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Supply Chain Model
in a Multi-Echelon System
with Inflationary Implications
-- Richa Jain and S R Singh
The present study, formulates a multi-echelon supply chain network with a single producer,
multi-distributors and multi-retailers for a deteriorating inventory during a finite planning horizon.
The inventory levels of the producer and the distributors are assumed to be decreasing by discrete
amounts instead of a continuous decrease as assumed in most of the literature available.
This discreteness is an application of real life situation where the stocks deplete by discrete
amounts and not continuously. The stock is assumed to undergo deterioration as soon as it is produced.
The production rate has been specified as demand dependent to take into consideration the market
forces also. The whole study has been done in an inflationary environment to impart economic
feasibility to the model.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Revisiting OEE as an Assessment Methodology for TPM Activities: A Practical Analysis
-- Mahesh Pophaley
With ever-increasing importance, plant maintenance is no more regarded as second line
or nonproductive activity, and now it is widely accepted that plant maintenance has a great
impact on the overall profitability of an organization. However, traditional approach to maintenance
cannot provide any dramatic improvement; Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), as an upcoming
industrial maintenance program, seems to be providing the answer. Since TPM is a new and fast
growing concept among industries, assessing its usefulness is another facet. Further equipment
effectiveness calculation has been the most interesting topic for plant managers, as it helps in identifying
the inefficiencies and determining where to focus improvement actions. Traditionally,
equipment performance has been measured using various matrices, but the Overall Equipment
Effectiveness (OEE) is being used as an evaluation metric to judge the effectiveness of TPM implementation
since its inception. This paper builds on previous works that examined the role of OEE measurement
systems in TPM, with particular reference to developing a new framework for assessing the
implementation effectiveness of TPM. In the paper, it has been argued that the nature of the trade-offs
among manufacturing capabilities is more complex than has been assumed. Hence, the research work
aims to develop a new model and proposes its analysis for measuring the TPM
implementation effectiveness as per the original definition of TPM. While the model is yet to be proved,
nevertheless, it is believed that there is enough evidence for a critical reexamination of traditional
evaluation approach. The work suggests a more effective model from the manufacturing point of view.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Research Methodology for Effective Utilization
of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in Northern India Manufacturing Industry
-- Harwinder Singh and J S Khamba
In today's highly dynamic and competitive world, the manufacturing scenario has undergone a
rapid change in the last two decades by implementing Advanced Manufacturing Technologies
(AMTs) either through joint ventures or by licensing agreements. This has put a lot of difficulties at all
levels to improve the utilization level of AMTs of the organizations. The objective of this paper is
to understand the hurdles/barriers and provides the research methodology for improving the
utilization level of AMTs in Northern India manufacturing industry for achieving manufacturing success.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Enabling Technologies
and Implementation Framework
for Agile Manufacturing
-- S Ayyappan and P K Jayadev
Manufacturing or servicing industries have to be updated by restructuring or reorganizing in
order to overcome the demands of this era in which customers are not only satisfied but also
delighted. In this competitive environment, the industries must be a flexible, adaptive and reconfigurable
system that can be entitled by a unique term: Agile Manufacturing (AM). An AM system is able to
develop a variety of products at low cost and in a short period. In this paper, the enabling technologies
and implementation framework is presented.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Evaluation of Inventory
Performance for Perishable Products
Through Simulation
-- Srikanta Routroy and Nardekar Abhinadan Bhausaheb
Today, one can find that supermarket chains are putting all efforts to control and manage
the inventory so that they can decrease cost, improve service quality and increase product
availability in order to enhance customer satisfaction. It is relatively easy to control and manage the
inventory for non-perishable items, but it is difficult to manage for perishable items with unpredictable
demand. The duration of product life cycle, ordering cost, holding cost, stock out cost, overstock cost,
demand uncertainty, unit price and product availability play a major role in controlling inventory for
perishable items. In this paper, a simulation model is developed using ARENA simulation tool for
perishable products to evaluate different inventory performance in the retail stage. A case situation is
developed to demonstrate the salient features of the concept.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Facility Layout Selection Using PROMETHEE II Method
-- Vijay Manikrao Athawale and Shankar Chakraborty
Facility layout selection is an important and critical issue faced by every organization, while
setting up and allocating the available or new facilities
in a given location. While selecting the most
suitable layout, due attention is usually paid to minimize the total transportation cost between different
facilities. The importance of an effective facility layout design for efficient and smooth operation of an
organization cannot be overlooked. It is well-recognized that a suitably designed facility layout represents
the backbone of an organization and should be carefully organized. Placement of the available or
new facilities within a selected area is a complex task for the designer, which requires the fulfilment
of several conflicting objectives. It is therefore important for an organization to evaluate, design and
select the most suitable layout for its functional effectiveness. Selecting the best facility layout for an
industrial application from a finite set of candidate alternatives is an example of Multi-Criteria
Decision-Making (MCDM) problem. In this paper, two real time examples of facility layout selection are presented
to demonstrate the applicability of a highly potential MCDM method, i.e., PROMETHEE
(Preference Ranking Organization METHod for Enrichment Evaluation). It is observed that the rankings of
the alternative layouts obtained using the PROMETHEE II method almost match with those derived
by the past researchers, which proves the potentiality of this method to solve such type of complex
MCDM problems.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
TQM: The Japanese Way
in Malaysian Companies
-- Jamal Abdul Nassir Shaari
This paper is a study on enhancing Malaysian quality management practices from
Japanese experience. The study focuses on two main objectives: to investigate whether Malaysian
companies practice Total Quality Management (TQM) the Japanese way; and to later identify their role
towards organizational performance. The study employed qualitative and quantitative method of
questionnaire survey on Malaysian manufacturing companies using the 6 point Likert scale. The findings of
the study reveal that Malaysian companies do practice TQM the Japanese way, but there was
no influence on organizational performance via employee and customer.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
A Note on Transformation, Standardization
and Normalization
-- K Muralidharan
This paper discusses the importance of data cleaning and processing using various
statistical techniques like Transformation (T), Standardization (S) and Normalization (N) from a practical
point of view. It is possible that the unprocessed raw data at first instance will lead to poor
interpretation because of the effects of systematic variations. A suitable transformation or standardization
or normalization can nullify the effect of such variations. This is explained using a couple of
examples from literature.
© 2010 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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