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A wide range of factors are included in this analysis of the conditions that favour an inbound consolidation strategy: the total logistics cost is calculated for consolidating and not consolidating in a case study.

This article provides a discussion of key components for the decisionmaker concerned with the logistical issues of implementing a Just‐in‐Time (JIT) manufacturing philosophy. A JIT philosophy promotes reduced cycle times that provide benefits not normally considered in traditional inventory models and presents new concerns for the purchasing and logistics functions. The ramifications are investigated of a JIT implementation using an inventory‐theoretic modelling procedure modified and expanded to incorporate these considerations. The resulting cost comparisons indicate that the lead time variability associated with uncertain transit times in JIT is critical in the determination of order cycle time, order point, safety stock and the holding cost of the safety stock.

This article provides an analysis of inbound logistics incorporated in a JIT manufacturing environment. An inventory‐theoretic model is presented that measures the implications of JIT manufacturing on the logistics process and the ability of inbound consolidation opportunities to accommodate these implications. Key components of the inventory‐theoretic model are indentified and the sensitivity of the model to these components is analysed.

The study described here used data from a retailer of soft goods and housewares to evaluate various inventory‐grouping methods and to determine an optimal method considering inventory, transportation and consolidation costs. The specific objectives of this article are:

Consolidation, the grouping of several small shipments into one at a designated location, can reduce total logistics cost. Total logistics cost includes consolidation, transportation and inventory costs. Identifying where cost‐saving opportunities exist is often confused by the interrelated nature of these various costs.

The purpose is to provide an intellectual history of Operations Management, particularly noting recent developments and its underlying continuity with earlier systems and thinking. Operations Management as a discipline identifies its “modern” incarnation as dating from the 1960s when it became more rigorous and managerially focused. This re-invention constructed a “narrative” that the profession still follows, yet a critical perspective reveals significant, though under-appreciated continuity with earlier theory and practice.

This paper presents a comprehensive literature review and comparative analysis of historic developments in management and academia.

In the early 1900s, F. W. Taylor’s Shop Management established Operation Management, but its main component, Scientific Management, had stagnated by the 1950s. At that point, the rise of Management Science both reinvigorated Operations Management and threatened it with a competing new discipline. To compete Operations Management then modernized by redefining itself, reasserting its interest in several areas and co-opting Operational Research tools for those. It also contracted, withdrawing from areas considered vocational, or more suited to Industrial Engineering.

This historical overview shows the critical importance of drawing research agenda from practical managerial concerns.

Practitioners benefit from the intellectual rigor that academics provide and a historical perspective shows that the relationship has been mutually beneficial.

The disciplines of Operations Management, Operations Research and Industrial Engineering are complementary and competitive in addressing many problems that transcend their boundaries, and use common ideas and techniques. The demands of “academic rigor” have had a deleterious effect on the practical managerial relevance of these disciplines.

A long-term, cross-disciplinary perspective provides a unique understanding of the research interests and practical orientations of these disciplines.

This paper aims to present a friction stir molding (FSM) method for the rapid manufacturing of metal tooling. The method uses additive and subtractive techniques to sequentially friction stir bond and then mill slabs of metal. Mold tooling is grown in a bottom-up fashion, overcoming machining accessibility problems typically associated with deep cavity tooling.

To test the feasibility of FSM in building functional molds, a layer addition procedure that combines friction stir spot welding (FSSW) with an initial glue application and clamping for slabs of AA6061-T651 was investigated. Additionally, FSSW parameters and the mechanical behavior of test mold materials, including shear strength and hardness, were studied. Further, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/elemental map analysis (EDS) of the spot weld zones was carried out to understand the effect of FSSW on the glue materials and to study potential mixing of glue with the plate materials in the welded zone.

The results indicate that FSM provides good layer stacking without gaps when slabs are pre-processed through sand blasting, moistening, uniform clamping and FSSW using a tapered pin tool. The tensile shear strength results revealed that the welded spots were able to withstand cutting forces during machining stages; however, FSSW was found to cause hardness reduction among spot zones because of over-aging. The SEM/EDS results showed that glue was not mixed with slab materials in spot zones. The proposed process was able to build a test tooling sample successfully using AA6061-T651 plates welded and machined on a three-axis computer numerical control (CNC) mill.

The proposed FSM process is a new process presented by the authors, developed for the rapid manufacturing of metal tooling. The method uses additive and subtractive techniques to sequentially friction stir bond and then mill slabs of metal. The use of FSSW process for materials addition is an original contribution that enables automatic process planning for this new process.

This research paper delineates and analyzes the relationship between production and operations management and the development of society. An attempt is made to take the reader into a historical journey whereby events and contributions to the field are not only listed and described but also analyzed with regard to their impact on societal development through time.

Qualitative information‐gathering techniques are focused on to determine whether they can be adapted or adopted to support strategic goal‐setting. Much of the literature suggests that if planning is based on information gathered and presented in a manner which managers can understand they are more likely to act on it, and, for this reason, qualitative rather than quantitative techniques are stressed here. Factors which are not amenable to numerate analysis but which are useful to the strategic planner, such as experience, judgement and intuition, are also isolated and analysed. An attempt is made to facilitate the use of qualitative data‐gathering methods and suggestions are made as to where particular techniques may prove beneficial, together with their limitations. Research, from a small (n = 20), in‐depth survey of small business owners/ managers in Canada, is included which shows that they do not use quantitative planning processes but that judgemental techniques were most widely used; in general, the less sophisticated the planning process the higher it would be ranked among the survey participants. The research from other surveys also shows that scientific mathematically based models often do not fit with small business organisational reality and that methodologies should be developed that integrate research into the decision‐making process.

MAKE no mistake about it, when a government enacts legislation it does so firmly believing that the new law is in the best interests at least to the majority of the population it is supposed to serve. (This may not be wholly true in some dictatorial regimes, but it holds for democracies.) So it is a pity when, as happens far too frequently, the effect differs from or sometimes is completely opposed to the aims in the minds of the legislators.