Risk management has become an essential issue in supply chain management, from the modeling of the decision maker's risk preference, and the studies on uncertain elements such as demand, supply, price, lead time, etc., to the consideration of more practical background including cash flow constraints, inventory financing and delayed cash payment. In this new volume, the authors provide a framework to study the interaction of various factors related to risk and their influence on supply chain management. The scope of areas covered includes operations management, decision analysis, and business administration. This book focuses on several key issues of risk management in supply chains. Specifically, an analysis framework is presented for studying the supplier selection problem and identifying the optimal sourcing strategy in a one-retailer two-suppliers supply chain with random yields. The optimal sourcing strategy of a retailer and the pricing strategies of two suppliers under an environment of supply disruption are investigated. Besides, the authors study the dynamic inventory control problems with cash flow constraints, financing decisions as well as delayed cash payment. In addition, originating from the annual international iron ore price negotiation, the authors model the bargaining process to deal with the risk of wholesale price in the game analysis context. Within the three perspectives of risk management in supply chains, the modeling of decision maker's risk preference has been extensively studied and many results have been obtained to guide the practice. However, the analysis on the other two kinds of topics is still in its infancy, and needs more efforts from academia. It is thus the ambition and innovation for this book to contribute on risk management in supply chains in the following ways: (1) characterizing the explicit sourcing strategy (i.e., single sourcing or dual sourcing) to deal with supply disruption risk; (2) introducing the concepts of financial risk measurement by incorporating cash flow constraints, inventory financing and delayed cash payment into inventory management models; and (3) providing insights for the iron ore price negotiation to help steel manufacturers handle the risk of price increase.

Benchmarking is a powerful tool for improvement. It is one of the fastest growing techniques for quality and performance improvement and attracts massive attention. Now, more than ever there is a clear need for straightforward guidelines to help companies make the most of benchmarking. This book addresses that need. This unique text provides an excellent recipe for conducting a benchmarking study. Unlike other books on the subject it takes a systematic approach, giving the reader step-by-step instructions. The five-phase benchmarking wheel forms the framework for the book, with detailed descriptions of each phase being complemented by graphical navigation aids. This will serve as a quick and practical tutorial for benchmarking and as a handbook to be used by the team throughout the benchmarking study.

This book addresses the need for a better understanding of the design, implementation and improvement of process management. It presents and organizes concepts and problems in the field of process management, and indicates supporting tools assigned to each of the four basic stages of the process life cycle (modeling, implementation, verification and perfection). By comparing non-economic and economic organisations, the authors demonstrate that a uniform approach to process management (one that does not take into account the specifics of an organizations goals) is ineffective; instead, process management needs to account for the individuality of an organisation. This book will appeal to researchers studying process and organizational excellence.

Lean Organization for Excellence describes the right way to implement lean thinking inside both manufacturing and service industries. After explaining the origins of the concept and discussing 'wastes' and value added, the book aims to set out a precise path of action. To this end, the so-called Hoshin Kanri method of defining business objectives and targets is explained, and a Value Stream Mapping tool that serves to identify all wastes is described. Subsequent chapters cover each of the TPS (Toyota Production System) tools, from 5S to SMED, and special attention is devoted to the Ducati case study, in which tools such as 5S and Kanban are applied. Lean metrics and the innovative Value Stream Accounting are discussed, and the closing chapter focuses on Lean Office for the service industry. Each chapter includes illustrations and tables relating to practical cases concerning the subject under consideration, based on real consultancy experiences.

In Leading Lean by Living Lean, Philip Holt details and explains what is probably the most important part of becoming a Lean Leader -- living and practicing what you preach. To do this you must believe in what you're doing, understand what it means and what you need to do, and do it every day. The author, through his engineering background, has fully embraced the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model of Deming / Shewhart but has adapted David Bovis' Believe-Think-Feel-Act (BTFA) model to understand why logic and facts are very often not the principal players in the game of change. In this book, Holt author describes how you can take both the PDCA and BTFA models into account and has sectioned the book into three prime parts: 1. Head -- How you learn and understand the Lean principles and their application. 2. Hands -- How you practice Lean Leadership daily. 3. Heart -- How you internalize and believe in Lean Leadership. Through this book, you, the Lean practitioner, whether aspiring or experienced, will have everything that you need to "lead it," "do it," and "live it." The nature of this book is more "why to" than "how to" - the author knows that he cannot tell you how to lead, do, or live Lean; he can only explain why it is so important and share his knowledge, experiences, failures, and successes. This book isn't so much a self-help book as a self-reflection book and it can point you in the proper direction, but... the book won't change you; only you can change you! Essentially, with this book, the author wants those who think of Lean as a toolkit, who believe that Lean can be project managed, or who argue about Lean versus Six Sigma and misunderstand the fundamental depth of impact that true Lean Leadership has on an organization to be disabused of any or all of those notions. This book is aimed at those leaders who seek to experience the full transformative effects of Lean in their organizations and want to practice it at the principle level of deployment. Holt's aim is to help business leaders enhance who they are by changing what they do and the way that they do it

The book takes the inventory control perspective to tackle empty container repositioning logistics problems in regional transportation systems by explicitly considering the features such as demand imbalance over space, dynamic operations over time, uncertainty in demand and transport, and container leasing phenomenon. The book has the following unique features. First, it provides a discussion of broad empty equipment logistics including empty freight vehicle redistribution, empty passenger vehicle redistribution, empty bike repositioning, empty container chassis repositioning, and empty container repositioning (ECR) problems. The similarity and unique characteristics of ECR compared to other empty equipment repositioning problems are explained. Second, we adopt the stochastic dynamic programming approach to tackle the ECR problems, which offers an algorithmic strategy to characterize the optimal policy and captures the sequential decision-making phenomenon in anticipation of uncertainties over time and space. Third, we are able to establish closed-form solutions and structural properties of the optimal ECR policies in relatively simple transportation systems. Such properties can then be utilized to construct threshold-type ECR policies for more complicated transportation systems. In fact, the threshold-type ECR policies resemble the well-known (s, S) and (s, Q) policies in inventory control theory. These policies have the advantages of being decentralized, easy to understand, easy to operate, quick response to random events, and minimal on-line computation and communication. Fourth, several sophisticated optimization techniques such as approximate dynamic programming, simulation-based meta-heuristics, stochastic approximation, perturbation analysis, and ordinal optimization methods are introduced to solve the complex stochastic optimization problems. The book will be of interest to researchers and professionals in logistics, transport, supply chain, and operations research.

This book provides a guide to engineering successful and reliable products for the NewSpace industry. By discussing both the challenges involved in designing technical artefacts, and the challenges of growing an organisation, the book presents a unique approach to the topic. New Space Systems Engineering explores numerous difficulties encountered when designing a space system from scratch on limited budgets, non-existing processes, and great deal of organizational fluidity and emergence. It combines technical topics related to design, such as system requirements, modular architectures, and system integration, with topics related to organizational design, complexity, systems thinking, design thinking and a model based systems engineering. Its integrated approach mean this book will be of interest to researchers, engineers, investors, and early-stage space companies alike. It will help New Space founders and professionals develop their technologies and business practices, leading to more robust companies and engineering development.

This book presents a guide to digital twin technologies and their applications within manufacturing. It examines key technological advances in the area of Industry 4.0, including numerical and experimental models and the Internet of Things (IoT), and explores their potential technical benefits through real-world application examples. This book presents digital models of advanced manufacturing processes dynamics that enable to control the cutting processes including experimental and simulation studies for brittle-ductile transition of ultra-precision machining materials assuring product quality. Innovative electrical power harvesting solutions from tool vibrations and wireless data transmission from confined and heavily cooled environment are also included. It explains the benefits of virtual and physical twins adapted to real systems, including the ability to shorten the product's path to the market, and enabling the transition to higher value-added manufacturing processes. Including numerous illustrations and clear solved problems, this book will be of interest to researchers and industry professionals in the fields of mechatronics, manufacturing engineering, computational mechanics.

The dramatic explosion of information, communication and transportation technologies in the last two decades have opened new vistas for industrial and new business development. It is widely recognized that the business paradigms that prevailed during the Industrial Revolution are giving way to new paradigms dictated by the information age, the knowledge age, and the Technology Revolution which we are currently witnessing. This will require us to examine theories and practices used for the creation of wealth and prosperity.
The International Association for the Management of Technology is the leading professional organization solely devoted to the education, research and application of Technology Management. The theme of the 2002 Eleventh International Conference on Management of Technology, held in Miami Beach, Florida, was" The Drive Towards the Internet Economy: Opportunities and Challenges for Developed and Developing Regions of the World. The intent was to provide a special focus on the explosion expected in E-commerce, supply chain logistics and other opportunities presented by the growth of Internet activities. While many may fail to predict the extent of the impact of the Internet on corporate and national economies, it is timely to explore the opportunities and challenges that such technology provides in the near and not so near future.

The Lean Approach to Digital Transformation: From Customer to Code and From Code to Customer is organized into three parts that expose and develop the three capabilities that are essential for a successful digital transformation: 1. Understanding how to co-create digital services with users, whether they are customers or future customers. This ability combines observation, dialogue, and iterative experimentation. The approach proposed in this book is based on the Lean Startup approach, according to an extended vision that combines Design Thinking and Growth Hacking. Companies must become truly "customer-centric", from observation and listening to co-development. The revolution of the digital age of the 21st century is that customer orientation is more imperative -- the era of abundance, usages rate of change, complexity of experiences, and shift of power towards communities -- are easier, using digital tools and digital communities. 2. Developing an information system (IS) that is the backbone of the digital transformation - called "exponential information system" to designate an open IS (in particular on its borders), capable of interfacing and combining with external services, positioned as a player in software ecosystems and built for processing scalable and dynamic data flows. The exponential information system is constantly changing and it continuously absorbs the best of information processing technology, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. 3. Building software "micro-factories" that produce service platforms, which are called "Lean software factories." This "software factory" concept covers the integration of agile methods, tooling and continuous integration and deployment practices, a customer-oriented product approach, and a platform approach based on modularity, as well as API-based architecture and openness to external stakeholders. This software micro-factory is the foundation that continuously produces and provides constantly evolving services. These three capabilities are not unique or specific to this book, they are linked to other concepts such as agile methods, product development according to lean principles, software production approaches such as CICD (continuous integration and deployment) or DevOps. This book weaves a common frame of reference for all these approaches to derive more value from the digital transformation and to facilitate its implementation. The title of the book refers to the "lean approach to digital transformation" because the two underlying frameworks, Lean Startup and Lean Software Factory, are directly inspired by Lean, in the sense of the Toyota Way. The Lean approach is present from the beginning to the end of this book -- it provides the framework for customer orientation and the love of a job well done, which are the conditions for the success of a digital transformation.

From Robin Sickles: As I indicated to you some months ago Professor William Horrace and I would like Springer to publish a Festschrift in Honor of Peter Schmidt, our professor. Peter s accomplishments are legendary among his students and the profession. I have a bit of that student perspective in my introductory and closing remarks on the website for the conference we had in his honor this last July. I have attached the conference program from which selected papers will come (as well as from students who were unable to attend). You will also find the names of his students (40) on the website. A top twenty economics department could be started up from those 40 students. Papers from some festschrifts have a thematic link among the papers based on subject material. What I think is unique to this festschrift is that the theme running through the papers will be Peter s remarkable legacy left to his students to frame a problem and then analyze and examine it in depth using rigorous techniques but rarely just for the purpose of showcasing technical refinements per se. I think this would be a book that graduate students would find invaluable in their early research careers and seasoned scholars would find invaluable in both their and their students research."

To succeed, an organization must cultivate management systems that effectively align their work and behaviors with principles and direction. These systems should be simple, comprehensible, actionable, and standardized. Establishing alignment in every value stream of an organization will ultimately create value for their customers and produce the desired results. This alignment stems from an understanding of why an organization exists, where it is going, and how it will get there. Enterprise Alignment and Results guides readers to their goal of enterprise-wide alignment by providing a deeper look at the Shingo Model. This book builds upon the previous books in the Shingo Model Series by continuing to define ideal behaviors and the systems that drive them and increasing understanding of fundamental beliefs and how to use behavioral benchmarks. As readers examine the principles of "Create Constancy of Purpose," "Think Systemically," and "Create Value for the Customer," they will gain a deeper knowledge of the relationship between behaviors, systems, and principles. This knowledge will foster an understanding of how to create alignment within their organizations, thereby increasing the consistency of delivering ideal results.

Simulation-based Six Sigma: The Next Generation of Six Sigma Evolution

This book offers a complete roadmap to conducting and executing Lean Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects in service and transaction environments that are conducive to simulation modeling, including mapped tools, deliverables, and methods. Readers discover how Simulation-based Six Sigma methodology reduces project cycle time, cost, and effort from conception to validation. Most importantly, the Simulation-based Six Sigma design identifies customer and business requirements, conceptualizes several solutions, selects a vulnerability-free solution, optimizes that solution, and then validates and verifies the optimum solution, leading to breakthrough performance.

All the guidance needed to take advantage of the many tools in Simulation-based Six Sigma and Simulation-based DFSS is clearly set forth. The implementation, theoretical, and practical aspects of Six Sigma and DFSS and their associated toolboxes and methods are all set forth in detail, including: Integrating Voice of Customer and the Voice of the Business Axiomatic Design Design of Experiment Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Process Mapping Discrete Event Simulation (DES) Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Lean Techniques, including JIT, kanban, SMED, Kaizen, TPM, and more

This book is ideal as a reference for corporate executives, quality control managers, and service industry practitioners including manufacturing, Six Sigma belts and champions who want to streamline processes, minimize risk, and maximize benefits. It serves as a complete training manual for Six Sigma and DFSS in a simulation environment. With its many case examples, it is alsoa superior textbook for graduate students in management, operations, industrial engineering, and quality assurance.

The Second Edition features new content, examples, methods, techniques, and best practices

Assurance Technologies Principles and Practices is based on the assertion that safety is not a cost, but an excellent investment. According to the authors, more than sixty percent of problems in complex systems arise from incomplete, vague, and poorly written specifications. In keeping with the authors' passion for safety, the text is dedicated to uniting the gamut of disciplines that are essential for effective design applying assurance technology principles, including system safety, reliability, maintainability, human engineering, quality, logistics, software integrity, and system integration.

Readers familiar with the first edition of this text will recognize all the hallmarks that have made it a classic in its field. The Second Edition features a host of new examples, methods, techniques, and best practices to bring the text fully up to date with the state of the art in assurance technology.

Much new content has been added as well, including four new chapters: Managing Safety-Related Risks Statistical Concepts, Loss Analysis, and Safety-Related Applications Models, Concepts, and Examples: Applying Scenario-Driven Hazard Analysis Automation, Computer, and Software Complexities

The text begins with an introduction and overview of assurance technology. Next, readers are provided with fundamental statistical concepts. The chapters that follow explore in depth the approaches and disciplines that make up assurance technology applications. Each chapter is organized into major phases--design, manufacturing, test, and use phase--that help readers understand both how and when to applyparticular measures.

Throughout the text, readers discover detailed examples that prepare them to manage real-world challenges. References and further reading are provided at the end of each chapter leading to more in-depth discussion on specialized topics.

With its extensive use of examples and highly structured approach, this is an excellent course book for students in industrial engineering, systems engineering, risk engineering, and other assurance technology domains. Design and system engineers as well as safety professionals will find the material essential in troubleshooting complex projects and ensuring product, process, and system safety.

This book discusses the design of textile production within the framework Industry 4.0. Relevant research topics in the textile industry are identified and solutions are conceptualized, developed and implemented. This is followed by an evaluation of the solutions in which, among other things, the profitability is considered. Questions about the transfer of knowledge into the company complete the work. Industry 4.0 in Textile Production provides a rich investigation into and survey of textile production The informative cases studies, clear perspective, and detailed analysis make this book of great use to engineers, researchers and postgraduate students interested in the textile industry.

Business Process Management (BPM) has been in existence for decades. It uses, complements, integrates and extends theories, methods and tools from other scientific disciplines like: strategic management, information technology, managerial accounting, operations management etc. During this period the main focus themes of researchers and professionals in BPM were: business process modeling, business process analysis, activity based costing, business process simulation, performance measurement, workflow management, the link between information technology and BPM for process automation etc. More recently the focus moved to subjects like Knowledge Management, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems, Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs), Process Intelligence (PI) and even Social Networks. In this collection of papers we present a review of the work and the outcomes achieved in the classic BPM fields as well as a deeper insight on recent advances in BPM. We present a review of business process modeling and analysis and we elaborate on issues like business process quality and process performance measurement as weel as their link to all other organizational aspects like human resources management, strategy, information technology (being SOA, PI or ERP), other managerial systems, job descriptions etc. We also present recent advances to BPR tools with special focus on information technology, workflow, business process modeling and human resources management tools. Other chapters elaborate on the aspect of business process and organizational costing and their relationship to business process analysis, organizational change and reorganization. In the final chapters we present some new approaches that use fuzzy cognitive maps and a recently developed software tool for scenario creation and simulation in strategic management, business process management, performance measurement and social networking.

The audience of this book is quite wide. The first chapters can be read by professionals, academics and students who want to get some basic insight into the BPM field whereas the remaining present more elaborate and state of the art concepts methodologies and tools for an audience of a more advanced level."

This book shows engineers with little or no previous exposure to experimental design how to use statistically designed experiments to improve products and processes. A prerequisite is an appreciation for the concept of random variation, gained through a typical statistics course or by using statistical process control in a manufacturing environment. Dr Taguchi has added greatly to our understanding of the importance of properly designed experiments in quality improvement and has provided a structured approach to designing quality into products and processes. His use of experimental designs to reduce variability and make designs more robust has had a major influence on perceptions of the role of experimental design in quality improvement. This book also covers other methods, such as the important work of Dr George Box and his associates on orthogonal designs.

This book addresses critical issues in today's logistics operations and supply chain management, with a special focus on sustainability. In dedicated chapters the authors address aspects concerning multimode logistics operations, reverse network configuration, forward and reverse supply chain integration, improvement of the production operations and management of the recovery activities, as well as carbon footprint reduction in transportation. Selected best practices from different countries and industries are presented to aid in the implementation of sustainable policies in private enterprises and at public-sector institutions. The book offers a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners who wish to deepen their expertise in the field of logistics operations and management with regard to sustainability issues. The book examines both qualitative and qualitative aspects of sustainable supply chain and logistics operations.

Succeed as a PRINCE2(R) practitioner with this concise overview. PRINCE2 is the leading model for effective project management methodology. PRINCE2 certification will help you implement projects across your organisation efficiently, creating a controlled and manageable environment for employees. This guide explains the fundamental principles of PRINCE2 2017, enabling you to review essential themes before taking your PRINCE2 Foundation exam. Following accreditation, it serves as a reference guide to help you manage ongoing PRINCE2 projects within your organisation. Ideal for anyone involved with implementing a new project that uses the PRINCE2 framework, whether you are a student, project board member or team manager, this guide will help you: Prepare for your PRINCE2 2017 Foundation exam; Implement PRINCE2-aligned projects; and Enhance your skills as a PRINCE2 practitioner. Key features: Concise summary of the fundamental principles and themes of PRINCE2 2017. Clear and comprehensible format. Serves as a reference guide while you manage ongoing PRINCE2 projects. New for the third edition: Updated to align with PRINCE2 2017. New diagrams to aid understanding of the framework. A succinct reference guide that summarises the key elements of PRINCE2 2017 - buy this book today to get the help and guidance you need!

Provides an insight to safety managers in analyzing bad events and the ways to deal with them. Covers randomness, uncertainty, and predictability in detail. Explains concepts including reverse stress testing, real-time monitoring, and predictive maintenance in a comprehensive manner. Presents mathematical analysis of incidents and accidents using statistics and probabilities theories.

New efficiency theory refers to the various parametric and semi-parametric methods of estimating production and cost frontiers, which include data envelopment analysis (DEA) with its diverse applications in management science and operations research. This monograph develops and generalizes the new efficiency theory by highlighting the interface between economic theory and operations research. Some of the outstanding features of this monograph are: (1) integrating the theory of firm efficiency and industry equilibrium, (2) emphasizing growth efficiency in a dynamic setting, (3) incorporating uncertainty of market demand and prices, and (4) the implications of group efficiency by sharing investments. Applications discuss in some detail the growth and decline of the US computer industry, and the relative performance of mutual fund portfolios.

Up to date with the fourth edition of PMI's Program Management Standard, PgMP (R) Practice Test Questions: 1000+ Practice Exam Questions for the PgMP (R) Examination contains more than 1,000 practice questions to help readers hone their knowledge and test their skills. It covers all five of the program management domains: Strategic Program Management, Program Management Life Cycle, Benefits Management, Stakeholder Management, and Governance. It also examines all of the sub domains of the lifecycle domain. With an easy-to-use format, this is an ideal resource for those preparing to take the PgMP (R) exam.

Uniquely accessible and concise guide to complexity and management Includes perspectives from the complexity sciences, philosophy and history Includes chapter bringing theories to management practice

The fundamental motivation of this book is to contribute to the future advancement of Asset Management in the context of industrial plants and infrastructures. The book aims to foster a future perspective that takes advantage of value-based and intelligent asset management in order to make a step forward with respect to the evolution observed nowadays. Indeed, the current understanding of asset management is primarily supported by well-known standards. Nonetheless, asset management is still a young discipline and the knowledge developed by industry and academia is not set in stone yet. Furthermore, current trends in new organizational concepts and technologies lead to an evolutionary path in the field. Therefore, this book aims to discuss this evolutionary path, starting first of all from the consolidated theory, then moving forward to discuss: * The strategic understanding of value-based asset management in a company; * An operational definition of value, as a concept on the background of value-based asset management; * The identification of intelligent asset management, with the aim to frame a set of "tools" recommended to support the asset-related decision-making process over the asset lifecycle; * The emergence of new technologies such as cyber physical systems and digital twins, and the implications of this on asset management.

Praise for "Performance Management"

"We are witnessing a convergence among advanced management concepts and practices. Performance management is a means to pull it all together, to understand the strengths and limitations of each management practice and leverage it for competitive advantage. Cokins' book walks us through all this in a manner that makes something confusing much less so.
"There is no one right answer for any situation. The answer lies in a balance of concepts and the integration of them. Performance Management is the glue that holds them all together.
"This book helps the reader understand the breadth of PM. It's not just about measuring!"
-- John F. Morrow, CPA, AICPA Vice President, The New Finance

"Gary Cokins has articulated the '411' of performance management. His combination of personal anecdotes with fundamental cost and performance management theories provides business leaders at all levels, in any industry or profession, a solid resource for practicing their work.
"This book is not only an invaluable resource for those new to performance management but provides guidance, wisdom, support, and insight to all industry leaders and managers. Cokins has organized and simplified the many complex performance management theories, associated tools, and infrastructure for the reader.
"Buy it, read it, and give it to your colleagues-- then celebrate your successes!"
-- Sue Swertfeger, Senior Manager, Owens & Minor