Emerald

Aggregate planning approaches as presented in the literature are rarely used in practice. The objective of this research is to survey the aggregate planning practice of manufacturing companies in the UK, with the aim of designing more realistic aggregate planning systems. The results gathered provide useful insights into current practice, including the ranking of management decision alternatives, changing functional involvement with key aggregate planning objectives, and views concerning the use of a proposed system of aggregate planning.

During recent decades, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) from computer science, psychology and linguistics has created a great impact on the design and implementation of process planning systems. This article provides a review of the state‐of‐the‐art AI‐based automated process planning systems. A generalised framework for expert process planning systems is proposed and prospective research issues are discussed.

The management of customer enquiries is a particularly pertinent issue for make‐to‐order companies in which each enquiry concerns a unique order. Such companies must make tenders which are both competitive and realistic in terms of characteristics such as the delivery date and price, if they are to win the order and to secure future orders. Often, the need to ensure that a tender is realistic is given a low priority and thus orders that are won are delivered late and/or made at a loss. Proposes a Decision Support System which assists in determining tenders which are both realistic and competitive. Input/output control is used so that the input in terms of orders is controlled at the same time as the output is controlled in terms of capacity.

Much research has been reported on the possibilities of using various heuristic priority rules to sequence batches through a job shop. The SPT (Shortest Priority Time) heuristic, or modifications to it, has been proved useful in many studies. This paper reports on the results obtained when simulating the work flow through a real machine shop. The simulation model has been used to test the effect on well known priority rules of releasing batches into the shop in order of decreasing expected throughput time. The important effect of this “phased release” of batches was to increase the percentage of batches delivered in finished parts stores on time, particularly in the case where priority rules were in use which might otherwise have resulted in poor delivery. This has important repercussions for management because it implies that by “phased” release of batches in the manner discussed, a large proportion of batches will be delivered on time whatever priority rule is in operation in the shop.

Describes and compares two designs of work group: those which are based on the use of standard operating procedures, as found in lean production, and those based on decentralized in‐group solving of problems, as found in reflective production. Uses a Euro‐Japanese example of the former and a Swedish example of the latter. Concludes that both approaches result in an operational process that runs autonomously. The approaches should be used in different situations.

Looks at how Activity‐Based Costing (ABC) may be implemented in sectors consisting of Non‐Standard Route Manufacturers (NSRM). Following a brief summary of ABC, introduces the concept of NSRM. Within the context of a selected knitwear company, identifies a three‐stage procedure with attention focused on the first stage. product classification. A three‐division model was developed and proved more satisfactory, when tested, than a five‐division one. The finalized product classification scheme based on this model is then devised to reduce the number of product categories from 250 to nine. With the classification scheme gives an example which illustrates how ABC works compared with the previous costing approach.

States that determining the configuration of a company’s facilities has become a complex issue in today’s globalizing business environment. Existing allocation models often fail to address developments over time and “soft” issues. Therefore, an existing design method to support decision making on strategic allocation issues was extended with a system dynamics component. This extension allows decision makers to capture the inherent dynamics of allocation decisions. In addition, it becomes possible to incorporate “soft” variables in predominantly quantitative models. Applies the extended design method in a case study involving a relocation problem of a mid‐sized company in the Dutch metal working industry. Demonstrates the value of this method in terms of managerial decision support, not only for this specific problem, but also for future strategic allocation issues.