Walter W.C. Chung

Networked enterprise : a new business model for global sourcing

Abstract The challenge of global sourcing is to have a management in sourcing operations that is difficult to imitate by competitors. Global companies are now striving to develop a sourcing strategy to support a new business model that caters for operations in any parts of the world. This paper proposes that the development of a new business model in an established firm will depend on the extent to which a firm leverages the factor conditions and resolving conflicts. A framework is developed to describe the dynamics of business model. A case study on Hasbro Far East Inc is presented to show the development of an information hub as their new business model. The findings of the case study support the argument that factor conditions and conflicts play a key role in determining the success of transforming to a new business model. Thus, the transformational path to information hub is dependent on the extent to which these conditions are played out in the new arrangement. Future research should concentrate on development of collaborative process to align activities.

A framework to develop an enterprise information portal for contract manufacturing

Abstract The development of enterprise information portals is a costly initiative. Not only that it costs the company to develop it, it requires significant business process change in order to leverage it for business benefits. It is also required to support business strategy. Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources and expertise are not capable of developing them solely by themselves. A viable way to leverage the opportunity is either to participate in the e-business portals emerging over the Internet or to progressively make use of web-based platform to adopt new technologies that alter their business processes. Doing it this way enables the actual business value to be locked inside the changed business process and facilitates the flexibility inherited with the Internet, Extranet and Intranet. This paper reviews and summarizes the existing e-business portals widely available to SMEs and explores their limitations on SMEs as the market dynamics shifts. The concept of contract manufacturing is articulated to incorporate putting outsourcing for collaboration into a firms strategic agenda. This supports the current thinking of creating an extended enterprise in manufacturing making uses of IT tools to increase responsiveness. A case study is used to explain how contract manufacturing works and to articulate the importance of decision support and business alignment. A framework is proposed to broaden the perspective in the adoption of a networked infrastructure as a platform to progressively link up technologies with business process to support manufacturing in creating value and creating customers.

Management succession: a case for Chinese family‐owned business

Research on the issues of management succession in Chinese family business should have a significant impact to the survival of small‐ to medium‐sized manufacturing enterprise (SME) in Hong Kong. One overlooked area in the study of SME is the continuity issue of management succession from one generation to the next generation in family‐owned businesses. The major emphasis is to delineate the difficulties, which the second‐generation owners encounter, in managing family businesses and propose a tripartite model for the second‐generation owners of SME to adopt in enhancing their abilities and re‐invent their family businesses to compete in the information age.

Activity based costing in manufacturing: two case studies on implementation

This paper presents two case studies on the implementation of activity based costing (ABC). The first case is a company based in Melbourne, Australia, which manufactures engineering components. The second case study is a specialty chemicals company based in Hong Kong. The case studies discuss the introduction of ABC and the benefits and problems experienced during implementation in each company. Based on the experiences of the two companies, factors critical to successful implementation of ABC systems are identified.

IT‐enhanced order and delivery process of a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company: A case study

Purpose – This paper seeks to present an in‐depth case study on the adoption of IT by a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company. The objective is to describe an approach to benchmark the performance with and without IT use in its business process.Design/methodology/approach – The unique approach ties together the concepts of generic business model, business process re‐engineering and gap analysis with IT as an enabler to improve order and delivery processes, overall cost‐effectiveness and efficiency.Findings – The use of this approach is very important nowadays because more firms are working together as partners in strategic outsourcing using China as “factory of the world”. Without the necessary IT skills to operate the inter‐organizational information systems and to support running the business, it would be difficult to compete and survive in the global marketplace.Research limitations/implications – The generic business model embodied in the approach serves as a map to guide practitioners and academi...

Business process reengineering in a British company: a case study

A case study conducted in a British company (Company A) on reengineering business processes is presented. It gives an example on how a case study ought to be written in order to go beyond the standard for writing an industrial report to one that is acceptable by academic peers. A good case study ought to contain information that readers can use in replicating the experiences gained and lessons learnt in future endeavours under similar settings. When a collection of good case studies is available to a practitioner or researcher he could formulate his plan for the future and avoid “re‐inventing the wheel”. This is most important to research in operations management because it lends a hand in the building up of a theory in POM to make an impact in its natural settings.

Development of an Architecture for a Hybrid Manufacturing Information System

Abstract.In a previous paper, the concept of a Generic Non Standard-specific Information Flow System (GNSIFS) was discussed [1]. The main feature of GNSIFS is that it can perform data exchange among a group of manufacturing systems, regardless of the operating systems or standards being used. Further research in this field shows that, to enhance the capability of GNSIFS, the database system of GNSIFS, which is considered to be the key constituent of the whole system, should consist of a relational data model that is to be complemented with a free format data model. In addition, the ‘reasoning’ capability of this information flow system can also be advanced if a Rule Knowledge DataBase (RKDB), together with the associated inference engine, can be included in the GNSIFS, resulting in the formation of a Hybrid Manufacturing Information System (HMIS) which manages the information flow from a combination of relational, free format and rule knowledge data models. This hybrid information management feature is favourable to the progressive advancement of the ‘reasoning’ nature of the system, and at the same time, has the benefit of relational data processing. This paper describes the architecture required for the formation of this Hybrid Manufacturing Information System (HMIS), and tests this system in a real company to evaluate its viability in an industrial environment.

Networked enterprise: a case study of implementing an information network system for global product development

Purpose – The challenge of global product design and manufacturing in the networked enterprise is to have an information hub supported by an information infrastructure that is difficult to imitate by competitors. The global company can use this global network to share information among its members and provide fast response to customers. The purpose of this paper is use to the dispersed production network to show where knowledge management can be deployed in operations for gaining competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach – The case study method was selected as the research method. The case of Hasbro Far East Ltd is presented to depict the components of the information hub and why knowledge management can be effectively deployed in the management of the collaborative product development process.Findings – The findings of the case study support the argument that the streamlined collaborative process can be institutionalised in the form of information hub to facilitate the use of a new business model...

The Carroll–Hung method for component reliability mapping in aircraft maintenance

Mean time between unscheduled removal (MTBUR) measurement is a baseline technique for condition monitoring (CM) in aircraft reliability programmes. Many airlines, component suppliers and airframe manufacturers apply MTBUR analysis because of its simplicity and industry-wide acceptance for contractual, performance and technical evaluation purposes. Owing to its aggregated nature, MTBUR alone has little to offer for showing the significant changes within a repairable component population. This paper introduces the Carroll–Hung (CH) method, an innovative approach for bridging the industrial practice of CM alerts and the process of identifying candidates for reliability improvement. Through systematic mapping of modulated time-to-failure patterns onto finger-print charts, trained engineers are able to scrutinize life characteristics and then detect inherent issues by making reference to a CH pattern guidebook. Applications at two airlines have proved the method to be simple and effective because the CH algorithm and its unique failure pattern examination technique involve aircraft system knowledge and logistics factors in developing component improvement plans. Possible refinement of the CH methodology using a non-parametric approach and pattern recognition is planned for future research. Copyright

An ANN‐based DSS system for quality assurance in production network

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated model of decision support system (DSS), artificial neural network, information and communication technologies and statistical process control (SPC) to facilitate agreement by different stakeholders with special interests to commit to the decision that will be taken to stop the production line when something goes wrong somewhere in a supplier network environment.Design/methodology/approach – A DSS is proposed to capture exceptional signals from source on deterioration of product quality to alert preventive actions needed before the problems are getting out of hand. The supervisors are given a set of guidelines to support making the decision. Real‐time SPC and rule‐based decision support procedures are used to trigger pre‐defined exceptional signals for forwarding to the most appropriate person (the knowledge holder in the problem domain) to make a decision to stop the line. All servers in all remote sites are internet‐connected and provide rea...