| 1. |
- Al-Najjar, Basim, 1954-
(author)
-
The Lack of Maintenance and not Maintenance which Costs : A Model to Describe and Quantify the Impact of Vibration-based Maintenance on Company's Business
- 2007
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 107:1, s. 260-273
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Maintenance is usually considered as a cost-centre or necessary evil, because (according to this aspect) it costs the company unnecessarily big budget, while it should be treated as a profit-generating centre. The problem addressed in this paper is that if maintenance is a profit contributor how does maintenance technical impact transfer to the plant other activities such as production, quality and tied up capital, and how can this effect ultimately influence company's profit and competitiveness?In this paper, we discuss maintenance role in maintaining the quality of the essential elements contribute in the manufacturing process such as production/operation and quality on the economic basis for achieving the competitive advantages desired. Interactions between maintenance, production and quality, and how simple technical effects of maintenance in the operative level can be transferred to the economic effect in the strategic level influencing company’s profitability and competitiveness is discussed. A model describes the mechanisms through which vibration-based maintenance (VBM) impact is transferred to the plant other activities and company's business is developed and verified using real and typical data based on the author’s experience in the Swedish paper mills. The main result of this study is developing a model for converting vibration-based maintenance technical to financial impact and assessing it. The model potential and applicability is tested using a combination of real and typical data. The result also demonstrates how the potential of the VBM impact on the production, quality, tied up capital and different relevant expenses can be assessed financially. Furthermore, the model can be utilised for two additional objectives; for examining whether the investment done in maintenance is cost-effective or not, and simulating maintenance financial impact on the relevant working areas in order to assess the investment required before selecting and applying the improvement plan. The major conclusions are; applying the model, VBM policy can be introduced as a profit centre, and identifying the transferring mechanisms of maintenance impact highlights where, why and how much should be invested in order to enhance production and maintenance performance continuously and cost-effectively.
|
|
| 2. |
- Alsyouf, Imad, 1965-
(author)
-
Maintenance practices in Swedish industries: Survey results
- 2009
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 121, s. 212-223
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to investigate the maintenance practices that are used in Swedish industry. The study was performed by conducting a cross-sectional survey within Swedish firms that have at least 100 employees. The main results achieved from the study show that the role of maintenance is not highly recognised. There is a need to spend and invest more in maintenance, which is considered by the majority of Swedish industries as a necessary expense. Although about 13% of the maintenance department time is spent on planning maintenance tasks, nevertheless, about one third of the time is spent on unplanned tasks. There is a need for more adoption of maintenance concepts such as total productive maintenance (TPM) and reliability-centred maintenance (RCM). The lack or ineffectiveness of planning and scheduling can significantly restrict the maintenance department in achieving its objectives and can thus prevent the company from maximising business profits and offering competitive advantages.
|
|
| 3. |
- Ax, Christian, et al.
(author)
-
The impact of competition and uncertainty on the adoption of target costing
- 2008
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 115:1, s. 92-103
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In recent years factors that may influence firms' decisions to adopt target costing have been presented in the literature. These studies generally argue that target costing adoption rates positively correlate with the intensity of competition and perceived environmental uncertainty. However, empirical support for this view is limited. This study argues that the adoption of target costing positively correlates with the intensity of competition, but negatively correlates with perceived environmental uncertainty. In addition, perceived environmental uncertainty moderates the adoption of target costing when the intensity of competition intensities. Hypotheses are generated and tested using data provided by a web-based survey of Swedish manufacturing firms. The findings indicate that the adoption of target costing and the intensity of competition positively relate, although the effect reduces with an increase in perceived environmental uncertainty. There is no evidence of a direct relationship between perceived environmental uncertainty and the adoption of target costing. As a result, the findings partly conflict with the outcomes of earlier work. The article also discusses the implications for research and firm managers considering the adoption of target costing.
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
- Berglund, Martina, et al.
(author)
-
Human, technological and organizational aspects influencing the production scheduling process
- 2007
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 110:1-2, s. 160-174
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study of scheduling work in practice addresses how the production-scheduling processes in four companies are influenced by human, technological, and organizational aspects. A conclusion is that the outcome of the scheduling process is influenced by the scheduler adding human capabilities that cannot be automated, by technical constraints in the scheduled production system and by the available scheduling software tools. Furthermore, the outcome is influenced not only by how the scheduling process is formally organized, but also by the scheduler's informal authority and the role taken to interconnect activities between different organizational groups. The findings from the study support a number of previous studies done on scheduling in practice whilst giving new insights into their interpretation. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
|
|
| 6. |
- Bergström, Max, et al.
(author)
-
Matching industrialised timber frame housing needs and enterprise resource planning : a change process
- 2005
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 97:2, s. 172-184
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The potential for improvements in industrialised housing through the adoption of concepts like enterprise resource planning (ERP) from the manufacturing industry, as applied to small and medium-sized enterprises, is evaluated in this paper. Four single, consecutive case studies were performed at a Swedish medium-sized industrialised housing company. The findings suggest that ERP can meet industrialised housing needs as well as promote an organisation to be re-engineered through comprehensive change and act as a driver for a more efficient internal and external supply chain.
|
|
| 7. |
- Berling, Peter
(author)
-
Holding cost determination : An activity-based cost approach
- 2008
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 112:2, s. 829-840
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We consider the problem of choosing the holding cost in inventory models. Traditionally, the cost of holding inventory is assumed to increase linearly with a rate that is equal to a percentage of the product value. This since the capital cost is believed to make up the main part of the cost. However, recent research indicates that this is not necessarily the case.In the present work, we present a more general model of the cost of holding inventory based on a microeconomic framework. A method for determining a suitable holding cost per unit and time unit, h, which can be used in existing heuristics/formulas is derived. The method is based on the ideas behind activity-based costing (ABC).The suggested method works well in the considered numerical examples (maximum and average cost increase is 1.78% resp. 0.08%). There exist situations where the traditional approach, i.e., setting h as a percentage of the product value, gives rise to a significant cost increase (>15%).
|
|
| 8. |
- Brander, Pär, et al.
(author)
-
Determination of safety stocks for cyclic schedules with stochastic demands
- 2006
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 104:2, s. 271-295
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper considers the problem of scheduling the production of multiple items, each with random demand, on a single facility. We show how the variance in demand during lead time can be estimated and present a model for determination of safety stocks and order-up-to levels for a fixed cyclic sequence, both with and without idle time. For systems with idle time, we present a control model to make the decision to produce next item in sequence or idle the facility. The performance of the model is tested in a simulation study.
|
|
| 9. |
- Brander, Pär, et al.
(author)
-
Lot sizes in a capacity constrained facility : a simulation study of stationary stochastic demand
- 2005
-
In: International Journal of Production Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0925-5273 .- 1873-7579. ; 93-94:Spec. issue, s. 375-386
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper considers the scheduling of several different items on a single machine, in literature known as the economic lot scheduling problem, ELSP. One of the characteristics of this problem is that the demand rate is deterministic and constant. However, in a practical situation demand usually varies. In this paper we examine if a deterministic model can be used if demand is stationary stochastic. A dynamic programming approach from Bomberger (Manage. Sci. 12(11) (1966) 778) and a heuristic method from Segerstedt (Int. J. Production Econom. 59(1–3) (1999) 469) are used to calculate lot sizes for four items. The production of these items is simulated with different variations in demand rates. Our conclusion is that a deterministic model of this kind can be used in a practical situation where the demand rate is stationary stochastic, but the models must be complemented by a decision rule; which item to produce and when to produce it. In our tests the heuristic method and the dynamic programming approach perform rather similarly with respect to costs and inventory levels, but the dynamic programming approach results in more backorders when there is small variation in demand rates. This study indicates that the model used for determination of lot sizes is of less importance than the decision rule used for identification of the item to produce and when to produce it.
|
|
| 10. |
|
|
