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Use of the best-worst method to evaluate determinants affecting cost reduction of heat exchanger components in the Chinese automotive industry
Abstract
As China is a major automobile manufacturing and consumption country, cost reduction is an important indicator for the operation of the automobile industry. There are many automobile-related components and parts, and each component is important to the full functionality of the automobile. This article focuses on automobiles’ heat exchanger components (HECs) because they have important connections with the engine, transmission, body, and hydraulic systems of automobiles. Since the HECs are important functional parts of automobiles, it is worthwhile to investigate the determinants affecting the cost reduction of HECs in the automobile industry. Hence, the main purpose of this article is to evaluate the determinants affecting the cost reduction of HECs in the Chinese automotive industry using the best-worst method (BWM). Firstly, based on the literature and the opinions of industry and expert interviews, five evaluation dimensions and 20 evaluation factors were developed. Secondly, an empirical survey was conducted using the BWM and expert questionnaires. Finally, the study’s results revealed that: (1) “Research and development” is the most critical evaluation dimension that affects the cost reduction of HECs in the Chinese automotive industry; (2) The determinants affecting the cost reduction of HECs in the Chinese automotive industry were “value analysis/value engineering,”“production system optimization,”“developing industry standards,”“lightweighting,”“synchronous new product development,” and “waste reduction.” The empirical findings showed that the first three determinants were particularly important in the decision-making factors of cost reduction. In addition, this article discusses and suggests these determinants as a reference for future cost reduction evaluation of HECs in the Chinese automotive industry.
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EV batteries tend to generate a significant amount of heat due to internal resistance during operation. The LCP using the regular inlet struggles to have good fluid distribution without depending on the flow rate. The aim of the present experimental study is to introduce a new design of inlet header called shower head to be used in the liquid cold plate for cooling the battery cells. The study investigates the thermal performance improvements by using the shower head and its impact on the hydraulic performance of the liquid cold plate. The shower head is studied at Reynolds number range 382–1530 and water is the working fluid. The results indicate that the shower head achieved significant reduction in the surface temperature of the battery cell and good temperature uniformity compared to the regular inlet at all Reynolds numbers due to the ability of the shower head to achieve good fluid distribution and mixing inside the LCP. The pumping power consumption difference between the regular inlet and the shower head is not significant.
Evaluating the influence factors of the attractiveness of offshore island tourism will help to understand customers’ motivations in choosing tourism activities, and for the travel operators to improve their promotion of tourism products. This paper employed the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process method to empirically analyze the determinants of tourism attractiveness of Taiwan’s offshore islands. The results indicate that the ‘substantial aspect’ is the most important evaluation dimension on offshore island tourism attractiveness. Among the 16 influence factors, the ‘natural resources of regional attractions,’ ‘cultural heritage and cultural resources,’ and ‘well-established and convenient transportation’ are the most three determinants about the tourism attractiveness of Taiwan’s offshore islands. Furthermore, some discussions concerning the key determinates are provided for Taiwan’s offshore tourism.
Future mobility is expected to be sustainable in terms of energy production, consumption, and vehicle emissions. Embedded intelligent systems are playing a crucial role in the electrification of vehicles, their autonomy and implementation. Though electric vehicle technology is expected to lead the automotive powertrain architecture in the coming decades, various barriers currently hinder their acceptance into the automotive market. These barriers are generally categorized into battery technology, vehicle performance, charging infrastructure, consumer behavior, and government support. Hence, a detailed analysis of these barriers, especially for developing countries with minimal electric vehicle penetration is an area of concern. This article investigates the barriers and infers the comparative order of resolution for each barrier based on its priority to be identified and overcome. As consumers are the major influencers of electric vehicle demand and acceptance, barrier analysis is carried out based on their opinions. Using a Consumer Perception Survey, this article determines the influence of each barrier on potential users of electric vehicles. Fuzzy Stepwise Weight Assessment Ratio analysis and TOPSIS are implemented to allocate evaluation factors to each sub-barrier to obtain the hierarchy of priority. Furthermore, this article highlights the policies and schemes implemented in developed countries and correlates them with their electric vehicle population. The article sheds light on different measures to be taken in developing countries such as India to mitigate barriers and bridge gaps. The outcome of the literature review and consumer perception survey shows that the major factors affecting electric vehicle implementation in developing countries are the lack of charging infrastructure and high overall cost. Therefore, it is realized that such developing countries must introduce more schemes and incentives on infrastructural and operational costs to promote EV growth.
This paper presents a comprehensive review on the battery especially Lithium-ion batteries and the battery thermal management systems for electric vehicles. The basics of the battery system and thermal issues related to the battery have been highlighted. Different battery thermal management systems have been discussed in the review. This paper has presented different thermal management systems for electric vehicle battery in details. Air cooling, phase change, and liquid cooling are studied in the reviewed literature, by showing and discussing the results of the previous studies in these fields. Most promising thermal management system is the liquid cooling, because it has the best cooling potential for the EV batteries which gets the researchers attention to improve it based on wide number of increasing studies and developments in the EV liquid cooling systems. Improving the hydraulic and thermal performance of the liquid cold plate which is part of the EV liquid colling systems has not widely been explored in the fields of developing inlets design, outlets, and fins. The review paper could guide the researchers to innovate better liquid cooling systems and improve their cooling and hydraulic performance in battery thermal management systems.
The development of product concept is a crucial task which cannot leave aside value assessment and product cost management. Value engineering is in charge of ensuring that key operations are performed at the lowest possible cost while still meeting performance, reliability, availability, quality, and safety requirements. This paper aims to describe a systematic approach for comparing design options created during the conceptual design stage of gas turbine components, based on cost evaluation and value analysis. The method allows designers to define design concepts for achieving target costs by combining functional decomposition, conceptual cost modelling, and the Value Analysis Value Engineering (VAVE) method. Functional decomposition allows identifying gas turbine modules and related components providing the main features to develop. Conceptual cost modelling is used as a decision-making design tool to predict the overall cost of gas turbine modules, and VAVE is adopted to find disruptive ideas and design changes whenever the gap between the estimated cost and the target cost is not compliant with the company requirements. The main outcome of the proposed methodology is to anticipate the cost of projects since the very conceptual stages with an acceptable level of accuracy compared with the target cost. The feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed approach in value assessment, cost estimate, and optimization are demonstrated through a case study related to gas turbine blades. In the presented example, product value has been increased by lowering the manufacturing cost of key components while maintaining the same functions. Results highlight how the application of the proposed approach allows to reduce the overall cost of approximately 25% compared with the original design solution and to increase the product value up to 33%.
Purpose
After quality costing, most companies do not know how to invest in supplier quality improvement. This study aims to develop a comprehensive model for the effect of supplier quality criteria on supplier quality costs.
Design/methodology/approach
The independent variable of supplier quality criteria and the dependent variable of supplier quality costs have been identified based on a literature review. Then a model has been developed for the effect of the variables. A questionnaire has been designed and distributed to 158 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Jey Industrial Town located in the Isfahan Province. Structural equation modeling and partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) have been used for data analysis.
Findings
Supplier quality criteria influenced supplier quality costs (with a value of 0.711). The results also implied that organizational quality had the highest impact. The appraisal costs and the internal failure costs of purchasing received most of the influence. Also, process quality and consequential costs of failure purchasing had the lowest influencing and influenced values.
Practical implications
The findings of this research encourage the managers of SMEs to evaluate and rank the most appropriate quality criteria related to quality costs for selecting a supplier as one of the most fundamental decisions in supply chain management.
Social implications
Appropriate selection of quality criteria influencing quality costs results in reduced quality cost. Quality cost reduction also results in decreased products' fixed prices. Ultimately, the company will have more competitive pricing, and consumers will benefit from such a significant advantage.
Originality/value
Studying the influence of supplier quality criteria on supplier quality costs is relatively new in the manufacturing industry. The comprehensiveness of the investigated variables is also another advantage of the proposed model.
This paper proposes and enriches the concept of technical potential energy based on field theory. On this basis, we analyze and verify the driving mechanism of technical potential energy on each stage of industry-university-research institution (IUR) collaborative innovation. Thus, the different effects on the different stages are unambiguous. First, the concept is defined based on three dimensions: the willingness of innovation subjects, the internal and external innovation environment, and participants’ attraction of innovation elements. Second, we analyze the promoting mechanism of technical potential energy in IUR collaborative innovation through conceptual model theory. Finally, system dynamics (SD) simulation analysis is used to verify the driving mechanism. The results show that technical potential energy promotes the establishment of IUR collaborative innovation alliances through the willingness and environment dimensions in the preparation stage. In the operation stage, technical innovation synergy and transfer synergy are driven by technical potential energy through the element dimension. In the extension stage, technical potential difference stimulates the technical spillover effect and facilitates innovation synergy. After entering the operation stage, the promoting effect of technical potential energy decreases somewhat, and the promoting effect of the technical potential energy of enterprises on IUR collaboration is higher than that of universities and research institutes.
This article explores challenges that suppliers experience when being involved in customers’ product development projects, and how these challenges can be mitigated. It presents a framework of supplier involvement in product development involving four dimensions: People-Process-Tools/Technology-Interaction. The framework consists of 24 challenges and associated mitigating mechanisms. The article concludes that suppliers must be aware of the challenges to ensure that proper internal capabilities are in place within their organizations. It also argues that customers should be aware of the challenges to provide best possible prerequisites for suppliers to ensure successful project outcomes.
The goal of any manufacturer is customer’s satisfaction this can be achieved by delivering the quality product, right on time at reasonable cost. Any organization whether manufacturing or service will survive and sustain the competency if it is flexible enough to continuously and systematically respond to the customers need and accordingly adds value to the product. Equipment, Material, and labour cost will increase with the inflation rate which are the dominant parameters that affect the price of the product. A simple mathematics, underutilization of equipment, material and labour is direct loss incurred. So, without any doubt the first focus of attention must be towards maximum utilization of this dominant parameters followed by reducing wastages in manufacturing activities. Lean manufacturing are now vital tools in all manufacturing sectors like automotive, electronics, plastic, textile, food, dairy, foundry, stampings, maintenance. The benefit observed after implementation of individual or combined lean manufacturing technique was reduction in cycle time, elimination of non-valued activities, clean, tidy, and hygienic workplace. Besides this there will be a smooth production flow, increase in productivity, reduction in production cost, involvement of employees, documentation of orders, reduction of inventory, breakdown with better intra and inter connectivity to take decisions fast and quick response. The present review focuses on different manufacturing sectors to see the effect of lean manufacturing techniques implemented for improving the process and reducing the wastages.
In mobile telecommunications, numerous formal and quasi-formal standard setting organizations (SSOs) exist that are dedicated to technology standardization. Yet, hundreds of more or less informal industry consortia have been established that also deal with technical standards. Some of these aim to develop standards themselves – and thus compete with existing, formal standard setting organizations – while others complement existing organizations or relate to them in other ways. Based on a novel dataset covering 100 consortia in the field of mobile telecommunications as well as interviews, we aim to explore and understand the role and diversity of standards-related consortia. We investigate their purpose, functioning, their members’ motives, the position they occupy in the standardization landscape, and the way they interact with formal standard setting. On the basis of our analysis, we propose a taxonomy of standards-related consortia consisting of six groups: large industry and technology influencers, high-level concept developers, established standards developers, young technology specialists, small industry and technology influencers, and SSO-hosted industry drivers. We believe the resulting taxonomy to be relevant for researchers, practitioners and policymakers alike. It sheds light on the intricate landscape of industry consortia, and offers transparency on the peculiarities of these organizations. Hence, it can build the basis for an evaluation of potential memberships as well as policies and regulations.
Lightweight design is one of the current key drivers to reduce the energy consumption of vehicles. Design methodologies for lightweight components, strategies utilizing materials with favorable specific properties and hybrid materials are used to increase the performance of parts for automotive applications. In this paper, various forming processes to produce light parts are described. Material lightweight design is discussed, covering the manufacturing processes to produce hybrid components like fiber–metal, polymer–metal and metal–metal composites, which can be used in subsequent deep drawing or combined forming processes. Approaches to increasing the specific strength and stiffness with thermomechanical forming processes as well as the in situ control of the microstructure of such components are presented. Structure lightweight design discusses possibilities to plastically form high-strength or high-performance materials like magnesium or titanium in sheet, profile and tube forming operations. To join those materials and/or dissimilar materials, new joining by forming technologies are shown. To economically produce lightweight parts with gears or functional elements, incremental sheet-bulk metal forming is presented. As an important part property, the damage evolution during the forming operations will be discussed to enable even lighter parts through a more reliable design. New methods for predicting and tailoring the mechanical properties like strength and residual stresses will be shown. The possibilities of system lightweight design with forming technologies are presented. A combination of additive manufacturing and forming to produce highly complex parts with integrated functions will be shown. The integration of functions by a hot extrusion process for the manufacturing of shape memory alloys is presented. An in-depth understanding of the newly developed processes, methodologies and effects allows for a more accurate dimensioning of components. This facilitates a reduction in the total mass and an increasing performance of vehicle components.
University–Industry (U-I) cooperation is defined as “the interaction between any parts of the higher educational system and industry aiming mainly to encourage knowledge and technology exchange” (Ankrah and Al-Tabba 2015). In recent years, we have observed an intensification of this phenomenon based on the common belief that collaborative research by academia and industry may be a powerful source of innovation (Ambos et al. 2008; Mansfield 1998) and generate advantages for both partners. Consequently, in recent years, the phenomenon of U-I cooperation has increased greatly and has begun to include regions that are not at the frontier of innovation and sectors that are not traditionally high-tech. Nevertheless, extant studies overlook the important role of regional contexts in shaping the patterns of U-I cooperation in different regional contexts, including the analysis of how U-I cooperation patterns vary across low-tech and high-tech industries. This paper attempts to fill this gap by exploring patterns of U-I cooperation in four industry-specific clusters in the low-innovative region of Campania (Italy) with regard to three specific aspects (i.e., motivations, barriers and cooperation channels). Overall, our findings contrast the arguments made by previous literature focused on the sectoral effect of U-I collaboration in highly innovative regions by showing that in low-innovative regions, sectoral differences in motivations, channels and barriers of U-I cooperation are less clear-cut or come in different forms than in highly innovative regions. We believe that our study provides an original contribution to the existing literature by providing a more comprehensive view of of the phenomenon’s complexity by assessing the sectoral effect on three dimensions, considering both the perspectives of the university and the firm and by contextualizing the research in a low-innovative region, while mainstream literature tends to privilege the focus on highly innovative regions.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the lean manufacturing literature by providing a roadmap for pull production control system (PCS) implementation.
Design/methodology/approach
Axiomatic Design (AD) methodology is used to develop the proposed pull PCS transformation roadmap.
Findings
The proposed design methodology is validated in a real-life manufacturing system. The results show that the proposed methodology significantly reduces the design efforts. The methodology effectively helps to choose the most appropriate pull PCS and determine its operational settings with respect to the manufacturing system characteristics.
Research limitations/implications
This study presents only one case study to test the proposed methodology. In future studies, the validity of the proposed method can be further generalized in different manufacturing sectors by real-life implementations.
Practical implications
In many real-life lean production projects, companies do not know where to start or how to proceed, which leads to repetitive design efforts and inefficient designs. The developed roadmap of this study minimizes incorrect or imperfect design trials and increases the success of pull production transformation projects.
Originality/value
The implementation of pull PCS requires extensive design knowledge and expertise. Therefore, many real-life applications fail due to costly and time-consuming trial-and-error-based design efforts. In the literature, there is no comprehensive guideline or roadmap for pull PCS implementation. To address this issue, this study provides a novel holistic roadmap to transform an existing push PCS to pull. The proposed methodology uses AD principles and combines fragmentary studies of the pull production literature.
The work presents the results of the experimental research carried out with the purpose of increasing the productivity of the machining process in the case of a part of the automotive industry. Thus, increasing of volume the parts ordered by the beneficiary, researches have been done for the replacement of simple cutting tools (standards cutting tools) with special cutting tools (combined tools). The use of the combined cutting tools to optimize the productivity of fabrication permitted decrease operative time by reducing the time to change the tools and the machining time. The use of the combined tools allowed machining multiple surfaces. In these circumstances, it was found an improvement in both productivity and quality of the products obtained in the manufacturing process.
In recent years, the automotive industry has faced an unprecedented crisis. In particular, the zero-inventory approach, which has been widely pursued by many automobile companies, seems to be impractical in some real production contexts since it requires an inventory of all parts but in low amounts. In this paper, we investigate a new logistics method which collects automobile parts by integrating the progress-lane (P-LANE) into the corresponding vehicle routing problem. We propose a mixed integer programming formulation for this new model, which can simultaneously determines the trip routes to collect automobile parts, as well as the P-LANE that each collected part should be assigned to, so as to minimize the total costs of the production and inbound logistics. The comparison with the zero-inventory model shows that the use of the P-LANE within the milk-run system could significantly decrease the total costs and also improve the transportation efficiency. To be specific, for small and large size instances, the total costs of the zero-inventory model are about 10% and 30% higher than the ones with P-LANE, respectively, which suggests that the periodic part collection model with P-LANE could be more appropriate for automobile manufacturing.
Purpose – This study aims to improve productivity and customer satisfaction through lean manufacturing
for metals and engineering industries. Its aims also to understand the concept of lean manufacturing, various
tools and techniques of lean, lean implementation benefits and barrier toward its implementation. Then, on
the basis of the result, a conceptual frame work was developed to reduce the existing gaps.
Design/methodology/approach – Lean thinking is one of the methods that can bring productivity and
customer’s demand improvement for manufacturing and service giving industries. To arrive at the lean
thinking productivity improvement and customer satisfaction of the sector (MEIs), intensive literature review
and secondary data investigation were conducted.
Findings – Articles and secondary data related to the case were reviewed and found the existing gaps. The
gaps identified such as missing energy waste, space waste and material waste, waste of knowledge or talents.
In addition to the 5 S of kaizen, this study added safety as the sixth on the existing Kaizen’s strategies. In lean
practice, managers give priority to waste reduction and ignore the product quality aspect, which lead to
dissatisfaction among customers. Fragmented implementation of lean manufacturing and the conflict
between human resource waste and unemployment were reconciled in this study. A model that can improve
productivity and increase customer satisfaction was developed. Solutions to alleviate the problems and speed
up development were forwarded.
Research limitations/implications – This study focused solely on the manufacturing industries of
developing countries, specifically deals with basic metals and engineering industries. In addition to this, the
research didn’t take a case study on a specific firm as it is a literature review.
Practical implications – The findings of this study emphasized that lean manufacturing is the key for
wise resource utilization, which enables a firm for cost, lead time and waste reductions on one hand and
productivity and flexibility improvements on the other. To the end, lean can bring sustainable development
and bright images to firms, and wellbeing life to workers together with customer satisfaction.
Originality/value – The gaps that have not been identified by other researchers were clearly discussed,
and on the basis of the gaps, a new conceptual model was developed. This is useful to basic metals and
engineering industries in overcoming resource-limitation problems by eliminating wastes.
Consider a fashion supply chain comprising a supplier, a contract manufacturer and a fashion brand, we examine the fashion brand’s profit performances when the contract manufacturer is either an OEM (having no design capability) or an ODM (having design capability). Regarding OEM, the fashion brand designs the products, outsources the manufacturing function, and has the option of outsourcing procurement function. Regarding ODM, the fashion brand buys unlabeled products from the ODM, which is charge of designing and manufacturing. In this case, buy-back contract is widely adopted so as to share the risk of demand uncertainty between the ODM and the fashion brand. We solve the wholesale pricing problems via sequential/simultaneous optimization, and derive the buy-back price via generalize Nash bargaining. We find that, fashion brand prefers contracting with an ODM when its bargaining power in buy-back negotiation is larger than a threshold, although the fashion brand’s order size under ODM is always larger than that under OEM. Interestingly, we find that the buy-back price is decreasing in the fashion brand’s bargaining power. We further analyze the supply chain sustainability in both ODM and OEM scenarios, finding that the supply chain might achieve both environmental sustainability and economic sustainability in OEM scenario when the fashion brand’s bargaining power in buy-back negotiation is small.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to compare principles from the original Toyota Production System (TPS), the Toyota Way 2001 and Kaizen philosophy with principles derived from Japanese Zen Buddhism. The paper would also like to enlarge the debate concerning some lessons learnt from Japanese culture in order to avoid Lean implementation failures.
Design/methodology/approach
The original English version of Taiichi Ohno’s book dedicated to the TPS, the Toyota Way 2001 and other relevant papers regarding Kaizen were reviewed and analyzed. The principles that emerged from the review of this literature were then compared with similar philosophical principles from Japanese Soto Zen Buddhism. The literature concerning Zen philosophy was methodically analyzed and categorized using the content analysis.
Findings
The results of this research show many theoretical parallelisms as well as lessons for practitioners, in particular referring to principles such as Jidoka, just-in-time, waste identification and elimination, challenge, Kaizen, Genchi Genbutsu, respect for people and teamwork.
Research limitations/implications
Analysis and results are mainly based on the literature that was found, reviewed and categorized, along with the knowledge of authors on Zen philosophy. Results could differ depending on the literature reviewed and categorized.
Practical implications
The results of this research bring food for thought to practitioners in terms of lessons learnt from Japanese culture, Toyota principles and management style in order to avoid Lean implementation failures.
Originality/value
This is one of the first papers which compares Lean-TPS and Kaizen principles with the Zen philosophy to try to learn lessons for succeeding in Lean implementation.
As the market for electric vehicles grows at a remarkable rate, various models of electric vehicles are currently in development, in parallel to the commercialization of components for diverse types of power supply. Cabin heating and heat management components are essential to electric vehicles. Any design for such components must consider the requirements for heating capacity and power density, which need to reflect both the power source and weight reduction demand of any electric vehicle. In particular, design developments in electric heaters have predominantly focused on experimental values because of structural characteristics of the heater and the variability of heat sources, requiring considerable cost and duration. To meet the ever-changing demands of the market, an improved design process for more efficient models is essential. To improve the efficacy of the design process for electric heaters, this study conducted a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis of an electric heater with specific dimensions by changing design parameters and operating conditions of key components. The CFD analysis modeled heat characteristics through the application of user-defined functions (UDFs) to reflect temperature properties of Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) elements, which heat an electric heater. Three analysis models, which included fin as well as PTC elements and applied different spaces between the heat rods, were compared in terms of heating performance. In addition, the heat performance and heat output density of each analysis model was analyzed according to the variation of air flow at the inlet of the radiation section of an electric heater. Model B was selected, and a prototype was fabricated based on the model. The performance of the prototype was evaluated, and the correlation between the analysis results and the experimental ones was identified. The error rate between performance change rates was approximately 4%, which indicated that the reliability between the design model and the prototype was attained. Consequently, the design range of effective performance and the guideline for lightweight design could be presented based on the simulation of electric heaters for various electric vehicles. The fabrication of prototypes and minimum comparison demonstrated opportunities to reduce both development cost and duration.
Sustainable tourism development (STD) has recently become a tourism management guideline. STD meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems (World Tourism Organization, 2004, Concepts & Definitions: Sustainable Development of Tourism Conceptual Definition. Retrieved 12 August 2004 from http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html). The purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation procedure of STD and illustrate how it can be applied empirically to a specific destination. Green Island in Taiwan, which lies in the Pacific Ocean, was selected to act as our empirical case due to its rich resources but threatened sustainability. First, we collected indicators of STD from the literature about small islands. Second, the Delphi technique was used to refine and identify the final indicators for STD evaluation according to the characteristics of our study case. Third, we calculated the criteria weights by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process after constructing the evaluation criteria hierarchy. Finally, the measurement of performance corresponding to each criterion was conducted under the setting of fuzzy set theory. The results illustrate that our empirical case still needs more work in order to achieve its goal of sustainable tourism development. We also provide some managerial implications for the stakeholders such as tourism authorities, tourism businesses, local communities and academics.
Purpose
The auto industry in the USA is facing tremendous challenges – plunging demands due to economic downturn, the gloomy trend in technology development, and fierce global competition. This article aims to examine the challenges of supply chain management and to propose a triple‐C (cease‐control‐combine) remedy for the North American auto industry's supply chain management.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors applied management theories, collected information from managers at different levels of the auto industry's supply chain management, and developed a novel theoretical model of sustainability in supply chain management for the auto industry.
Findings
It is argued that outsourcing to low cost countries – the current supply chain strategy – is not only unsustainable but also irresponsible for the auto industry and society. A triple‐C (cease‐control‐combine) remedy is proposed for the auto industry's supply chain management.
Practical implications
The proposed triple‐C strategy will save the auto industry money in R&D investment, reduce quality cost and inventory waste, help the industry go through the volatile economy, and achieve sustainable development. With close relationships and strong supports from suppliers, the industry can speed up technology development, introduce new gas efficiency models quickly, and become less dependent on gas price. Finally, the triple‐C strategy will help the industry keep jobs and generate new jobs in the USA. These activities lead to public support and restored corporate image.
Originality/value
The current business environment is analyzed, problems of current supply chain strategy discussed, and a new supply chain strategy remedy for the North American auto industry proposed.
Purpose
Even though the integration of Lean Supply Chain Management (LSCM) and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies is relatively recent, it has been receiving a lot of attention. Partly because it is a recent field of practise and research and partly because the number of works developed in this field has grown rapidly, it is important to frequently update the perspectives on this field of investigation. Thus, this study aims to review the integration between LSCM and I4.0 analysing relationship at operative, tactical and strategic levels.
Design/methodology/approach
Systematic literature review was conducted to identify and explain the integration of LSCM and I4.0 from scientific sources that were published before March 2021.
Findings
The analysis of the literature revealed the level of integration of LSCM and I4.0 is present at different managerial levels. Moreover, when the integration is detailed at different managerial levels, it appears that LSCM paves the way for the adoption of I4.0 at a strategic level, while I4.0 technologies promise to enhance LSCM practices at the operational level.
Research limitations/implications
The main contribution of this study is the framework which shows that LSCM paves the way for the adoption of I4.0 at a strategic level, while I4.0 technologies promise to enhance LSCM practices at the operational level.
Originality/value
This study develops a new perspective of the articles published under the thematic of LSCM and I4.0. Additionally, it proposes a framework of analysis that can be used by future researchers. Finally, it shows the most recent implementations of LSCM and I4.0, exposing the current trends, improvements and also the main gaps.
It is well known that targeted fuel efficeincy can only be achieved by reducing vehicle weight through improved design and widespread use of lightweight materials. In this study, the weight reduction design process for wheel carriers was carried out through FE-analysis. The von-Mises stress distribution was analyzed by substituting AA6061 (aluminum 6061 alloy) with a tensile strength of 310 MPa instead of FCD600 irons. In the FEA (finite element analysis), stress distribution was performed by applying six chassis load conditions. In addition, the safety factor of the existing FCD600 irons applied wheel carrier was calculated and analyzed to replace AA6061, which is a lightweight material. The approach of this study for predicting safety using safety factor is well established and is expected to be used as a lightweight design guide. In addition, it is expected to contribute to the appropriate design conditions for the development of lightweight wheel carriers for automobiles.
Purpose
This study explores the challenges of garment suppliers in delivering defect-free products to their buyers and how buyers play a role in overcoming the challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Following a qualitative research approach and a multiple case study method, quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the four garment suppliers and buyer's representatives. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were applied to understand the challenges in delivering defect-free products.
Findings
The study findings show that garment suppliers' main challenges in delivering defect-free products are unsystematic quality control, informal root cause analysis, limited education and training facilities, dearth of a learning culture, limited quality control capability, lack of cross-functional team, inadequate modern technologies, workers' resistance to change and poor performance evaluation. Moreover, this study demonstrates how buyers can enhance their support to suppliers to receive defect-free products.
Research limitations/implications
Whereas the garment industry has more than four thousand suppliers, this study considers only four suppliers. Therefore, the generalisability of the study may be questioned. Furthermore, as this study considers only a single sewing line in each factory, future studies could incorporate more lines for a holistic understanding.
Practical implications
The findings of this study could help the managers of supplier firms understand how to tackle the hurdles of defect-free garment production and give buyers a guideline about what role they need to play to receive defect-free garments from suppliers.
Originality/value
For the first time, this study presents how garment suppliers and their lead buyers play significant roles in satisfying end consumers' demand by overcoming the challenges of defect-free garment production.
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the impact of the strategic transformation of engineering to order company (ETO) at the level of the internal value-adding chain of operations on its position as a sub-supplier. The transformation is motivated and enabled by end-to-end business intelligence related to processes revolving around the product’s design, configuration and engineering. The investigation builds on case-based research following the company’s decision of converting its product portfolio to only one family of products, thus increasing process efficiency whilst at the same time enlarging its market reach by offering individualized and innovative products. By digitally integrating operations related to sales, product development and production preparation, the traditional trade-off between cost-effective solutions with high product variety and low lead-time is significantly reduced.
Design/methodology/approach
A design science research project has been conducted to create knowledge on the effects of integration across the value-adding chain of operations. Several design cycles illustrate how development based on business intelligence and available technological enablers for inter-operation integration influence the traditional approach towards supply chain pipeline selection strategies.
Findings
Relating to digital transformation, the consequences and means of adopting digital business intelligence for integrating several administrative and engineering operations in small-medium enterprises (SME) are studied. The product delivery performance of the SME is improved, thus, having ETO lead-time comparable to manufacturing to order company. The findings show how the adoption of state-of-the-art technological solutions for cross-operation digital integration challenges traditional supply chain, coordination models.
Research limitations/implications
The conclusions are drawn based on a single case. The limitations associated with case-based research call for further work to support generalization. Furthermore, the long-term influence of the effects of increased interoperability on supply chain coordination strategies requires further investigation.
Practical implications
As technological solutions evolve, new opportunities for supply chain management arise, which put into question the traditional understanding that complex supply chain pipeline characteristics should be handled by complexity reducing initiatives, which opens up new competitive opportunities for companies in high-cost countries.
Social implications
Enabling the use of human resources towards expanding the business (rather than running it only) are aligned with the current economic and political situation in high-cost countries like Denmark and potentially releases skilled employees from repetitive and low value-adding work and reengages them in business development.
Originality/value
By embracing flexibility and volatility as an opportunity, this publication exemplifies how to move beyond hedging the supply chain volatility, but systematically enable the supply chain to deal with complexity efficiently.
Diverse R&D alliance partnerships not only provide access to broad external knowledge but also bring considerable expenses caused by transaction costs and absorption problems. The effective utilization of external knowledge in developing new products is closely related to the internal knowledge base. This study examines how firms' knowledge base properties influence the relationship between diverse R&D alliance partnerships and NPD performance. We empirically find that increases in firms' knowledge complementarity reinforce the positive impact of diverse alliance partners on NPD performance, but increases in firms’ knowledge substitutability attenuate. These findings offer valuable managerial implications that firms should commit more seriously to their internal knowledge base so that they can achieve higher NPD performance when establishing R&D alliances with external actors.
ABSTRACT: The impact of accounts receivables on the performance of salespersons is largely ignored in sales literature.
However, in many sales contexts, managing customers’ accounts receivables is directly managed by the salespeople,
and therefore substantially impacts their sales performance. Towards such sales contexts, in this
empirical study, we study the effect of customer account receivables and salespersons’ customer orientation on
their relationship orientation and customer-related performance. We further analyse the direct impact of relationship
orientation on customer-related performance. Using survey-based data from 224 salespersons based out
of India, we empirically test the proposed model using partial least squares structural equation modelling. Our
findings suggest that accounts receivables from customers and salespersons ‘customer orientation strongly
impact relationship building and also improves customer-related performance. The salespersons’ relationship
orientation also partially mediates the relationship between customer account receivables and customer-related
performance. Therefore, this study provides much-required evidence to establish the salience of salesforce
appropriately managing customers’ account receivables so that its impact on their sales performance customer
relationships are not adversely affected.
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This paper investigates the outsourcing relationship between an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and a contract manufacturer (CM) when both compete in the same product market. We identify optimal solutions and the favorable conditions that both players may benefit from outsourcing when either one is the dominant player in the Cournot competition in the base setting. In the extended models, we include a supplier in the game who sells the key component to the CM and explore all players’ decisions on pricing and/or quantity. We find that the optimal wholesale price for outsourcing is normally higher when the CM is dominant than that when the OEM is dominant. The Win-Win conditions that both the OEM and the CM favor outsourcing in various scenarios are identified. There exist some scenarios that no outsourcing will be formed due to conflicting interests between the OEM and the CM. The supplier may benefit from outsourcing due to additional OEM's quantity when the OEM's production cost is high. In that case, a Win-Win-Win result for outsourcing occurs for all three players in the extended model.
The attractiveness of ports is usually a pre-requisite and necessary condition for ports to achieve competitiveness, as well as the springboard to explore the competitive advantages of ports. To determine whether a port is competitive, it is necessary to explore whether it boasts certain factors that make the port attractive to users. The main purpose of this article is to apply the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) technique to evaluate key determinants of attractiveness and their cause/effect relationships for container ports in Taiwan. The empirical results showed that: (1) Top six determinates of attractiveness for container ports are ‘ample cargo sources,’ ‘favorable port charges,’ ‘dense ship network and routes,’ ‘low transshipment costs,’ ‘efficient wharf operations,’ and ‘adequate wharfs and back-line land,’ respectively. (2) Among the above six determinants of attractiveness, ‘ample cargo sources’ is the cause determinant. Three determinants of port attractiveness, ‘favorable port charges,’ ‘dense ship network and routes,’ ‘low transshipment costs,’ which are the effect determinants. They are affected by the determinants of attractiveness of ‘ample cargo sources’. In addition, this study discusses the above findings and expects to provide the study results to Taiwan’s port authorities for reference.
This paper responds to a gap in the literature regarding the selection of experts for participation in Delphi studies: a methodological forecasting tool that aims to predict the future utilising rounds of surveys with the same group of experts. Defining who the expert is, and thus who should participate, is crucial to the success of any Delphi exercise. While participant selection does not aim for representativeness, selection equity, transparency and fairness is paramount in addition to levels of appropriate knowledge and expertise. This is particularly the case when considering possible future opportunities for the multi-faceted bioeconomy; a concept that is marred with competing interests. Using renewable biological resources to meet future food, feed, fuel and fibre needs, balanced and inclusive bioeconomy development requires input, compromise and consensus from a diverse range of public, private and civil society actors across agriculture, food, marine, forestry, chemical, material and energy sectors. This paper reflects on the process of defining and recruiting Delphi experts in the bioeconomy context. Appropriate selection strategies, applicable to other futures studies, include adherence to value chain and web approaches, an expert closeness continuum and considered screening criteria. These selection strategies also facilitate reporting on the types of experts involved (and thus identifying potential sources of bias) whilst maintaining anonymity. Themes related to expert confidence, objective participation and the power of social learning are also explored. The paper concludes by outlining the benefit of the Delphi methodology as a tool of active stakeholder engagement for enhancing reflection and fostering open-mindedness towards a more sustainable future.
In this paper, a new method, called Best-Worst Method (BWM) is proposed to solve multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. In an MCDM problem, a number of alternatives are evaluated with respect to a number of criteria in order to select the best alternative(s). According to BWM, the best (e.g. most desirable, most important) and the worst (e.g. least desirable, least important) criteria are identified first by the decision-maker. Pairwise comparisons are then conducted between each of these two criteria (best and worst) and the other criteria. A minimax problem is then formulated and solved to determine the weights of different criteria. The weights of the alternatives with respect to different criteria are obtained using the same process. The final scores of the alternatives are derived by aggregating the weights from different sets of criteria and alternatives, based on which the best alternative is selected. A consistency ratio is proposed for the BWM to check the reliability of the comparisons. To illustrate the proposed method and evaluate its performance, we used some numerical examples and a real-word decision-making problem (mobile phone selection). For the purpose of comparison, we chose AHP (analytic hierarchy process), which is also a pairwise comparison-based method. Statistical results show that BWM performs significantly better than AHP with respect to the consistency ratio, and the other evaluation criteria: minimum violation, total deviation, and conformity. The salient features of the proposed method, compared to the existing MCDM methods, are: (1) it requires less comparison data; (2) it leads to more consistent comparisons, which means that it produces more reliable results.