A study of expediting practices in manufacturing firms

Miller, David M.; Fink, Ross L.

doi:10.1080/09537289008919313

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Expediting corrects failures in local scheduling and is widely used. In one survey of manufacturing firms (Miller & Fink, 1990), over 90% of firms were found to use expediting regardless of the scheduling system. Reflecting that perspective, a recent case study by Crawford, Guinery, and MacCarthy (2002) identified two distinct control systems in use—a long lead‐time standard system and a short lead‐time informal system.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shop Floor Control When Tacit Worker Knowledge is Important

Philipoom¹,

Steele²

2011

Decision Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We investigate a shop where the workers and supervisors have tacit knowledge of how to operate efficiently and where efficiency is important to providing capacity to meet demand. This tacit knowledge includes setup dependencies between products as well as which worker or machine is best suited for a particular product. We discuss a real-world shop where this is the case. Management expects workers and supervisors to use their knowledge to schedule efficiently by monitoring their performance based on standards. The question that we explore is how management should control for due date performance in light of the discretion given to the workers and supervisors to sequence jobs on the basis of efficiency. We explore management control of due date performance through the use of order review and release (ORR) and management expediting. We find that although ORR is quite effective at reducing work-in-process (WIP) inventories, it may foster very late deliveries in a shop such as this. In fact, under such conditions, deftly executed expediting with no ORR at all can be far more effective at supporting all deliveries. Even improving ORR into a hybrid by actively updating path efficiencies (observed from supervisor/worker scheduling) did not support a change to this conclusion. Conversely, when conditions are created where tacit knowledge plays a reduced role or utilization is decreased, ORR delivers in a timely manner. The interaction between utilization, WIP levels, and worker knowledge all help dictate the appropriate control methodology.

show abstract

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shop Floor Control When Tacit Worker Knowledge is Important

Philipoom¹,

Steele²

2011

Decision Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Such flexibility can be a prerequisite for staying in business at all. For example, component suppliers to the car industry can have schedules changed at very short notice and the ability to respond is essential [10]. Delivery flexibility is introduced to…”

Section: Analysis Of Flexibility Types Of a Manufacturing System Using The Capability And Capacity Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Manufacturing system flexibility: the “capability and capacity” approach

Cheng

Simmons

Ritchie

1997

Integrated Manufacturing Systems

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Flexibility is widely recognized, in research literature and in more popular publications, as being of crucial importance in manufacturing. However, there is evidence of confusion among the numerous definitions of flexibility and it is arguable that, even now, the concept is not well understood. Furthermore, there is no simple approach for the systematic incorporation of flexibility level by level within the hierarchy of a conventional manufacturing system. Introduces a unifying and simple set of concepts for flexibility from a management perspective. The purpose of this “capability and capacity” approach is to interpret and integrate various types of flexibility throughout the manufacturing system. Use of this approach leads to four important principles for the integration of a system’s overall flexibility. Analyses flexibility types within manufacturing using the proposed approach.

show abstract

“…A 1988 survey of 42 US companies found that none of them met the MPC performance goalswhich they had set themselves, and most had not improved since a 1983 survey[12]. Expediting was found to be a normal, not an aberrant, activity[13].…”

Section: The Failure Of Computers In Manufacturing Operations Managementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Priority Management: New Theory for Operations Management

Westbrook

1994

International Journal of Operations &Amp; Production Management

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Reports a series of action projects in UK manufacturing companies which found that formal planning and control activity was less evident than the management of priorities. The reasons for this were found in the innate instability of these companies′ operations. This finding provokes a fresh look at two themes which formerly produced much literature: the relative failure of computers in production management; and the gap between OM academics and practitioners. A third theme, taken from the OB literature on the reactive nature of managerial work, throws light on both these issues. The instability of batch manufacturing operations can thus be seen as a norm, not a departure from a norm of stability. The assumption of a stable environment helps to explain why the formal MPC systems had often disappointed, and why the practitioners had made little use of OM academic work. Explores the nature of the instability as being principally concerned with the three dimensions of variety, variation and volume. Defines priority management, and positions it in relation to manufacturing strategy and to more technical approaches to OM. Develops a general theory of priority management which draws together various mid‐range theories and empirical studies.

show abstract

A study of expediting practices in manufacturing firms

Cited by 5 publications

References 1 publication

Shop Floor Control When Tacit Worker Knowledge is Important

Shop Floor Control When Tacit Worker Knowledge is Important

Manufacturing system flexibility: the “capability and capacity” approach

Priority Management: New Theory for Operations Management

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About