Innovations in Competitive Manufacturing

by Paul M. Swamidass (Editor)

Overview

Innovations in Competitive Manufacturing is an examination of manufacturing innovations - both technical and knowledge-based. Over the recent past, technology has created dramatic changes in manufacturing. As a result, the book focuses on the use of technology in gaining competitive advantage in global manufacturing. Forty topics are surveyed in the book, organized into thirteen chapters. Each topic is a carefully written account by one or more leading researchers in that area. This is the first systematic examination of the recent innovations in manufacturing strategy and technology. In addition to providing an understanding of these manufacturing innovations, the book underscores the strategic importance of creating and sustaining the technological resources to ensure a stable manufacturing economic base. The book's purpose is to examine the elements that make today's manufacturers successful.
Many examples from industry throughout the book will enable the reader to appreciate and comprehend the concepts presented in the article. In addition to the technical and innovative information, implementation issues concerning new ideas and manufacturing practices are explored within the topical discussions. Four in-depth descriptions of real-life cases provide illustration of key principles.
The book has been constructed as a reference tool for manufacturing researchers, students, and practitioners. Hence, after reading the introduction ‘Innovation in Competitive Manufacturing: From JIT to E-Business', any section or topic in the book can be consulted and/or read in any sequence the reader may choose.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461356875
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	10/23/2012
Edition description:	2000
Pages:	439
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)
Age Range:	17 Years

About the Author

Dr. Paul M. Swamidass, Professor of Operations Management, is the Associate Director, Thomas Walter Center for Technology Management, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. His undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering from Osmania University, India. He obtained a doctorate in production/operations management from the University of Washington, Seattle, 1983.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction.- 1. Innovations in Competitive Manufacturing: From JIT to E-Business.- II. Competitive Posture.- 2. Manufacturing Strategy.- 3. Core Manufacturing Competencies (See also Supplier Partnerships as Strategy; and International Manufacturing).- III. Competitive Customer Service.- 4. Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Success (See also Total Quality Management).- IV. Developing Competitive Processes.- 5. Business Process Reengineering and Manufacturing.- 6. The Evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning.- V. Competing on Quality.- 7. Total Quality Management.- 8. The Implications of Deming’s Approach (See also Performance Excellence: The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria).- VI. The Rise of Work Teams.- 9. Teams: Design and Implementation (See also Concurrent Engineering).- VII. Competing on Flexibility and Automation.- 10. Flexible Automation.- 11. Manufacturing Flexibility.- 12. Manufacturing Technology use in the U.S. and Benefits.- 13. Agile Manufacturing.- 14. Virtual Manufacturing.- VIII. Lean Manufacturing.- 15. Just-in-Time Manufacturing.- 16. Lean Manufacturing Implementation.- 17. Total Productive Maintenance (TPM).- 18. Transition to Cell Manufacturing: The Case of Duriron Company Inc., Cookeville Valve Division (1988–1993).- 19. Predictive Maintenance: The Case of Delia Steam Plant.- IX. Product Design and Development Redefined.- 20. Product Design for Global Markets.- 21. Concurrent Engineering (See also Teams: Design and Implementation).- 22. Product Development and Concurrent Engineering.- 23. Mass Customization.- 24. Mass Customization and Manufacturing.- 25. Integrated Product Development: The Case of Westinghouse Electronic Systems.- X. The Revolution in the Supply Chain.- 26. Supplier Partnerships as Strategy.- 27. SupplyChain Management: Competing Through Integration.- XI. Competing Globally.- XII. Opportunities in Tackling Environmental Problems.- 30. Environmental Issues and Competitive Manufacturing.- XIII. The Revolution in Costing and Performance Measurement.- 31. Activity-Based Costing.- 32. Target Costing.- 33. Balanced Scorecards.- 34. Performance Excellence: The Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award Criteria.- Company-Index.

Editorial Reviews

The Path of Improvement In America's Factories
It's no exaggeration to say that American manufacturing was knocked to the tarp by agile and quality-conscious Japanese competitors in the 1970s. The rebirth of American manufacturing has been written about in other books. The value of Innovations in Competitive Manufacturing, however, is its systemic, step-by-step overview, by experts in the field, of every important manufacturing innovation that occurred between 1980 and 2000. Edited by Auburn University professor Paul M. Swamidass, the book brings together more than 40 academic experts writing on 34 innovations - from lean manufacturing and total quality management to concurrent engineering, mass customization, enterprise resource planning and flexible automation.

A New Manufacturing Strategy
One of the engines of the manufacturing resurgence, according to Swamidass and his co-authors, is a manufacturing strategy that is no longer limited to cost-reduction and minimization. Today's manufacturing strategists are going to look at quality, flexibility, dependability and timeliness as well. They will strive to acquire a competitive advantage through better product design, high customer satisfaction and faster new product introduction - goals that can be measured through specific manufacturing outcomes such as development costs; superior manufacturing technology; order processing time; development time; and production/transfer time.

Core Manufacturing Competencies
Core manufacturing competencies are key to developing and implementing a successful modern manufacturing strategy. In a chapter on competencies, Michigan State University professorMorgan Schwink outlines seven core manufacturing competencies: improvement, innovation, integration, acuity (which is the ability to understand, acquire, develop and convey valuable information and insights regarding products or processes), agility and responsiveness.

Schwink notes that improvement, innovation and integration are core competencies required to achieve growth strategies - in other words, long-term improvements in manufacturing outcomes, such as the ones listed above. Acuity, control, agility and responsiveness are "steady state" competencies - competencies that contribute to manufacturing outcomes today.

Other Issues
In addition to manufacturing strategy, the book looks closely at issues such as lean production, redefined product design, supply chain management, improved costing measures and quality. Individual chapters break apart the specific innovative components of each issue. For example, the section on lean manufacturing includes chapters on just-in-time manufacturing, lean manufacturing implementation, total productive maintenance, cell manufacturing and predictive maintenance.

Clear writing, the lack of technical jargon and the effective use of charts further enhance the accessibility of the chapters; non-manufacturing managers have nothing to fear in this text.

All About Cell Manufacturing
The chapter on cell manufacturing, for example, uses an in-depth case study (one of four chapters to do so) to explain not only the concept but the challenges involved. While a dry explanation of cell manufacturing might have emphasized the physical restructuring involved - breaking the factoring into dedicated manufacturing cells focused on only one product or one class of product - the case study allows the authors of the chapter to emphasize the human element of the process.

Cell manufacturing empowers employees - instead of running only one machine, hourly employees needed to learn all the operations of the cell and work in a team environment. Hourly employees also acquired some management functions, such as participating in hiring, skill level certification and promotion decisions. The change was significant for both employees and managers alike, leading to widespread resistance.

Other more technical issues are also covered, as the authors of the chapter examine each of the four product cells in detail (including charts of traditional and cell layouts). The result is an in-depth explanation of cell manufacturing in a little more than 10 pages.

Why Soundview Likes This Book
Although an academic book - it was first published by Kluwer in 2000 and is now being issued by AMACOM in paperback - Innovations in Competitive Manufacturing offers clear, accessible writing and well-organized chapters that will allow MBA and EMBA students, as well as manufacturing and non-manufacturing managers, to fully understand the innovations that enabled American manufacturing to rebound. Copyright (c) 2002 Soundview Executive Book Summaries

Soundview Executive Book Summaries