 |
 |
|
A good selection of Asia Pacific based cases studies this week from Melbourne, Australia to Japan, South Korea, Thailand and Singapore. All focus on manufacturing systems, encompassing elements of strategy, management of international operations in the Asia Pacific, and the more "pure" aspects of Integrated Management Systems. A Hayes-Wheelwright framework approach for strategic management of third party logistics services Third party logistics services have a significant role to play in the current trend of outsourcing of the logistics function. From the third party logistics service provider's perspective, the provider must seek to manage itself strategically in order to win an increasing share of the outsourcing pie. In this paper, we extend the Hayes-Wheelwright framework for strategic manufacturing management to the strategic management of third party logistics service providers. A Singapore-based case example is provided within this context to illustrate the relevance of the Hayes-Wheelwright framework. The case also gives a glimpse into the strategic thinking and practices of a leading Singapore-based service provider in terms of its vision and strategy in building the logistics superhighway within the Asia Pacific Region.
Keywords: Logistics, Strategic management, Singapore, Outsourcing
Strategy and continuous improvement in small-to-medium Australian
manufacturers While Australian firms have generally recognised the value of continuous improvement (CI) in improving performance, many have yet to develop systems to ensure that the efforts of the CI program are focussed on issues of strategic importance to the company. In fact, as recognised in operations management generally, CI activities can have a significant impact on the development of strategy as well as its implementation. The research reported here uses a CI mapping methodology to chart the relationship between CI and strategy in small- to medium-sized manufacturers. Analysis of the link between the firms' strategies and CI programs indicates that most firms involved in the study made little attempt to link the two and some appear to be unaware of any need to do so. However, such findings seem to be dependent on company size, the maturity of the CI program and the competitive position of the firm. The paper also includes an examination of the role of operations and shopfloor CI in company strategy, particularly as related to SMEs.
Keywords: Continuous improvement, Strategy, Small- to medium-sized enterprises,
Manufacturing, Case studies
A systemic and integrated approach to flexible manufacturing systems
design Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) design is a complex problem which is concerned with the selection from a wide variety of available system configurations and control strategy alternatives in the light of several criteria (costs, production, flexibility etc.), many of which are difficult to quantify. Although there is a reasonable number of currently available modelling tools to be applied in FMS design, they are based on an erroneous approach, in which design is considered as a separated, local and myopic activity. Design is divided into isolated and unconnected subproblems whose individual solutions may result in a poor global solution. This paper describes a methodology of analysis and evaluation of FMS design competitive alternatives. It examines the use of an integrated, systemic, global, and user-centred approach for solving the FMS design problem.
Keywords: Design, Flexible manufacturing systems, Methodology
Japanese offshore manufacturing in Thailand: its difficulties and future
prospects During the past decade, the market for consumer and industrial goods in South-East Asia has grown at a rapid rate and industrial countries in this region have been trying to advance their national plans to stimulate economic take-off. However, in the middle of 1997, the ASEAN bubble economy started to collapse after devaluation of the baht. In this paper the current status and future direction of Japanese manufacturers in Thailand are discussed through facts investigations and a survey execution. The results from this investigation indicate that the Japanese offshore manufacturers in Thailand are at an earlier stage than their domestic counterparts in Japan, in terms of manufacturing strategies and action programmes. Therefore, offshore manufacturers are in a much more severe situation than domestic firms, although one of their major reasons for joining the Thai manufacturing industry was to recover from the ending of Japan's own bubble economy.
Keywords: Offshore investment, Japan, Thailand, Gap analysis, Manufacturing strategy
The implementation of a model for integration of MRP II and TQM A way of initiating and sustaining the implementation of total quality management (TQM) by exploiting the widely adopted manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) is presented. A detailed analysis of MRP II software has found that they have a number of inherent features that can be further extended to organizational performance including operations efficiency, responsiveness, company-wide problem-solving capability and product quality. This paper contributes in the development of a model for the MRP II with the incorporation of mechanisms to initiate a culture change in the organization towards TQM. In the adaptation of MRP II to guide the implementation of TQM, a structural analysis technique was proposed to help develop a model and methodology for the integration. In the structural analysis, an IDEF model of a "reference" company structure was created to illustrate and describe the integration. The reference company, which is a lamp manufacturer, is used to illustrate the systematic implementation of the TQM philosophy through adaptation of the MRP II software. The study demonstrates that MRP II can be adapted to provide the drive for effective implementation of TQM for productivity and profits.
Keywords: MRPII, TQM, Kaizen, Manufacturing, Computer software
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.
Keywords: Activity-based costing, Australia, Hong Kong, Implementation
Supply network management in the Brazilian automotive industry The paper presents some results and conclusions of a two-year research project encompassing ten interacting companies belonging to the Brazilian automotive supply network. The goal of the research is to explore current practices in terms of the commercial relationship between them. Specifically, the attention was focused on identifying whether there are relevant imbalances in terms of bargaining power so that the overall performance of the supply network as a whole is jeopardised. Some interesting conclusions could be drawn from this exploratory study. Perhaps the most important is the clear indication that the issue of supply network management is neglected among the analysed companies. The emphasis has almost exclusively been placed on the relationship with immediate customers and suppliers. This can run important risks for the competitiveness of the Brazilian automotive industry. Some causes of the negligence with the theme are discussed and some simple corrective measures are proposed, based on some more contemporary contributions found in the recent literature and in some practices identified in Brazil outside the automotive industry.
Keywords: Brazil, Logistics, Motor industry, Supply-chain management
Offshore investment strategies and technological upgrading in
electronics manufacture in South-East Asia Explores the operations of US and Japanese electronics manufacturers in South-East Asia from two perspectives. Uses views from a small number of company headquarters in North America and Japan to build two general strategies for commodity electronics manufacturing in the South-East Asia region. The result of the US strategy would be to retain core technologies at the home base, while the stated Japanese strategy is to transfer technologies rapidly to offshore sites. Tests these disparate strategies against operational realities in a large study of the manufacturing technology level and R&D capability of electronics manufacturing sites in South-East Asia. Site observations suggest that there is much commonality between the operational configurations and approaches.
Keywords: Electronics, Electronics industry, Japan, Offshore arrangements, R&D, USA
Time-based software development Software projects are commonly late and over budget, causing the product to be late to market. Based on questionnaires and field research with software managers in Europe, the USA and Japan, seeks to isolate the management practices that accelerate software development. The results suggest that global differences are not pronounced: Japanese software factories have development processes structured similarly to their US and European counterparts; productivity is also roughly equivalent. To reduce development time, software managers currently achieve greater leverage from the management of people and the cross-functional process than with the use of CASE tools and technology.
Keywords: New product development, Software development, Software reuse, Systems
development
Subcontractors, JIT and kanbans: a brief review of spring
manufacturing in Japan and South Korea It is widely believed that JIT processes are a fundamental necessity for a business and, as a consequence, for the product chain also. Thus JIT should be extended to subcontractors. Presents observations gleaned in Japan and South Korea on the issues faced by spring manufacturers in terms of JIT, quality control and other workplace factors. Concludes that the style of management operated by the client firms, especially in Japan, would not be appropriate in the UK. Also, since the psychological characteristics of UK persons are quite unlike those of the Orientals, we should be wary of importing, without modification, the work practices which seem to be acceptable in Japan and South Korea. Proposes that we should play to our strengths and continue to be innovative and individualistic while attempting to modify our management style to be more attentive to the longer term.
Keywords: Japan, Just-in-time, Kanban, Management styles, Manufacturing, South Korea,
Subcontracting, Work psychology
As always we have only skimmed the surface of relevant articles this week and only those that are particularly relevant for Asia-Pacific managers. Many other articles are available as well including those focusing on other countries and international perspectives.
Manufacturing in Asia September 2000 |
| |||||||
Asia Pacific Management Forum Asia Market Research dot com Branding Asia dot com
asia's only dedicated daily ezine for the asian business, management, strategy & marketing professional
research articles news independent columnists business strategy market & street intelligence
| email updates | email this page | discuss | search | today's asian business strategy news | advertise | about |
| daily asian news, research & commentary for the international business strategy, market research & strategic management professional |