Using a simulation model for capacity management

A simulation model has been constructed of a valve manufacturing plant with the aim of assessing capacity requirements in response to a forecast increase in demand. The plant provides a weekly cycle of valves of varying types, based on a yearly production plan. Production control is provided by a just-in-time type system to minimise inventory. The simulation model investigates the effect on production lead time of a range of valve sequences into the plant. The study required the collection of information from a variety of sources, and a model that reflected the true capabilities of the production system. The simulation results convinced management that substantial changes were needed in order to meet demand. The case highlights the use of simulation in enabling a manager to quantify operational scenarios and thus provide a rational basis on which to take decisions on meeting performance criteria.

Moving towards premium e-grocery management:multi-products sourcing capacity logistic and geodemographic marketing in emerging markets

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Inventory parameter management and focused continuous improvement for repetitive batch manufacturers

What this thesis proposes is a methodology to assist repetitive batch manufacturers in the adoption of certain aspects of the Lean Production principles. The methodology concentrates on the reduction of inventory through the setting of appropriate batch sizes, taking account of the effect of sequence dependent set-ups and the identification and elimination of bottlenecks. It uses a simple Pareto and modified EBQ based analysis technique to allocate items to period order day classes based on a combination of each item's annual usage value and set-up cost. The period order day classes the items are allocated to are determined by the constraints limits in the three measured dimensions, capacity, administration and finance. The methodology overcomes the limitations associated with MRP in the area of sequence dependent set-ups, and provides a simple way of setting planning parameters taking this effect into account by concentrating on the reduction of inventory through the systematic identification and elimination of bottlenecks through set-up reduction processes, so allowing batch sizes to reduce. It aims to help traditional repetitive batch manufacturers in a route to continual improvement by: Highlighting those areas where change would bring the greatest benefits. Modelling the effect of proposed changes. Quantifying the benefits that could be gained through implementing the proposed changes. Simplifying the effort required to perform the modelling process. It concentrates on increasing flexibility through managed inventory reduction through rationally decreasing batch sizes, taking account of sequence dependent set-ups and the identification and elimination of bottlenecks. This was achieved through the development of a software modelling tool, and validated through a case study approach.

Harnessing diversity and collective action in the top management team

Diversity has become an important issue at all levels of the company from the boardroom to the back office. It is increasingly apparent that diversity is vital to productivity, with academic research indicating an important link between diverse top management team (TMT) composition and corporate performance. However, the nature of this link remains elusive, as there is little accessible research that can help top teams to evaluate how diversity impacts on their strategic capacity. This paper seeks to fill this gap by developing a conceptual framework, illustrated with case examples, to explain the relationships between TMT diversity and TMT collective action. As collective action is difficult to attain from top teams that are high in diversity, six practical processes are developed from this framework for establishing and exploiting top team strategic capacity. The paper concludes by outlining the theoretical implications of the framework. © Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Community knowledge management (CKM): a framework for community action

Knowledge management (KM) is a developing field that focuses on harnessing knowledge for use by a person or community. However, most KM research focuses on improving decision making capacity in business communities, neglecting applications in wider society and non-decision making activities. This paper explores the potential of KM for rural communities, specifically for those that want to preserve their social history and collective memories (what we call heritage) to enrich the lives of others. In KM terms, this is a task of accumulating and recording knowledge to enable its retention for future use. We report a case study of Cardrona, a valley of approximately 120 people in New Zealand’s South Island. Realising that time would erode knowledge of their community a small, motivated group of residents initiated a KM programme to create a legacy for a wider community including younger generations, tourists and scholars. This paper applies KM principles to rural communities that want to harness their collective knowledge for wider societal gain, and develops a framework to accommodate them. As a result, we call for a wider conceptualization of KM to include motives for managing knowledge beyond decision making to accommodate community KM (cKM).

Do organizational climate and competitive strategy moderate the relationship between human resource management and productivity?

This study examined whether the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) practices is contingent on organizational climate and competitive strategy. The concepts of internal and external fit suggest that the positive relationship between HRM and subsequent productivity will be stronger for firms with a positive organizational climate and for firms using differentiation strategies. Resource allocation theories of motivation, on the other hand, predict that the relationship between HRM and productivity will be stronger for firms with a poor climate because employees working in these firms should have the greatest amount of spare capacity. The results supported the resource allocation argument. © 2005 Southern Management Association. All rights reserved.

Advanced optical techniques for high capacity transmission

This thesis presents several advanced optical techniques that are crucial for improving high capacity transmission systems. The basic theory of optical fibre communications are introduced before optical solitons and their usage in optically amplified fibre systems are discussed. The design, operation, limitations and importance of the recirculating loop are illustrated. The crucial role of dispersion management in the transmission systems is then considered. Two of the most popular dispersion compensation methods - dispersion compensating fibres and fibre Bragg gratings - are emphasised. A tunable dispersion compensator is fabricated using the linear chirped fibre Bragg gratings and a bending rig. Results show that it is capable of compensating not only the second order dispersion, but also higher order dispersion. Stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) are studied and discussed. Different dispersion maps are performed for all Raman amplified standard fibre link to obtain maximum transmission distances. Raman amplification is used in most of our loop experiments since it improves the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) and significantly reduces the nonlinear intrachannel effects of the transmission systems. The main body of the experimental work is concerned with nonlinear optical switching using the nonlinear optical loop mirrors (NOLMs). A number of different types of optical loop mirrors are built, tested and implemented in the transmission systems for noise suppression and 2R regeneration. Their results show that for 2R regeneration, NOLM does improve system performance, while NILM degrades system performance due to its sensitivity to the input pulse width, and the NALM built is unstable and therefore affects system performance.

The board of directors, executives and risk knowledge management

Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and Knowledge Management (KM) both encompass top-down and bottom-up approaches developing and embedding risk knowledge concepts and processes in strategy, policies, risk appetite definition, the decision-making process and business processes. The capacity to transfer risk knowledge affects all stakeholders and understanding of the risk knowledge about the enterprise's value is a key requirement in order to identify protection strategies for business sustainability. There are various factors that affect this capacity for transferring and understanding. Previous work has established that there is a difference between the influence of KM variables on Risk Control and on the perceived value of ERM. Communication among groups appears as a significant variable in improving Risk Control but only as a weak factor in improving the perceived value of ERM. However, the ERM mandate requires for its implementation a clear understanding, of risk management (RM) policies, actions and results, and the use of the integral view of RM as a governance and compliance program to support the value driven management of the organization. Furthermore, ERM implementation demands better capabilities for unification of the criteria of risk analysis, alignment of policies and protection guidelines across the organization. These capabilities can be affected by risk knowledge sharing between the RM group and the Board of Directors and other executives in the organization. This research presents an exploratory analysis of risk knowledge transfer variables used in risk management practice. A survey to risk management executives from 65 firms in various industries was undertaken and 108 answers were analyzed. Potential relationships among the variables are investigated using descriptive statistics and multivariate statistical models. The level of understanding of risk management policies and reports by the board is related to the quality of the flow of communication in the firm and perceived level of integration of the risk policy in the business processes.

The interaction between master production scheduling and detailed capacity requirements planning : closing the loop in manufacturing resource planning (MRPII) systems

The widespread implementation of Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) systems in this country and abroad and the reported dissatisfaction with their use formed the initial basis of this piece of research which concentrates on the fundamental theory and design of the Closed Loop MRPII system itself. The dissertation concentrates on two key aspects namely; how Master Production Scheduling is carried out in differing business environments and how well the `closing of the loop' operates by checking the capcity requirements of the different levels of plans within an organisation. The main hypothesis which is tested is that in U.K. manufacturing industry, resource checks are either not being carried out satisfactorily or they are not being fed back to the appropriate plan in a timely fashion. The research methodology employed involved initial detailed investigations into Master Scheduling and capacity planning in eight diverse manufacturing companies. This was followed by a nationwide survey of users in 349 companies, a survey of all the major suppliers of Production Management software in the U.K. and an analysis of the facilities offered by current software packages. The main conclusion which is drawn is that the hypothesis is proved in the majority of companies in that only just over 50% of companies are attempting Resource and Capacity Planning and only 20% are successfully feeding back CRP information to `close the loop'. Various causative factors are put forward and remedies are suggested.

Management information:design of a system for change identification

This thesis deals with the problem of Information Systems design for Corporate Management. It shows that the results of applying current approaches to Management Information Systems and Corporate Modelling fully justify a fresh look to the problem. The thesis develops an approach to design based on Cybernetic principles and theories. It looks at Management as an informational process and discusses the relevance of regulation theory to its practice. The work proceeds around the concept of change and its effects on the organization's stability and survival. The idea of looking at organizations as viable systems is discussed and a design to enhance survival capacity is developed. It takes Ashby's theory of adaptation and developments on ultra-stability as a theoretical framework and considering conditions for learning and foresight deduces that a design should include three basic components: A dynamic model of the organization- environment relationships; a method to spot significant changes in the value of the essential variables and in a certain set of parameters; and a Controller able to conceive and change the other two elements and to make choices among alternative policies. Further considerations of the conditions for rapid adaptation in organisms composed of many parts, and the law of Requisite Variety determine that successful adaptive behaviour requires certain functional organization. Beer's model of viable organizations is put in relation to Ashby's theory of adaptation and regulation. The use of the Ultra-stable system as abstract unit of analysis permits developing a rigorous taxonomy of change; it starts distinguishing between change with in behaviour and change of behaviour to complete the classification with organizational change. It relates these changes to the logical categories of learning connecting the topic of Information System design with that of organizational learning.

Organizational learning orientation profile and implications for strategic planning capacity

Theory development on the relationship between strategic planning and organizational performance has focussed on largely discrete examinations of dependent and independent variables. While the literature has examined the impact of organizational learning on strategic planning, no holistic empirical approaches have been employed in order to fully explore the inter-play between these important constructs. This paper addresses the cited limitations in both the strategic planning and organizational performance literatures by creating profiles of organizational learning and strategic planning capacity using a configuration theory-based approach. The organizational learning orientation profiles (OLOPs) created of prospector, disseminator, interpretative and memory, contribute to theory development regarding the relationship of strategic planning and organizational learning. The theory developed provides insights that have not been previously reported.

Changing career models and capacity for innovation in professional services

A number of professional sectors have recently moved away from their longstanding career model of up-or-out promotion and embraced innovative alternatives. Professional labor is a critical resource in professional service firms. Therefore, changes to these internal labor markets are likely to trigger other innovations, for example in knowledge management, incentive schemes and team composition. In this chapter we look at how new career models affect the core organizing model of professional firms and, in turn, their capacity for and processes of innovation. We consider how professional firms link the development of human capital and the division of professional labor to distinctive demands for innovation and how novel career systems help them respond to these demands.

HRM, organizational capacity for change, and performance:a global perspective

This special issue brings together a variety of articles, each one enriching understanding about whether and how human resource management (HRM) influences organizational performance (however defined) against a backdrop of complex change. We present a preliminary framework that enables us to integrate the diverse themes explored in the special issue, proposing a mediating role for organizational change capacity (OCC). OCC represents a particular subset within the resource-based literature labeled as “dynamic capabilities.” Although not well researched, there is evidence that OCC is positively associated with firm performance and that this relationship is stronger given conditions of high uncertainty. Our framework reflects on external and internal parameters, which we suggest moderate the relationship between human resource management (HRM), OCC, and organizational performance. Our intention is to provide compelling insight for both practitioners and researchers, especially those whose remit extends beyond national boundaries, with reference to areas of the globe as disparate as Greece, Ireland, Pakistan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Characterization of engineered biochar for soil management

Pyrolysis is an energy conversion technology which by heating organic materials in the absence of oxygen, produces liquid, gaseous, and solid fuel products. Biochar, the solid product, can also be used as a soil amendment and, simultaneously, enables us to sequester carbon in the soil. By controlling the pyrolysis process, it is possible to engineer biochar suitable for the remediation of specific soil management problems. This research uses a characterization method more suited to producing biochar for soil amendment purposes than the existing biochar fuel characterization standards. This is the first research to use wastewater irrigated willow as a pyrolysis feedstock. The extensive characterization of biochar produced over a range of temperatures (410-810°C) yielded data on key properties relevant to soil under management: low surface area (1.4 to 5.4 m2/g), low bulk density (0.15-0.18 g/cm3), high pH values (7.8-9.4) and high water-holding capacity (1.8 to 4.3 cm3/g). Extraction experiments demonstrated low bioavailability of char nutrients (N, P, K, Ca, and Mg). This research also studied this artificial nitrogen cycle of pyrolysis: nitrogen accumulated in the wood from the wastewater and high levels of nitrogen remained in the biochar in a stable form not directly available to plants. Copyright © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog.

Knowledge management and enterprise risk management implementation in financial services

This paper starts from the viewpoint that enterprise risk management is a specific application of knowledge in order to control deviations from strategic objectives, shareholders’ values and stakeholders’ relationships. This study is looking for insights into how the application of knowledge management processes can improve the implementation of enterprise risk management. This article presents the preliminary results of a survey on this topic carried out in the financial services sector, extending a previous pilot study that was in retail banking only. Five hypotheses about the relationship of knowledge management variables to the perceived value of ERM implementation were considered. The survey results show that the two people-related variables, perceived quality of communication among groups and perceived quality of knowledge sharing were positively associated with the perceived value of ERM implementation. However, the results did not support a positive association for the three variables more related to technology, namely network capacity for connecting people (which was marginally significant), risk management information system functionality and perceived integration of the information systems. Perceived quality of communication among groups appeared to be clearly the most significant of these five factors in affecting the perceived value of ERM implementation.