Sanjay L. Ahire

Achieving Success in Large Projects: Implications from a Study of ERP Implementations

Executives in charge of large projects must decide how to spend their energies, even though typically they are not trained to manage such projects. We have derived two implications for managers based on prior research: adhere to the fundamentals of project management and unearth the best practices for large-project success. Through a study of more than 70 enterprise-resource-planning (ERP) projects, we have investigated our hypothesis that greater success in implementation is related to greater adoption of the best practices. For most of the participants in our study, our hypothesized model holds. For some, however, careful deviation from this model also proved successful. Additional implications we have derived include recommendations to specify a model of the project outcomes, understand the factors that make a project large and risky, and include a focus on managing large projects in executive education and development.

Predicting retailer orders with POS and order data: The inventory balance effect

Despite advances in retail point-of-sale (POS) data sharing, retailers’ suppliers struggle to effectively use POS data to improve their fulfillment planning processes. The challenge lies in predicting retailer orders. We present evidence that retail echelon inventory processes translate into a long-run balance or equilibrium between orders and POS, which we refer to as the inventory balance effect, allowing for more accurate order forecasting. Based on the inventory balance effect, this research prescribes a forecasting approach which simultaneously uses both sources of information (retailer order history and POS data) to predict retailer orders to suppliers. Using data from a consumable product category, this approach is shown to outperform approaches based singularly on order or POS data, by up to 125%. The strength of this novel approach – significantly improved forecast accuracy with minimal additional analysis – make it a candidate for widespread adoption in retail supply chain collaborative planning and forecasting initiatives with corresponding impact on fulfillment performance and related operating costs.

Operations Research Helps Reshape Operations Strategy at Standard Register Company

Standard Register (SR) Company is a 93-year-old firm leading in high-volume print production of forms and print stationery for major US firms. SR is facing the strategic challenge of minimizing the total landed costs to offer competitive pricing in the highly competitive traditional print market segment. We applied a trio of operations research (OR) techniques to help SR optimally allocate the production orders across its production-distribution network for minimizing the total landed cost: (1) regressions to estimate the cost and time efficiency attributes of various printing presses on print jobs of different types; (2) optimization modeling to determine the optimal order-routing strategy; and (3) simulation modeling of the production-distribution network to assess the effectiveness of optimal and heuristic allocation strategies under uncertainty of customer orders and equipment performance. With an estimated potential annual savings of over

Trane/Ingersoll Rand Combines Lean and Operations Research Tools to Redesign Feeder Manufacturing Operations

10 million across SRs major product segments in the high-volume rotary production business, the study has resulted in a strategic shift in SRs capacity-allocation policies. SRs executive-leadership team has launched system-wide production-distribution improvement initiatives and expedited efforts to build real-time supply chain decision-support capabilities to support this philosophy.

The moderating influence of product orientation on coordination mechanisms in total quality management

Trane U.S. Inc., a brand of Ingersoll Rand, is a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and services. It provides service, parts, and financial solutions to commercial and residential customers worldwide. In this paper, we showcase results of combining classic lean techniques, such as value stream mapping, with operations research analytics, including statistical and simulation modeling, to dramatically improve the manufacturing of a problematic feeder component assigned to a dedicated manufacturing process. We first used value stream mapping to visualize the process and develop an overall lean strategy for the manufacturing cell. We then used regression analysis to express the relationship between numerous product attributes and improvement opportunities. Finally, we developed simulation models to assess the effectiveness of process changes on cell performance under a wide range of demand and processing conditions prevalent at the plant. Process improvement recommendations presented to Trane management included 1 a redesigned material strategy, 2 a new cell layout, and 3 a one-piece product flow. In combination, these improvements facilitate a 13 percent throughput improvement, 50 percent cycle-time reduction, and higher cell efficiency that led to projected recurring savings of more than

Mitigating the Impact of Functional Dominance in Cross-Functional Process Improvement Teams

700,000 per year.

The complex influences of quality management leadership and workforce involvement on manufacturing firm success

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to verify whether product orientation (make‐to‐order versus make‐to‐stock) affects how coordination mechanisms combine to influence quality performance in total quality management (TQM).Design/methodology/approach – The authors used survey response data from a large sample of single industry respondents (auto supplier industry) to test the research model.Findings – The study found support for the idea that organizational and inter‐organizational coordination mechanisms influence product and process quality performance. Moreover, significance of many of these linkages varied according to whether the product orientation was make‐to‐order or make‐to‐stock. The study is one of the first to suggest that the influence of select coordination factors on performance can vary according to product orientation.Research limitations/implications – The study suggests that plant managers may pursue different approaches to implement select coordination factors (not all) according to ...

Harvest Hope Food Bank Optimizes Its Promotional Strategy to Raise Donations Using Integer Programming

Manufacturing process improvement teams often draw upon cross-functional expertise. However, teams dominated by a single or few functions often do not achieve the desired interdisciplinary learning and cooperation, which in turn could negatively affect the performance of that cross-functional team. Through an empirical analysis of 149 manufacturing process improvement teams in six SIC industrial categories, we show that even after controlling for several factors such as team size, number of functions, gender diversity, ethnicity, number of management levels, and geographic dispersion of team members, psychological safety of work environment fully mediates the relationship between functional dominance and team performance. We also confirm that a team leader possessing high interpersonal justice mitigates the deficiency of dominated teams and improves team performance by fostering a psychologically safe work environment. Our recommendation therefore is that when a dominated team is unavoidable due to the needed skill sets or other organizational considerations, to ensure success it is imperative that the firm chooses a team leader who can promote psychological safety by being just, and who can effectively encourage input from all functional team members and give them objective feedback.

Snider Tire Optimizes Its Customers-Stores-Plants Transportation Network

Purpose Quality management constructs related to management leadership and workforce involvement have consistently shown strong correlation with firm success for years. However, there is an increasing body of research based on complexity theory (CT) suggesting that constructs such as these should be viewed as variables in a complex system with inter-dependencies, interactions, and potentially nonlinear relationships. Despite the significant body of conceptual research related to CT, there is a lack of methodological research into these potentially nonlinear effects. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the theoretical and practical importance of non-linear terms in a multivariate polynomial model as they become more significant predictors of firm success in collaborative environments and less significant in more rigidly controlled work environments. Design/methodology/approach Multivariate polynomial regression methods are used to examine the significance and effect sizes of interaction and quadratic terms in operations scenarios expected to have varying degrees of complex and complex adaptive behaviors. Findings The results find that in highly collaborative work environments, non-linear and interaction effects become more significant predictors of success than the linear terms in the model. In more rigid, less collaborative work environments, these effects are not present or significantly reduced in effect size. Research limitations/implications This study shows that analytical methods sensitive to detecting and measuring nonlinearities in relationships such as multivariate polynomial regression models enhance our theoretical understanding of the relationships between constructs when the theory predicts that complex and complex adaptive behaviors are present and important. Originality/value This study demonstrates that complex adaptive behaviors between management and the workforce exist in certain environments and provide greater understanding of factor relationships relating to firm success than more traditional linear analytical methods.

Carton-Mix Optimization for Walmart.com Distribution Centers

Harvest Hope Food Bank (HHFB), based in South Carolina, serves primarily donated food to people in need in 20 counties across the state. It distributed 28 million pounds of food and fed over two mi...