it can be best applied to improve business and enhance your overall corporate strategy. Based on extensive research, it examines the opportunities and challenges that loom in the cloud. It explains exactly what cloud computing is, what it has to offer, and calls attention to the important issues management needs to consider before passing the point of no return regarding financial commitments. Illustrated with numerous examples and case studies, the book examines security, privacy, data ownership, and data protection in the cloud. It also: Explains how and why your company can benefit from Open Software and onDemand Services Identifies various cloud providers, their services, and their content as a basis for evaluating cost effectiveness Provides authoritative guidance on how to transition from a legacy system to the cloud Includes helpful tips for managing cloud vendor relationships and avoiding vendor lock-in Whether you're already in the cloud or just considering it, the text provides the unbiased understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of cloud computing needed to make informed decisions regarding its future in your organization. The book's strength is that it supplies authoritative insight on everything needed to decide if you should make a transition to the cloud.

This is the first book to examine the "nuts and bolts" of production processes. It proposes a truly consilient approach to modeling production processes - one that goes beyond the vague principles found in standard economics - and provides details that are consistent with the applied mechanics and engineering literature. Providing a credible analysis of some of the most pressing questions of our era, such as the productivity slowdown and the information paradox, and bridging the gap between engineering, applied physics, economics, and management science, this book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in industry, the modern economy, and how physical factors constrain productivity growth.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data analytics (BDA) are business related tasks and processes, which are supported by standardized software solutions. The book explains that this requires business-oriented thinking and acting from IT specialists and data scientists. It is a good idea to let students experience this directly from the business perspective, for example as executives of a virtual company in a role-playing game. The second edition of the book has been completely revised, restructured and supplemented with actual topics such as blockchains in supply chains and the correlation between Big Data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The structure of the book is based on the gradual implementation and integration of the respective information systems from the business and management perspectives. Part I contains chapters with detailed descriptions of the topics supplemented by online tests and exercises. Part II introduces role play and the online gaming and simulation environment. Supplementary teaching material, presentations, templates, and video clips are available online in the gaming area. The gaming and business simulation Kdibisglobal.com, newly created for this book, now includes a beer division, a bottled water division, a soft drink division and a manufacturing division for barcode cash register scanner with their specific business processes and supply chains.

Learning has become a constant state of mind for most professionals in today's organizations. However, to become a true learning enterprise, organizations cannot stop at instilling this yearning for knowledge into their collaborators. They must also capture and formalize the common know-how of the organization, as well as provide time and infrastructure to allow learning moments to happen. The aim of the Gaming Workgroup within IFIP 5.7 on Integrated Production Management Systems and the European Group of University Teachers for Industrial Management EHTB is to develop tools and formalisms to support experimental learning in these organizations. It has been proven that modelling the know-how, using visual environments such as multimedia and graphic simulations, is a first step. This in turn allows for the development of games, i.e. challenging settings that foster group interaction and problem solving. Games in Operations Management provides an excellent overview of the different game formats that have been developed and tested in past years, and includes games in a manufacturing environment, games in a services environment, and games for teaching organizational values. The book comprises the selected, revised proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Games in Production Management: Experimental Learning in Industrial Management, which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) and held in November, 1998, in Ghent, Belgium. The book will be of particular interest to organizational trainers, providing a good overview of state-of-the-art game and training formats as well as hints and advice on how to organize interactive training sessions. It will also be of interest to researchers in industrial engineering, industrial management, and operations management.

This book provides a powerful insight into strategic portfolio management and its central role in the delivery of organisational strategy, maximisation of value creation, and efficient allocation of resources and capabilities to achieve organisational strategic objectives. The book makes a valuable contribution to the development of thinking on the translation of strategy into actionable work. Whether you are a senior manager building a high-performing strategic portfolio for your organisation or an academic searching for new perspectives on strategy execution through portfolio management, you will find great significance in this book. Twenty-eight chapters in four sections provide multiple perspectives on the topic, with in-depth guidance on organisational design for strategic portfolio management and covering all process, capability, and leadership aspects of strategic portfolio management. The book includes several detailed case studies for the effective deployment of strategic portfolios, bringing together theory and practice for strategic portfolio management. This book is particularly valuable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of project and portfolio management, strategic management, and leadership who are looking to expand their knowledge within the multi-project environment. Highly practical and logical in its structure, it also shows project management professionals how to effectively manage their business portfolios and align this with their business strategy.

Environmental quality management is seen as a competitive strategy that could help a firm improve its bottom line. It is argued that being environmentally correct is good business that can provide competitive advantage to the firm in the long term and help it to survive and remain in business. To achieve environmental quality, top management must take the lead and refocus its objectives by redefining its customers. Rather than a focus only on direct customers who are consumers of the product, emphasis should be on the stakeholders of the environment since they can potentially influence the cost of doing business.

The book starts by tracing the relationship between technology and the environment. Clearly, the quality of life we enjoy today is, to a large extent, a result of technological advances. However, environmental pollution is a byproduct of such advances and has contributed in declining the quality of life. Sustainable development is increasingly seen as a way of both maintaining technological advances and environmental quality. However, many have argued against sustainable development without looking at its long-term goals and its potential of helping a business improve its bottom line and competitiveness. Clearly, there is a need for strategic planning in order to remain competitive through environmental quality planning. A corporate environmental quality model is, therefore, needed. Environmental quality management can also benefit from developments in the total quality management area. A great deal of attention is focused on how this could be achieved by adopting tools from total quality management, establishing environmental quality award programs, and conducting environmental quality assessment. The book concludes by focusing on the needs to conserve the earth's limited natural resources and discussing some of the major environmental laws in the United States designed to protect the environment.

Quantitative models and computer-based tools are essential for making decisions in today's business environment. These tools are of particular importance in the rapidly growing area of supply chain management. This volume is a unified effort to provide a systematic summary of the large variety of new issues being considered, the new set of models being developed, the new techniques for analysis, and the computational methods that have become available recently. The volume's objective is to provide a self-contained, sophisticated research summary - a snapshot at this point of time - in the area of Quantitative Models for Supply Chain Management. While there are some multi-disciplinary aspects of supply chain management not covered here, the Editors and their contributors have captured many important developments in this rapidly expanding field. The 26 chapters can be divided into six categories. Basic Concepts and Technical Material (Chapters 1-6). The chapters in this category focus on introducing basic concepts, providing mathematical background and validating algorithmic tools to solve operational problems in supply chains. Supply Contracts (Chapters 7-10). In this category, the primary focus is on design and evaluation of supply contracts between independent agents in the supply chain. Value of Information (Chapters 11-13). The chapters in this category explicitly model the effect of information on decision-making and on supply chain performance. Managing Product Variety (Chapters 16-19). The chapters in this category analyze the effects of product variety and the different strategies to manage it. International Operations (Chapters 20-22). The three chapters in this category provide an overview of research in the emerging area of International Operations. Conceptual Issues and New Challenges (Chapters 23-27). These chapters outline a variety of frameworks that can be explored and used in future research efforts. This volume can serve as a graduate text, as a reference for researchers and as a guide for further development of this field.

The world is witnessing an increasingly dangerous combination of social, economic and environmental factors which are accelerating an ever growing emergence of novel viruses resulting in new epidemics. A must-have for facing the consequential pandemic threat, Robert A. Clark's new book reveals what you should do to mitigate the risk, and limit the damage, while designing contingency measures to address a pandemic crisis. The book builds on the themes introduced in his 2016 title Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat - Potentially the biggest survival challenge facing organisations, by focusing specifically on the COVID-19 pandemic. Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat - Learning from COVID-19 while preparing for the next pandemicCOVID-19 has shown organisations that the threat of a pandemic needs to be taken seriously, emphasising the importance of preparing a business continuity plan and a pandemic plan in response to the crisis. Clark's book focuses on how an organisation can create a new or update an existing pandemic response plan. He highlights the similarities in managing different types of crisis whether it is a pandemic, or other threats such as cyber attacks, floods, fires, civil disturbances, terrorism etc. The book looks at several case studies, reviewing how different industries have been impacted by the pandemic, with the author also reflecting on his own personal experience during this crisis. It also discusses the ways the virus has affected our economy and daily routines, and the psychological impact. The book further provides useful free resources that offer additional guidance/information. Explore how: Your organisation can create and validate a pandemic response plan; To manage your organisation when faced with a pandemic threat; Lockdown has impacted our mental health, economies and working culture; Organisations from varied industries have adapted in response to the pandemic; To search for new opportunities that pandemics can present by both changes to working practises and diversification; and Information technology helped many organisations to continue functioning during lockdowns. "Bob's book, Business Continuity and the Pandemic Threat does a spectacular job filling a gaping void in the pandemic preparedness and response literature. It should be required reading for every CEO concerned with keeping their business in business and every corporate risk manager, regardless of the type of business. He's written with an engaging, rare combination of hard-nosed business survival strategy and insightful human stories of pandemic experiences." Dr Jonathan Quick MD MPH, global health leader with expertise in pandemic and epidemic threats Understand the corporate, psychological and societal impact of a pandemic threat and how to prepare for and mitigate its effects with this book - order your copy today!

3 While all of these explanations seem to have merit, there is one dominant reason why the percentage of GDP and employment dedicated to services has continued to increase: low productivity. According to Baumol's cost disease hypothesis (Baumol, Blackman, and Wolff 1991), the growth in services is actually an illusion. The fact is that service-sector productivity is improving slower than that of manufacturing and thus, it seems as if we are consuming more services in nominal terms. However, in real terms, we are consuming slightly less services. That is, the increase in the service sector is caused by low productivity relative to manufacturing. The implication of Baumol's cost disease is the following. Assuming historical productivity increases for manufacturing, agriCUlture, education and health care, Baumol (1992) shows that the U. S. can triple its output in all sectors within 50 years. However, due to the higher productivity level for manufacturing and agriculture, it will take substantially more employment in services to achieve this increase in output. To put this argument in perspective, simply roll back the clock 100 years or so and replace the words manufacturing with agriculture, and services with manufacturing. The phenomenal growth in agricultural productivity versus manufacturing caused the employment levels in agriculture in the U. S. to decrease rapidly while producing a truly unbelievable amount of food. It is the low productivity of services that is the real culprit in its growth of GDP and employment share.

"It is a book for manufacturing companies that are fighting desperately for survival and that will go to any length to improve their factories and overcome the obstacles to success. One could even call this book a bible for corporate survival."

Hiroyuki Hirano

Known as the JIT bible in Japan, JIT Implementation Manual The Complete Guide to Just-in-Time Manufacturing presents the genius of Hiroyuki Hirano, a top international consultant with vast experience throughout Asia and the West. Encyclopedic in scope, this six-volume practical reference provides unparalleled information on every aspect of JIT the waste-eliminating, market-oriented production system. This historic, yet timeless classic is just as crucial in today 's fast-changing global marketplace as when it was first published in Japan 20 years ago.

Volume 6: JIT Implementation Forms and Charts provides a comprehensive diagnostic tool for JIT operations and includes a wealth of checklists, memos, and essential forms for recognizing waste in operations and implementing the 5S s. It includes engineering forms for line-balancing, skills training, visual controls, changeover improvement, mistake-proofing, and standard operations. This indispensable resource also supplies a set of forms and charts useful when introducing and promoting JIT or lean to your plant and includes the JIT management forms that Hirano uses to implement "JIT Awareness Revolutions."

More than 40 PDF forms can be downloaded from the CRC Press website

Operations management is a set of disciplines that transform raw materials, labor and capital into finished goods and services. These various disciplines are discussed for an intended audience of executives and operations managers who desire to be updated on the current curriculum in business schools. The book emphasizes why Japan has ascended to its dominant position in global commerce largely at the expense of U.S. manufacturers. The intent is to learn lessons from Japanese achievements that can be applied to make U.S. manufacturers more competitive in the global market. Trends in operations management are augmented with new software tools (Evolver and RISKOptimizer) which can solve previously unsolvable problems in scheduling and other operational matters.

Additional material provides a fuller discussion on certain key managerial issues and problem solving. This readable and informative book examines the various disciplines that managers must integrate into their jobs and key workplace practices that enhance a company's competitiveness in the global marketplace.

The field of operations management is increasingly recognized as being crucial to the success of a company. The premise of this book is that learning specific analytical techniques can provide a deeper understanding of the problems in operations management than merely reading about these problems. The book is concise while still providing a broad discussion of the issues and details to learn these valuable tools.

Each problem area is introduced with an overview of the issues that must be addressed and the array of tools available to analyze them. Next, detailed examples are presented. Through these examples, the ramifications of the various approaches and the tradeoffs that must be considered when choosing one approach over another are explored. The book is a valuable resource for researchers, students, and business practitioners.

This book explores, in a systematic way, both conventional and unconventional material shaping processes with various modes of hybridization in relation to theory, modelling and industrial potential. The demand for high productivity and high accuracy in manufacturing is continuously increasing, based on improvement and optimization strategies. Hybridization of manufacturing processes will play a crucial role and will be of a key importance in achieving environmental and economical sustainability. Structured in three parts, Hybrid Manufacturing Processes summarizes the state-of-the art hybrid manufacturing processes based on available literature sources and production reports. The book begins by providing information on the physical fundamentals of the removal and non-removal processes in macro-, micro and nanoscales. It then follows with an overview of the possible ways of hybridization and the effects on the enhancement of process performance, before concluding with a summary of production outputs related to surface integrity, specifically with respect to difficult-to-machine materials. Considering the applications of different sources of hybridization including mechanical, thermal and chemical interactions or their combinations, this book will be of interest to a range of researchers and practicing engineers within the field of manufacturing.

Der Sammelband vereinigt Beitrage von uber 50 Autorinnen und Autoren aus Wirtschaftswissenschaft, Informatik und Mathematik zu aktuellen und grund--legenden Problemen und Losungsansatzen der intelligenten Entscheidungs--unterstutzung in Unternehmen und erscheint zum 65. Geburtstag von Hermann Gehring, Professor fur Wirtschaftsinformatik an der FernUniversitat in Hagen.

This is the Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Management Science and Engineering Management (ICMSEM) held from July 25 to 27, 2014 at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal and organized by International Society of Management Science and Engineering Management (ISMSEM), Sichuan University (Chengdu, China) and Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal). The goals of the conference are to foster international research collaborations in Management Science and Engineering Management as well as to provide a forum to present current findings. A total number of 138 papers from 14 countries are selected for the proceedings by the conference scientific committee through rigorous referee review. The selected papers in the second volume are focused on Computing and Engineering Management covering areas of Computing Methodology, Project Management, Industrial Engineering and Information Technology.

First textbook in the literature to treat sustainability as a powerful concept to create optimal workplace experiences FM is a growth area and this book pushes the boundaries to teach sustainability in a new way Most other textbooks dedicated to this topic focus on describing specific best practices or case studies, that is simply not enough to take the next step in truly integrating sustainability in the facility management industry. This book seeks to do that.

Choosing the right location for a business can assure its success, and avoid costly problems. Location, Location, Location examines this foundational aspect of business profitability, and outlines the principles and procedures necessary to identify an optimal site. This practical book offers advice on how to invest wisely on real estate to minimize risks, and maximize returns. This concise guide by Marcel De Meirleir, a leading site consultant with over fifty years of professional practice, explains how to measure the positive and negative attributes of a site. Its useful and accessible format includes anecdotes, cases studies, and tools for evaluating and selecting sites for different kinds of facilities like headquarters, warehouses, call centers, among others. Other topics in Location, Location, Location include: Analysis of critical and intangible factors Taxes and tax incentives Industrial location and ecology Location feasibility studies The BERI rating Infrastructure Costs analysis, and much more! Location, Location, Location is an authoritative and valuable resource for business owners, decision makers, and consultants who wish to find, expand, or relocate their facilities. This comprehensive volume also provides strategies for regional government officials seeking to attract investments in their area.

Purchasers of manufactured goods demand assurance that the purchased product will perform satisfactorily over its expected life. Warranties play a vitally important role in providing this assurance, in two ways. Firstly, warranty terms can provide a promise of protection in the event of a product failure. Secondly, effective warranty service can assure customer satisfaction in the event of a warranty claim. Successful use of both of these requires proper warranty management.

The authors of Warranty Management and Product Manufacture have developed "Stage-3" warranty management, that views warranties from a strategic perspective, beginning with a warranty strategy that is linked to technical and commercial planning from the very start of the product development process.

The aim of warranty management is to achieve the overall business objectives by focussing on both product performance assurance as well as ensuring customer satisfaction, the ultimate goal of warranty management. Warranty Management and Product Manufacture provides guidelines for achieving this goal.

Written by two of the worlda (TM)s leading experts in warranty management, this monograph details the most up-to-date thinking in this key area of product manufacture. It will be an invaluable guide for managers in product development, production and marketing as well as graduate students in business and operations management and industrial engineering.

These proceedings contain research papers presented at the 5th International Conference on Dynamics in Logistics, held in Bremen, Germany, February 2016. The conference is concerned with dynamic aspects of logistic processes and networks. The spectrum of topics reaches from modeling, planning and control of processes over supply chain management and maritime logistics to innovative technologies and robotic applications for cyber-physical production and logistic systems. The growing dynamic confronts the area of logistics with completely new challenges: it must become possible to describe, identify and analyze the process changes. Moreover, logistic processes and networks must be redevised to be rapidly and flexibly adaptable to continuously changing conditions. The book primarily addresses researchers and practitioners from the field of industrial engineering and logistics, but it may also be beneficial for graduate students.