Billions of dollars are being poured into developing nations by multinationals as part of their diversification, divestiture, facility location, and supplier selection strategies. By integrating the literature in international business, marketing, purchasing, and operations management, a contingency model is developed to minimize the overall costs of such decisions. This model provides l…
The “Law of Industrial Dynamics” is a well‐known phenomenon which leads to significant swings in demand as orders are passed down along a supply chain. Large fluctuations in demand result for the manufacturer leading to policies which counteract the objectives of materials logistics management which are to reduce inventories while maintaining strategic stocks, improve product quality, min…
Modern supply chains are expected to respond rapidly, effectively and efficiently to changes in the marketplace. Simultaneously there is the drive to achieve world class customer service levels coupled with minimum reasonable inventory (MRI). We thus have the classic conflict of interests between marketing, production and materials management. Marketing wants the complete product range availabl…
Describes the “Health Check” – an investigation of critical activities in warehouses which incorporates reviews of people′s perceptions, technology applied and systems used, in order to produce a rapid evaluation statement. This report identifies three levels of possible improvement from immediate action, involving little or no capital expenditure, to longer projects with significant ca…
This paper present the results of a study of material requirements planning (MRP) implementation in the packaging machinery-building industry. The research, in particular, has addressed such issues as management and employee responses and the actual versus expected financial and production/logistics benefits. Some of the findings are that, generally, benefits of MRP packages include higher pro…
Due to the diversity of its players, the American healthcare sector has experimented with different types of integrated supply chain management systems for medical supplies. In the 1980s, US distributors were offering customers the so‐called stockless replenishment method, whereby the distributor picks and packs products according to the particular needs of each patient care unit and, in most…
There is an increasing focus on reducing time‐to‐market for new products and a prerequisite for succeeding in this is the ability to transfer and use information about the products early on in projects, thus facilitating early problem‐solving. This paper focuses on the use of product data and information systems for the design of materials supply systems in product development projects.…
This research aims to develop a model for describing and analysing materials supply systems (MSSs) design in product development projects (PDPs).
The objective of this study is to revise and enhance existing inventory control models in a way that allows them to be used more efficiently in environments with short lead times.
In a system where two material flows with sequence dependency are matched, the use of real‐time information to monitor and control the sequencing buffer improves the system′s ability to schedule many different models, compared with a system with no information at all. In the latter case, the system is upset considerably when more than four different models enter the system. Shows how the …
“Minomi” is a unit load where no container is used. The aim of this paper is to identify the effects of using minomi in the materials supply within an assembly plant.
The challenge facing manufacturing today is one of providing the customer with greater product variety deliverable in ever shorter lead‐times, while minimizing development and operating costs. Presents an integrated logistics and manufacturing process implemented in an automotive environment designed to address some of the key issues arising from this challenge. Uses a combination of stabiliz…
A third party logistics practice in using a materials service center to provide a manufacturer the component‐parts management function has become more widely accepted in industry. Due to the long‐term, high investment, and high part variety nature of a material service center operation, a sound evaluation procedure is needed for a potential user of this service to guide its decision makin…
Safety stock, safety lead time, and safety capacity are the conventional methods used to deal with operational uncertainty. With the advent of material requirements planning (MRP) systems, the rescheduling capability can be viewed as an alternative to buffer production systems against uncertainty. Logistics systems have characteristics similar to production systems in the face of uncertain ev…
The purpose of this article was to identify the steps that need to be taken when choosing an effective third party logistics provider. Based on the research completed, it was determined that third party logistics are beneficial to many companies. The use of third party logistics provides a competitive advantage in today’s business world. The optimal solution for a company choosing a third p…
The purpose of this paper is to determine how kitting, compared to continuous supply, affects the time spent by the assembler fetching parts in manual assembly.
The paper seeks to describe the state-of-the-art, reasons for selecting various material planning methods, and modes of applying methods for initiating inventory replenishment of purchased items. It also identifies trends from 1993 to 2005.