Iztok Palcic

Analysis of a Three-Stage Supply Chain with Level Constraints

Many companies have enjoyed a significant success due to the unique ways in which they have organized their supply chains, which are one of the best ways to compete in todays marketplaces. For make-to-stock production systems the production plans and activities are based on demand forecasting. This is one of the key causes of the bullwhip effect. The bullwhip effect (BE) is the inherent increase in demand fluctuation up the supply chain. In the paper we experimented (by simulating) with a special case of a simple three-stage supply chain using seasonal and deseasonalized time series of the market demand data in order to identify, illustrate and discuss the impacts of different level constraints on the BE. The results are presented for different overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) and constrained inventory policies. At higher OEE level there is less variability in production processes, but at inventory limitations the impact is more complex. (Received in December 2011, accepted in July 2012. This paper was with the authors 2 months for 2 revisions.)

Evaluating the impact of environmental factors on the international competitiveness of Small and Medium sized Enterprises in the Western Balkans

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with an export potential face significant obstacles in gaining international competitiveness, due to the highly dynamic environment in which they operate. This study evaluates the impact of environmental factors on international competitiveness of the Western Balkans SMEs by identifying the key pairs of environmental factors and factors of international competitiveness, which facilitate an increase in international competitiveness of these firms. The paper also studies the importance of strategic planning and decision making process in the Western Balkans SMEs. Research is based on a questionnaire conducted on the representative sample of SMEs in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period September 2008 to March 2009. The findings of the research indicate which significant environmental factors have an impact on gaining the international competitiveness of the Western Balkans SMEs, therefore offering sound basis for strategic positioning and further gaining of competitive advantage.

How to Increase Share of Product-Related Services in Revenue? Strategy Towards Servitization

The process of creating value by adding services to product offerings, or servitization, has flourished in recent years. Manufacturing companies increasingly produce and provide services along with or instead of their traditional physical products. The provision of product-related services in emerging economies has been neglected and can tremendously improve understanding of service growth, especially in the field of billing. The aim of this study is to examine is it worthwhile for the manufacturing companies in transition countries to offer product-related services and what strategy should they pursue to build service business model. Our analysis used the Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian dataset from the European Manufacturing Survey conducted in 2015. Empirical results revealed that in manufacturing companies in transition countries product-related services can significantly increase share of revenue. Results indicate that management in manufacturing companies should directly invoice software development and revamping, and indirectly installation, and design, as product-related service to maximize firm’s turnover and create a service business model.

Implementation of Correlation Analysis to Work Sampling Results

Work sampling is the process that estimates the proportion of time of the workday spent by workers (or machines) on different activities (work or non-work), based on sufficient random observations of activities over a period of time. When jobs do not have short cycle times or high repetition rates the use of such statistical technique is required, because work sampling data can provide information that can be used to establish standards. The work sampling procedure is well standardized by the recommended steps, but some contributions are possible in the evaluation of the observations. In the paper we present our contribution in the improvement of the decision process based on the work sampling data. We introduce the correlation comparison of the measured hourly proportions of all pairs of activities to check, if there are some interrelationships. The results enable easier decision making (conclusions) about the influence of the selected activities to trigger the others. This is bringing us to better production systems efficiency and productivity.