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Articles 391 - 409 of 409

Full-Text Articles in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Phase Transitions In Project Scheduling, Willy Herroelen, Bert De Reyck Jan 1999

Phase Transitions In Project Scheduling, Willy Herroelen, Bert De Reyck

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Researchers in the area of artificial intelligence have recently shown that many NP-complete problems exhibit phase transitions. Often, problem instances change from being easy to being hard to solve to again being easy to solve when certain of their characteristics are modified. Most often the transitions are sharp, but sometimes they are rather continuous in the order parameters that are characteristic of the system as a whole. To the best of our knowledge, no evidence has been provided so far that similar phase transitions occur in NP-hard scheduling problems. In this paper we report on the existence of phase transitions …

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Managing New Product Definition In Highly Dynamic Environments, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Viswanathan Krishnan, Vijay Mahajan Nov 1998

Managing New Product Definition In Highly Dynamic Environments, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Viswanathan Krishnan, Vijay Mahajan

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In highly dynamic environments, characterized by changing customer preferences and uncertainty about competitive products, managing the development of a new product is a complex managerial task. The traditional practice, recommended in the literature, of reaching a sharp definition early in the new product development (NPD) process may not be optimal, desirable or even feasible in such dynamic situations. Under high uncertainty, forcing early finalization of specifications may result in a firm getting locked into an incorrect definition. Based on our study of NPD in the high technology industry, we present a model of an approach called real-time definition, in which …

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Manufacturing Operations In Europe: Where Do We Go Next?, Arnoud De Meyer Jun 1998

Manufacturing Operations In Europe: Where Do We Go Next?, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Extrapolating from the results of a 10-year INSEAD Survey, the author offers some views on the future for manufacturing in Europe. The model on which the Survey was based indicates that competitive priorities and action plans in manufacturing changed over the 10-year period. Taking lessons from these, the author makes some 'informed guesses' on the future implications for European manufacturers in the form of seven normative features: innovation in the value package; close integration between manufacturing and service; the importance of internationalism; flexible project-based organisation; more integrated management of the value added chain; successful transformation of operational programmes into strategic …

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Salesforce Evaluation By Local And Foreign Wholesale Companies In Singapore, Rajah Vellan Komaran, Lee Ching Tok Jan 1997

Salesforce Evaluation By Local And Foreign Wholesale Companies In Singapore, Rajah Vellan Komaran, Lee Ching Tok

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

No abstract provided.

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Reducing Cycle Time At An Ibm Wafer Fabrication Facility, Lieven Demeester, Christopher S. Tang Mar 1996

Reducing Cycle Time At An Ibm Wafer Fabrication Facility, Lieven Demeester, Christopher S. Tang

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In 1991, IBM San Jose decided to produce and sell magnetic heads for computer disk drives on the open market to original equipment manufacturers. However, as IBM's wafer fabrication facility increased the number of products it manufactured, its manufacturing cycle time lengthened. Since cycle time is important in competing in the open market, IBM San Jose formed a study team (in cooperation with UCLA) to examine the wafer fab and to develop ways to reduce cycle time. The team designed a new production control system and proposed new performance measures for operators and engineers. IBM implemented the new production control …

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R&D/Marketing Communication During The Fuzzy Front-End, Rudy K. Moenaert, Arnoud De Meyer, William E. Souder, Dirk Deschoolmeester Jan 1995

R&D/Marketing Communication During The Fuzzy Front-End, Rudy K. Moenaert, Arnoud De Meyer, William E. Souder, Dirk Deschoolmeester

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The planning stage of an innovation project has a great effect on the commercial performance of the project. During the "fuzzy front-end", the organization formulates a concept of the product to be developed, and determines whether or not the organization will invest resources in the concrete development of the idea. The integration of R&D and marketing activities is a necessary condition for success in innovation projects. The research question of this study is: from an information processing perspective, what role does information transfer play in integrating R&D and marketing functions during the planning stage, and what effects do project formalization …

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Automated Manpower Rostering: Techniques And Experience, C. M. Khoong, Hoong Chuin Lau, L. W. Chew Jul 1994

Automated Manpower Rostering: Techniques And Experience, C. M. Khoong, Hoong Chuin Lau, L. W. Chew

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We present ROMAN, a comprehensive, generic manpower rostering toolkit that successfully handles a wide spectrum of work policies found in service organizations. We review the use of various techniques and methodologies in the toolkit that contribute to its robustness and efficiency, and relate experience gained in addressing manpower rostering problems in industry.

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Internationalisation Of R&D Improves A Firm's Technical Learning, Arnoud De Meyer Jul 1993

Internationalisation Of R&D Improves A Firm's Technical Learning, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Companies have been reluctant to internationalize the R&D function. The reasons for keeping R&D geographically centralized are mostly related to preserving optimal communication patterns. But market forces, and the diffusion of the sources of technological know-how, oblige many companies to decentralize and internationalize their R&D laboratories. How does one manage this international network of laboratories? The author takes the position that companies internationalize R&D to improve the process of technical learning. If this is the case, the management of the laboratory network has to stimulate this technical learning. On the basis of 14 case studies, five areas warrant attention: creating …

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The Manufacturing Contribution To Innovation, Arnoud De Meyer Oct 1991

The Manufacturing Contribution To Innovation, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The description of the contribution of manufacturing to the innovation process is often limited to the task of providing the necessary information to enable the development function to create a design which is easy to manufacture, and to be instrumental in the fast ramp-up of the production process. Though these are important tasks, it is argued in this paper that there is a third aspect of manufacturing’s contribution to innovation, namely the creation of a manufacturing system which is favorable to product innovation. This goes far beyond the design of an appropriate production process, but requires the creation of a …

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Managing Expert Systems: A Framework And Case Study, Rob R. Weitz, Arnoud De Meyer Sep 1990

Managing Expert Systems: A Framework And Case Study, Rob R. Weitz, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper addresses the problem of managing the development and implementation of a large expert system in an organization. A traditional systems analysis and design methodology is used as a framework to highlight similarities and differences in managing large scale traditional computer based projects and large expert systems. As a non-technical, prescriptive guide, this article focusses on defining at each stage in the project, the tasks to be accomplished, resources required, impact on the organization, likely benefits and potential problems. The case of a large expert system implemented by a multinational corporation across several European sites is used to clarify …

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How To Arrive At Computer Integrated Manufacturing: A 3-Year Survey, Arnoud De Meyer Jul 1990

How To Arrive At Computer Integrated Manufacturing: A 3-Year Survey, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The large majority of modern production companies have at their disposal a multitude of computer systems. The immediate challenge for these companies consists of integrating these computer systems and databases. How will one arrive at this integration? On the basis of a questionnaire administered in 1985, 1986 and 1987 among a group of large European manufacturers, one comes to the conclusion that this integration is one of the immediate priorities for this group of companies. They do not intend to implement turnkey systems. but instead will integrate the different databases and computer systems gradually. One can see emerging islands of …

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Lasting Improvements In Manufacturing Performance: In Search Of A New Theory, Kasra Ferdows, Arnoud De Meyer Apr 1990

Lasting Improvements In Manufacturing Performance: In Search Of A New Theory, Kasra Ferdows, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Is there a way to avoid trading off one capability for another in manufacturing? The prevailing wisdom says no. But some manufacturers seem to have been able to defy that: compared to their competitors, they have better quality, are more dependable, respond faster to changing market conditions, and in spite of all that, achieve lower costs. How can this be explained? Our aim here is to provide an explanation. We contend that the nature of the trade-offs among manufacturing capabilities is more complex than has been assumed. Depending on the approach taken for developing each capability, the nature of the …

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Flexibility: The Next Competitive Battle: The Manufacturing Futures Survey, Arnoud De Meyer, Jinichiro Nakane, Jeffrey M. Miller, Kasra Ferdows Mar 1989

Flexibility: The Next Competitive Battle: The Manufacturing Futures Survey, Arnoud De Meyer, Jinichiro Nakane, Jeffrey M. Miller, Kasra Ferdows

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Over the past 4 years research teams from INSEAD (Fontainebleau), Boston University and Waseda University (Tokyo) have administered a yearly survey on the manufacturing strategy of the large manufacturers of the three industrialized regions of the world. In this paper the results for the 1986 survey are compared. One of the most striking results of that year’s survey is the emphasis some of the more advanced manufacturers put on their efforts to overcome the trade-off between flexibility and cost efficiency. In particular for the Japanese respondents these attempts become clear. Europeans and North Americans are not yet seizing the opportunity …

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European Manufacturers: The Dangers Of Complacency, Kasra Ferdows, Arnoud De Meyer Sep 1988

European Manufacturers: The Dangers Of Complacency, Kasra Ferdows, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Recent trends in the activities of a sample of European manufacturers are analysed in this paper. The data have been collected through annual surveys in the last five years, and in particular, the results of the 1987 survey (222 responses received in the first trimester of 1987) have been analysed in more depth. The priorities set for the development of varions types of capabilities in manufacturing (related to quality, delivery, flexibility, cost, etc.), and the specific programmes under implementation for improvement of manufacturing performance which are receiving highest attention are described. Through correlation analyses, statisically significant associations between specific improvement …

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German, French And British Manufacturing Strategies Compared: A Growth Towards Each Other, Arnoud De Meyer Jul 1988

German, French And British Manufacturing Strategies Compared: A Growth Towards Each Other, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Manufacturing has gained over the last years in attention as a tool to create competitive advantage. For four years now a survey has been carried out by a research team at Insead to build a database on the manufacturing strategies as they are defined and implemented by large European companies. In this paper some of the 1987 data are presented, and a comparison of manufacturing strategies of large companies in the three most important European countries is made. Though the most important conclusion is that there are only slight differences between the three countries, one can see some difference in …

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Flexibility And Fms: An Empirical Analysis, Mihkel Tombak, Arnoud De Meyer May 1988

Flexibility And Fms: An Empirical Analysis, Mihkel Tombak, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

It is shown how the concerns of the managers of firms with flexible manufacturing system projects (FMS) differ from those of manufacturing firms without FMS projects. An economic model is developed from which two hypotheses are obtained. The first hypothesis is that firms were investing in FMS to deal with the variance in their inputs. The second proposition is that firms wished to use FMS to deal with the variance in their outputs. Through an analysis of manufacturing survey data it was found that firms planning to implement FMS were statistically more concerned about vendor quality and vendor lead times …

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The Integration Of Information Systems In Manufacturing, Arnoud De Meyer Jan 1987

The Integration Of Information Systems In Manufacturing, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The large majority of modern production companies have at their disposal a multitude of computer systems. The immediate challenge for these companies consists of integrating these computer systems and databases. How will one arrive at this integration? On the basis of a questionnaire administered among a group of 174 large European manufacturers, one comes to the conclusion that this integration is one of the immediate priorities for this group of companies. They do not intend to implement turnkey systems, but instead will integrate the different databases and computer systems gradually. One can see emerging islands of integration, which will be …

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European Manufacturing: A Comparative Study (1985), Arnoud De Meyer Jul 1986

European Manufacturing: A Comparative Study (1985), Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

One of the striking events of the eighties in the field of management is the increase in attention paid to the role of manufacturing and technology in the determination of a firm’s competitive position. Traditionally, corporate policy and strategic decisions were defined on the basis of a financial and marketing analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses and competitive environment. The contribution of the technology function and more in particular the production and operations function was often limited to implementation and a marginal adaptation of a course set by financial and marketing considerations. Some of the world’s excellent competitors have, however, …

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A Technological Lifecycle Approach To The Organizational-Factors Determining Gatekeeper Activities, Arnoud De Meyer Oct 1984

A Technological Lifecycle Approach To The Organizational-Factors Determining Gatekeeper Activities, Arnoud De Meyer

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The paper deals with the question whether gatekeepers arise spontaneously (non-hierarchical) or are created by administrative action (hierarchical). The author's approach to the problem relies on the use of a lifecycle model of an organisation devised by Utterback and Abernathy. They distinguish a product-innovation, a transitional and process- innovation (consolidation) phase in the development of an enterprise. The author's hypothesis is that gatekeepers can arise via either route depending on the phase in which enterprise is operating. In the earlier phases the author predicts that gatekeepers will either be absent or non-hierarchical (spontaneous) while in later phases they will be …

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