John J. Lawrence

The relationship between JIT manufacturing and performance in Mexican plants affiliated with U.S. companies

Abstract This paper presents the results of a mail survey used to investigate the relationships between JIT manufacturing and performance in Mexico. Multi-item scales were developed and used to measure key components of JIT. Four dimensions of performance were measured: productivity, quality, lead time, and customer service. Despite the existence of obstacles to its use in Mexico, JIT manufacturing was found to be significantly and positively correlated with performance. Plant size, industry, and the type of production process were all found to affect the relationship between JIT and performance. Results also indicated that the plant managers citizenship may affect JIT implementation success. The paper concludes with recommendations for managers and researchers.

Use mathematical modeling to give your TPM implementation effort an extra boost

Total productive maintenance, or TPM, represents a major shift in the way an organization approaches the maintenance function and implementation typically requires a significant change in organizational culture. Most references on TPM suggest a variety of ways to promote this cultural change, including top management support, training and changes in reward systems. Despite these efforts, many organizations still find it difficult to create the necessary change in culture. This paper proposes an additional means to help bring about the cultural change necessary to make TPM work: mathematical modeling. Using examples of four mathematical models in the maintenance field, the paper describes how such models might be used to promote this cultural change by making the potential benefits of TPM more tangible and objective to employees and by improving employees’ understanding of how their involvement in TPM can affect the organization and its customers.

Implementing Total Quality Management in the Classroom by Means of Student Satisfaction Guarantees

Universities are increasingly turning to the principles of total quality management (TQM) in an attempt to improve quality and gain competitive advantage. Recent survey data, however, indicates that while many universities have been successfully applying TQM in support and administrative functions, TQM has not migrated into the classroom to any significant extent at many of these institutions. For TQM to have the desired impact, it must be extended to the core learning processes and be implemented in the classroom. This paper describes how student satisfaction guarantees can serve as a tool for implementing TQM principles in the classroom. The paper begins with a review of classroom-based applications of TQM. From this review, five basic elements are identified as comprising a classroom-based model of TQM. The paper then describes a student satisfaction guarantee used at one university and how this guarantee facilitates the introduction of the five core TQM elements in the classroom. Surveys and focus groups from students who have taken the guaranteed classes are used to illustrate the points made. The paper concludes with a discussion of the value added by these guarantees in the TQM implementation process and the potential challenges faced in using this approach to implementing TQM in the classroom.

Understanding the use of just‐in‐time purchasing in a developing country

Weak supplier bases and weak infrastructures pose significant obstacles to the use of just‐in‐time (JIT) purchasing in developing countries. Explores the use and effectiveness of JIT purchasing practices in one such developing country, Mexico, in an attempt to lay a foundation for understanding the use of JIT purchasing in developing countries in general. Analyses two distinct activities characteristic of JIT purchasing: JIT deliveries from suppliers and supplier involvement in improvement activities. Uses a large sample mail survey and comparative case studies. Indicates that both JIT deliveries and supplier involvement in improvement activities can enhance performance in Mexican operations under certain circumstances. Finds the effectiveness of pursuing JIT deliveries depends on plant and company size. Achieving high levels of supplier involvement appears to depend in part on the extent that Mexican managers have developed a network within the parent company. Provides recommendations for managers and suggestions for areas requiring further research.

Admission requirements for transfer and non‐transfer students: should one size fit all?

Purpose – To examine the efficacy of admission requirements as predictors of academic success in core business coursework, and as a rationing mechanism for limited course capacity, for both transfer and non‐transfer students following integration of the core business curriculum.Design/methodology/approach – Regression analysis is used to test the efficacy of admission standards in explaining transfer and non‐transfer student performance in the core business curriculum, before and after substantial curricular revision. Fishers r‐to‐z transformation is used to test differences between student groups and core curriculum formats. Stepwise regression was used to identify an accurate predictor of transfer student performance for the integrated business core.Findings – Efficacy of the admission standard decreased for transfer students following introduction of the new curriculum. While adequate for all students taking the traditional business core, it is a much less effective predictor of success for transfer s...

Integrating professional reaccreditation and quality award processes

Accreditation reviews represent an important component of many educational institutions’ quality assurance systems. Integrating application for a quality award into the reaccreditation process can add a new dimension to the reaccreditation process and provide a college with significant benefits. The College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho used application for the Idaho Quality Award, which is based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, as its primary means for carrying out the self‐evaluation process required for AACSB professional reaccreditation. This paper discusses the college’s experiences combining AACSB self‐evaluation with application for a state quality award, describing the motivation for using this approach, how the college went about it, and the significant benefits that the college realized as a result.

Evolution of admission standards in response to curriculum integration

Admission standards are commonly employed as a means of maintaining the quality of an academic program’s student pool, and as a result, the program itself. The past decade has seen a number of efforts to integrate academic content and incorporate models of team‐based learning. While the emphasis and demands of these programs have changed, as well as the expectations of incoming students, admission standards have not. This study considers whether undergraduate business admission requirements developed and validated for traditional curricula remain valid admission standards for integrated programs. The relationship between student performance in various predictor courses and performance in upper level business courses is compared for students in an integrated program and those taking the traditional curriculum. Results indicate that the traditional predictor courses remain valid predictors of performance for the integrated program. Additionally, opportunities for improvement exist in the addition of courses...

Central Manawatu Timber

ABSTRACT CENTRAL MANAWATU TIMBER (A) Fred Cowan had spent the first half of his working life in the timber industry in New Zealand. He had worked his way up through the industry with different companies and at a number of mills. At one point, he had been managing one of the largest sawmills in New Zealand. He had also done a fair amount of consulting on sawmill project, both in New Zealand and overseas (see Appendix 1 for an extract from his curriculum vitae), but for some time had wanted to own his own sawmill. He achieved that when the new Central Manawatu Timber (CMT) Edgehill mill opened in May 2001, with Fred as a joint owner with two partners. It was now August 2002. Two years previously, when the mill was being planned, the projected pre-tax profits had been significant, of the order of 10% of sales. In the past year, a number of changes had occurred that had squeezed the mills profit. For the current year, the new projections showed the CMT Edgehill mill making about

Individualism and Confucian Dynamism: A Note on Hofstede's Cultural Root to Economic Growth

100,000 on revenues of about

The Case for Measuring Supplier Satisfaction

3 million.1 While Fred was happy that they were operating a one-year-old sawmill in the black, he knew they should be able to do better. They needed to do better if the mill was going to be viable in the long term and expand and upgrade the equipment. His partners also expected a better return from the operation. THE ORIGINS OF THE EDGEHILL MILL It was early 2000 when Fred saw the opportunity that he had been searching for. Lowearn One, a large international timber company that he had recently worked for, had just acquired a large section of timberland in Central Manawatu. There was no mill in the immediate vicinity of these forestlands to process the timber. The last mill in the Central Manawatu area had closed in 1999. Lowearn One owned a large sawmill in Motueka about 200 kilometres away, and planned to truck the logs from the Central Manawatu forests to their Motueka mill. Transporting raw logs such distances, however, added significant costs- a mill much closer to the forest could realize greater profit from the timber. A purpose built sawmill closer to these timberlands could also deliver extra profit because the timber coming out of Central Manawatu was different to much of the timber in New Zealand. The Central Manawatu climate was more continental than that of most of New Zealands forestlands. It was consistently dryer than other parts of New Zealand, with colder winters and hotter summers. This caused the trees in this area to grow quite slowly compared to other New Zealand forests. This particular forestland had not been well managed and thinned by its previous owner. The forest was full of small diameter trees. The forest was basically flat, which made it easy to selectively harvest these small diameter trees. Most mills were not set up to handle the small diameter logs that would result from such harvesting. Small diameter logs were typically sold for use as pulp in the paper industry or chipped and exported. As pulp logs or as chips, the timber might generate revenues of only