Frank L. Montabon

The new product design process and design for environment: “Crossing the chasm”

This paper examines the role played by environmental issues during the new product design process. These issues are studied through an exploratory research project based on case studies of ten companies. The firms studied can be categorized into one of five major groups: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. These groups strongly parallel the model of new product acceptance initially developed in the computer industry, as presented by Moore (1991). Of interest is the gap that exists between the early adopters and early majority users. This gap forms a chasm. Those factors that account for acceptance of environmentally responsible manufacturing in the innovators and early adopters are significantly different from those factors observed in the early majority, late majority, and laggards. This paper examines these and other differences, and the impact of these differences on the acceptance and use of environmental concerns within the new product design process.

Assessing the effectiveness of US voluntary environmental programmes: An empirical study

In the last 10 years, there has been an increased interest in improved environmental management. The interest has been made more noteworthy since it is global in nature. Given the global interest in improved environmental management, it is still important to understand how specific business organizations are influenced by the local environment in which they are located. This study examines how US plants have reacted to various programmes and initiatives encountered in the USA. These initiatives, which include Responsible Care ® , 33/50 and ISO 14001 certification, can be viewed as embodying alternative foci (outcome versus process) and procedures (self-assessment versus external assessment). The study assesses the relative effectiveness of four voluntary environmental programmes using data generated from a large-scale mail survey. The results indicate that while all four environmental programmes generate a positive impact on the various dimensions of corporate performance, one (ISO 14001 certification), tends to have a greater relative impact on several dimensions of corporate performance.

Using kaizen events for back office processes: the recruitment of frontline supervisor co-ops

Abstract Kaizen events appear to be a very popular tool for problem solving and continuous improvement. While many might think of this technique as being exclusive to the shop floor, it can be used successfully for back office processes. This article examines how a manufacturing firm used the kaizen event technique to improve their recruiting of co-ops for frontline supervisor positions. The article clearly shows the effectiveness of the technique for back office problems and discusses some ideas to help ensure success with the technique.

The role of individual and organizational factors in promoting firm environmental practices

Purpose – This study seeks to explore the roles of organizational support and environmental manager commitment on organizational environmental management practices.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of environmental managers was conducted to examine the role of organizational support and individual environmental commitment on key informant perceptions of environmental organizational practices including participation in extra‐organizational voluntary environmental programs, adoption of a company‐specific environmental management system (EMS), and involvement in ISO 14000 certification.Findings – Study findings demonstrate that high perceptions of organizational support for the environment affect the likelihood of an organizations implementation of environmental practices. Similarly, study findings indicate that higher levels of environmental commitment of the individual responsible for environmental management practices affects the likelihood of an organizations implementation of environmental practi...

Green MRP: Identifying the material and environmental impacts of production schedules

Interest in environmentally responsible manufacturing has increased in recent times. However, this attention has focused primarily on the design activities of the firm. Largely overlooked have been the planning/scheduling activities of manufacturing. This paper introduces a new tool that integrates environmental concerns into the material planning activities and identifies the waste streams generated in both quantitative and financial terms. This approach should be interesting to practitioners and researchers in that it is based on the widely used MRP processing logic. This new approach is called Green MRP. Examining the feasibility and effectiveness of this procedure, the research presented draws on production data for a taillight assembly produced by an American automobile manufacturer. The results show this approach is not only feasible but also has great potential

Linkages among manufacturing concepts, inventories, delivery service and competitiveness

In this paper, we analyze a model that states that investing in progressive manufacturing programs, combined with a modern approach to supplier issues, has a direct effect on inventory level and structure, which in turn directly affects delivery service and delivery related competitive advantages . The model was tested on data from the Global Manufacturing Research Group . This data was broken up into three groups : the United States, Western Europe and Transitional Economies of Central and Eastern Europe . The results of a set correlation analysis showed that in all three groups of countries : (1) investing in progressive manufacturing programs and using modern approaches in dealing with suppliers were significantly linked to inventory level and structure ; (2) inventory level and structure were linked to delivery service ; (3) delivery service was related to competitive advantage . Companies from the transitional economies differed from the other two groups in that they did not show a relationship between inventory structure and competitiveness . This may demonstrate that management in transitional economies may still be working to achieve a more successful linkage between inventory structure_ and competitiveness .

A ranking of supply chain management journals based on departmental lists

The issue of journal rankings has been an issue of frequent debate, likely due to the effect rankings can have on academic careers. While many rankings have been done over the years, few, if any, take into account what really matters to academics’ careers, how their own departments evaluate their research. This study collected department journal ranking lists from top international supply chain programmes. The resulting data, approximately 70% US and 30% international, presents a diverse perspective on the journals considered when analysing research productivity. A cluster analysis is performed and the results are compared with impact factors for select journals; we also discuss the differences highlighted between perceived rankings based on the departments’ geographic location. The results show that the field still has some divisions.

DSS of vehicle refueling

The fixed-route vehicle-refueling problem (FRVRP) is a mathematical problem widely used in the U.S. trucking industry. The FRVRP seeks the best refueling policy (sequence of fuel stations to use, along with the fueling quantity at each station) for a given (fixed) origin-destination route that minimizes a vehicles refueling cost. While effective, the current FRVRP methods need not produce optimal solutions, as they ignore the negative impacts that carrying excessive amounts of fuel in the tank can have on fuel consumption rates. This paper proposes a new approach to the FRVRP that takes into account the benefit of retaining some empty space in the fuel tank at all times, which enhances fuel economy. We show by conducting computational testing that our approach attains not only cheaper refueling costs, but also lower fuel burns, than other approaches. Our approach is simple, yet its implementation may save millions of gallons of diesel fuel and billions of dollars of fuel cost for the U.S. trucking industry per year. A new DSS of vehicle refueling is developed that cuts the fuel cost of motor carriers.DSS considers the impact of fuel weight on fuel consumption rates.DSS prevents trucks from carrying excess amounts of fuel, which worsens fuel economy.DSS outperforms the existing DSS in terms of both the fuel cost and fuel burn.

The influence of institutional pressures and organization culture on Supplier Social Compliance Management Systems

The purpose of this paper is to use institutional theory to develop the constructs of institutional pressures for social compliance and argue for a positive relationship between institutional pressures and Supplier Social Compliance Management System (SSCMS). Moreover, the authors theorize that the impact of institutional pressures on SSCMS is moderated by the supplier’s organizational culture. This is done in a particularly salient context, which is apparel manufacturing in a developing country.,The hypothesized model is tested using data of 164 suppliers from the apparel manufacturing sector. PLS-based structural equation modeling is used to test the direct and multi-group moderation hypotheses.,Empirical examination provides evidence that institutional pressures have a positive impact on supplier social compliance and the types of organizational culture have varied moderation effects.,This research is based on cross-sectional data from one industry. Future research should collect data from diverse sectors in different countries.,The findings suggest that consistent pressures from various stakeholders can increase supplier social compliance. In addition, the partial evidence for moderation effect of organizational culture indicates that supplier’s internal value system’s alignment with social compliance pressures plays an important role in determining how supplier acts on social compliance initiatives.,The issue of suppliers’ adoption of social compliance management systems has become prominent as a consequence of the shifting of manufacturing to developing countries. However, comprehensive frameworks explaining antecedents of adoption of SSCMS using large-scale empirical data are limited. In addition, findings on the relationship between supplier social sustainability practices and their antecedents are inconsistent.