Colin New

Managing suppliers: when fewer can mean more

Shows that manufacturing companies place a strong emphasis on the role of supply‐chain management ‐ the management of supplies, suppliers, inventory and distribution. Much of the literature talks about the trend to reduce supplier base. Database analysis gave empirical evidence of this trend in UK manufacturing companies ‐ 201 companies from different industrial sectors cut their supplier base over the last four years, by 9 per cent in the household products sector and approximately 35 per cent in the process, engineering and electronics sectors. Reports on further research at four companies, looking at their experiences with suppliers and establishes that a key reason for supplier base reduction is to free time to manage the remaining suppliers more effectively. Identifies the criteria used for supplier selection and reasons why single‐sourcing was avoided. Suggests that these findings on supplier management have implications for both researchers and managers in industry.

Customer support and new product development ‐ An exploratory study

Customer support is an essential element in the successful marketing of many products – from domestic appliances to high‐tech computer networks. Many aspects of support are strongly influenced by a product’s design and so customer support requirements should be evaluated during new product development. However, researchers have largely ignored the relationship between new product development and customer support. The current study addressed this gap by using case studies and a workshop, both conducted with leading companies, to identify how customer support is typically evaluated at the design stage and to determine the importance of this aspect of new product development. The results have implications for managers responsible for product innovation – they show the need to allocate adequate resources to integrating customer support requirements into new product development.

World‐class Manufacturing versus Strategic Trade‐offs

There has been considerable (sometime acrimonious) debate about the issue of the continuous‐improvement protagonists′ view and the (old‐fashioned) manufacturing strategy view of the nature and extent of “trade‐offs” between manufacturing performance characteristics. Seeks to explore the argument from both sides, starting from the necessity for major transformations in the performance of manufacturing systems over the next few years (the “challenge of transformation”). Explores the characteristics of “World‐class Manufacturing” and examines the relevance of trade‐offs in detail through case‐study illustrations. Develops a balanced view which argues that, while certain trade‐offs have been rendered irrelevant by market pressures and expectations, others have not and remain the key to the choice of technology, process and organization within the manufacturing mix.

The role of coherent supply chain strategy and performance management in achieving competitive advantage: an international survey

The results of a major international survey into the relationship between corporate strategy, supply chain strategy and supply chain performance management are reported. Five clearly defined groups are identified: Supply Chain Leaders, Strong and Weak Players, Lagging Players and Non-players. Those business units that report a close link between their supply chain strategy and their supply chain technology, in comparison with those that report a weaker link, displayed a consistent set of characteristics. They rate supply chain strategy as more important for corporate strategy. They have a relatively sophisticated definition of their supply chain strategy. They think their supply chain is more important in achieving competitive advantage, they have invested more in supply chain infrastructure and IT support and they have more formal means of assessing their supply chain performance. There is evidence of inconsistency in the way many businesses relate their supply chain, corporate, and investment strategy.

Performance trade‐offs in manufacturing plants

A sample of 782 manufacturing plants drawn from the UK Best Factor Awards database was used to investigate the nature of trade‐offs between different measures of manufacturing performance. Each plant was ranked within its industry on each performance measure, a high ranking indicating good performance on that measure and a low ranking indicating poor performance. By comparing the ranking of each plant within its industry on each performance measure it was possible to determine the extent to which good performance on one measure was correlated with good performance on other measures. Rankings on added value per employee £, quality consistency, delivery reliability, speed of delivery and the rate of new product introduction were positively correlated, suggesting that good performance on each of these factors is associated with good performance on the rest. Only the extent to which a plant exhibited product variety showed conventional trade‐off characteristics, being negatively correlated with rankings on added value per employee £ and the rate of new product introduction. This implies that, provided that individual operating units can be organized so that each is focused on a relatively narrow product range, trade‐offs can be avoided.

A Heuristic for Multiple Lot Sizing For an Order Under Variable Yield

Abstract Consider a job shop which must completely fill a large make-to-order demand of a product where production yield is highly variable. After a production lot is completed, if the total output of satisfactory units is inadequate to satisfy the demand, then a new run (with associated setup cost) is made. When the output of good units exceeds the demand, then the excess units are scrapped (with possible salvage value). The optimal lot size minimizes the total of production, setup, holding, shortage, and scrap costs. A heuristic is developed based on the incremental cost of increasing the lot size by one unit. The computational ease and excellent cost performance of the heuristic favor its use in place of the mathematically optimal solution obtained by dynamic programming. Real world manufacturing applications and additional properties of the model are also discussed.

Performance measurement and the focused factory: empirical evidence

Reviews the scale and scope of existing survey‐based studies of manufacturing plants and discusses the contribution which the UK Best Factory Awards Database may be able to make. Outlines the process of selecting the winners, proposes a working model which relates performance and strategy, and presents some initial illustrative results from an analysis of the 1993 entrants. Briefly discusses the feedback information which entering plants receive for benchmarking performance. Presents initial research findings which relate to the concept of manufacturing plant focus and indicates an asymmetric relationship for focus concerned with make‐for‐stock versus make‐to‐order/assembly to order foci. The evidence supports the view that dilution of a make‐for‐stock policy has a negative impact on ex‐stock service level while dilution of a make‐to‐order policy does not appear to dilute due‐date performance.

Process variability and its effect on plant performance

This report presents the preliminary findings of a research study to determine the factors which enable a manufacturing plant to simultaneously achieve high labour productivity, fast, reliable delivery and high quality consistency. The conclusions are based on analysis of a database containing details of 953 manufacturing plants in the UK. Based on the performance measures mentioned above, a composite performance measure was calculated for each plant in the database. The plants were then divided into groups of high performers, medium performers and low performers. Using statistical analysis, those differences between the high and low‐performing plants that were significant were identified. The main factors differentiating high‐performing plants from the rest were those associated with low process variability, high schedule stability and more reliable deliveries by suppliers.

A hierarchical model of business competence

Уточняется концепция деловой компетенции, которая широко используется, но не очень четко определена. Предлагаемая иерархическая модель объединяет различные типы компетенции, появившиеся в практике и литературе по менеджменту в последние годы. Более того, вводятся два новых типа компетенции. В работе использованы базы данных Cranfield Best Factory.

MRP with high uncertain yield losses

Abstract Certain manufacturing systems, notably those in high technology precision casting and integrated circuit production suffer from process yield losses which are both significant in quantity terms and are also highly unpredictable. This poses special problems for the provisioning of materials to support a manufacturing program and for the detailed scheduling necessary to update the priorities of work in process batches as losses occur. This paper establishes a framework of analysis to handle this problem in MRP logic. It describes the mechanisms available and discusses their relevance to the market environments in which the company is operating. The key conclusion of this paper is that different solutions are required for different market circumstances. The four key strategies developed are: 1. A: For continuous schedules, make-for-stock: Use mean yield rate and fixed buffer stocks. 2. B: For continuous schedules, make-to-order: Use mean yield rate, fixed buffers and a yield to finish monitoring system. 3. C1: For single batch production make-to-order: As for B but using a desired service level yield rate. 4. C2: For multiple batch production, make-to-order: As B but using a variable yield rate by batch. The implementation of each of these is described in relation to the business objectives of cost effectiveness and customer satisfaction.