Jan Ola Strandhagen

Lean production and ERP systems in small- and medium-sized enterprises: ERP support for pull production

It is generally accepted that lean production improves manufacturing processes through the systematic application of lean practices, and equally assumed that present day IT systems, particularly ERP systems, are essential for companies seeking efficiency through organisational integration. Though lean production and ERP co-exist in many companies today, there is an ongoing argument in the scientific literature as to whether or not ERP systems can be used to support lean production principles, particularly pull production. By applying a multiple-case-study approach, we assess the functionality offered by ERP systems to support pull production. We develop and apply a capability maturity model that can be used to assess the extent to which the usage of a companys current ERP system supports pull production practices and to suggest modifications to the ERP system in order to better serve the companys pull system. We focus on the application of lean production and ERP within small- and medium-sized enterprises, as in these companies decisions on lean and ERP are generally made by the same decision maker, which improves construct validity.

Enterprise Design for Mass Customisation: The Control Model Methodology

Price, precision and speed will remain major competitiveness determinants, but manufacturing companies will increasingly need to provide greater product variety and customer focus. The challenge is therefore to achieve mass customisation-the ability to provide variety and individual customisation at prices comparable to standard goods and services. Existing manufacturing approaches such as Enterprise Resource Planning investments or lean production seldom provide the required performance. The Control Model (CM) methodology was developed at SINTEF/NTNU to design enterprises for mass customisation. Principles of this methodology include differentiation of manufacturing, simplification of material flow, strategic positioning of stocks, decentralised decision-making in clearly defined control areas, and flow-oriented information. The CM methodology described here has been successfully applied in more than 20 manufacturing companies.

Global supply chain control systems: a conceptual framework for the global control centre

The operation of global supply chains is challenging due to the complexity in product and information flows, diversity in sites, localisation and processes and the information processing needed for coordination and control. In order to be competitive, manufacturing supply networks should strive to use information to create transparent and visible demand patterns and to create an efficient balance of supply and demand by an integrated and coordinated manufacturing planning and control system. In this article, a framework for developing global control centres (GCCs) is presented that includes a global control model, performance measurement system, information and communications technology (ICT) and organisation of roles and responsibilities. The framework has been further tested in a company for realising a GCC. The main challenges for realisation include control issues, information handling and ICT and management of change and organisational resistance.

Strategies for customized shipbuilding with different customer order decoupling points

The ship design and construction industry serves a considerable range of market segments, with different levels of required customization, different demand volumes, and other product and market variations. In order to effectively respond to various market requirements, strategies and related work processes need to be differentiated. An important strategic concept to make distinctions among strategies is the customer order decoupling point, that is, the point in the value chain where the product is linked to a specific customer order. This article aims to analyse and compare strategies for customized, low-volume ship design and construction from the perspective of the customer order decoupling point and to link them to product and market characteristics. It is based on a case study at the Ulstein Group, an established Norwegian ship designer and builder. The study allowed us to define ‘customized design’ and ‘standardized design’ as two different strategies that fundamentally differ in terms of the customer order decoupling point. In the former, customized ships are offered in a process where most activities are driven by the expectations and requirements of a particular customer. In the latter, the customer is given only a limited choice of predefined, standardized, and well-proved options. We conclude that customer order decoupling point positions upstream in the value chain imply high levels of flexibility and customization, while downstream positions allow short lead times, high delivery precision, and lower prices. The customer order decoupling point perspective provides a useful framework in which to analyse the ship design and construction industry.

Analyzing the factors affecting coordination in engineer-to-order supply chain

Purpose – Engineer-to-order (ETO) supply chains involve multiple companies for performing complex projects. The ability to effectively coordinate cross-business activities is essential to avoid delays, cost overruns and quality problems. Coordination is related to a number of contingent factors that need to be better comprehended. The purpose of this paper is to highlight such contingent factors and to analyse their effect on the occurrence of project delays. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case study is used to investigate the moderating factors affecting coordination in projects carried out in an ETO supply chain. Such factors are examined through a cross-analysis of six shipbuilding projects based on data from interviews, project documentation and clips from the media press. Findings – In ETO supply chains, the engineering and production activities involve mutual interdependences that need to be coordinated. The findings suggest that both the integration of engineering and production and the p...

The role of coordination in avoiding project delays in an engineer-to-order supply chain

Purpose – ETO supply chains produce high-value products on a project basis. The occurrence of delays is a major problem that impacts the performance of a company and its supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the cause of delays and to understand the role of coordination to mitigate them. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth case study was conducted to identify problems that delay a project and to examine such problems from a systemic perspective. Based on data from interviews, group meetings, field observations and documentation, a pattern is proposed to explain the relation between coordination and lead time. Findings – Conceptually, to reduce the project lead time a higher level of concurrency is necessary. However, more concurrency increases the interdependencies between activities, something which demands more coordination effort. Since the coordination mechanisms applied are not appropriate to cope with the increasing coordination effort, a number of problems appear causing rewor...

Supply chain strategies for speciality foods: a Norwegian case study

Abstract Despite strong market interest in speciality foods, producers find market access and distribution challenging. This exploratory research includes a literature review and five case studies of supply chains relating to shellfish, cheese, meat, potato and miscellaneous speciality foods in the mid-Norway region. The study identifies key supply chain configuration parameters from the extant literature, and these are used to analyse the cases. The study makes three main contributions to the literature: an analytical framework for analysing the supply chain characteristics of speciality foods; important supply chain factors for accessing the conventional food supply chain; and five propositions for improving market access. We argue that the speciality foods supply chain should be configured according to these propositions to ensure responsiveness to customer needs and to strengthen market access.

ERP Support for Lean Production

In the traditional sense, IT has often been viewed as a contributor to waste within lean production. However, as the business world changes and competition from low-cost countries increases, new models must be developed which deliver competitive advantage by combining contemporary technological advances with the lean paradigm. By applying an action research approach, this paper evaluates the support functionality of ERP systems for lean production. We address the fundamental principles of lean production in comparison with the functionality and modules of a contemporary ERP system.

The Operations Excellence Audit Sheet

This paper presents an Operations Excellence (OE) audit sheet that enables companies to get a quick assessment of their operations performance. The sheet is based on well known assessment schemes within lean manufacturing developed by Godson, Kobayashi, and Schonberger. These three schemes are combined and enhanced in the audit sheet, which defines 15 areas of operations excellence. The audit sheet is a powerful tool to assess the current state and to plan the future state of enterprise operations. It has been successfully applied in several enterprise reengineering projects to provide decision-makers with sufficient input to identify improvement targets and revise the current operations strategy. The use of the audit sheet is demonstrated in two case examples from Norwegian industry, and some insights are given regarding the sheet’s applicability for different types of manufacturing processes.

The link between Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing: mapping current research and establishing a research agenda

In recent years, Industry 4.0 has emerged as one of the most discussed concepts and has gained significant popularity in both academia and the industrial sector. Both Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing utilise decentralised control and aim to increase productivity and flexibility. However, there have been few studies investigating the link between these two domains. This article explores this novel area and maps the current literature. This is achieved through a systematic literature review methodology, investigating literature published up to and including August 2017. This article identifies four main research streams concerning the link between Industry 4.0 and lean manufacturing, and a research agenda for future studies is proposed.