Michael Calta and Brian H. Kleiner
Considers the mismanagement of car dealerships and looks at the institutional causes. Discusses the traditional management style and organization of car dealerships with their…
Abstract
Considers the mismanagement of car dealerships and looks at the institutional causes. Discusses the traditional management style and organization of car dealerships with their inefficiences and limited philosophies. Outlines a number of outside influences that are forcing dealerships to re‐evaluate the way they manage. Highlights the proactive approach used by one forward thinking company, showing how it has experienced more favourable results than its competitors.
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Myranda Spratt, Sudharshan Anandan, Rafid Hussein, Joseph W. Newkirk, K. Chandrashekhara, Misak Heath and Michael Walker
The purpose of this study is to analyze the build quality and compression properties of thin-walled 304L honeycomb structures manufactured by selective laser melting. Four…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to analyze the build quality and compression properties of thin-walled 304L honeycomb structures manufactured by selective laser melting. Four honeycomb wall thicknesses, from 0.2 to 0.5 mm, were built and analyzed.
Design/methodology/approach
The density of the honeycombs was changed by increasing the wall thickness of each sample. The honeycombs were tested under compression. Differences between the computer-assisted design model and the as-built structure were quantified by measuring physical dimensions. The microstructure was evaluated by optical microscopy, density measurements and microhardness.
Findings
The Vickers hardness of the honeycomb structures was 209 ± 14 at 50 g load. The compression ultimate and yield strength of the honeycomb material were shown to increase as the wall thickness of the honeycomb samples increased. The specific ultimate strength also increased with wall thickness, while the specific yield stress of the honeycomb remained stable at 42 ± 2.7 MPa/g/cm3. The specific ultimate strength minimized near 0.45 mm wall thickness at 82 ± 5 MPa/g/cm3 and increased to 134 ± 3 MPa/g/cm3 at 0.6 mm wall thickness.
Originality/value
This study highlights a single lightweight metal structure, the honeycomb, built by additive manufacturing (AM). The honeycomb is an interesting structure because it is a well-known building material in the lightweight structural composites field but is still considered a relatively complex geometric shape to fabricate. As shown here, AM techniques can be used to make complex geometric shapes with strong materials to increase the design flexibility of the lightweight structural component industry.
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Ralf Jan Benjamin Van der Meij, David John Edwards, Chris Roberts, Hatem El-Gohary and John Posillico
A comprehensive literature review of performance management within the Dutch steel processing industry is presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the motives for…
Abstract
Purpose
A comprehensive literature review of performance management within the Dutch steel processing industry is presented. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the motives for companies to become excellent performers in their field of expertise. These internal and external motives (refined by quantitative analysis of bibliographic data) sought to reveal the common factors that impact company performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Inductive reasoning was adopted using an interpretivist philosophical stance to generate new theoretical insight. A mixed-methods analysis of pertinent extant literature afforded greater synthesis of the research problem domain and generated more valid and reliable findings. The software visualisation of similarities viewer was used to conduct a qualitative bibliographic analysis of extant literature to yield greater clarification on the phenomena under investigation.
Findings
Four thematic groups of past research endeavours emerged from the analysis and were assigned appropriate nomenclature, namely: industry internal motives; industry external motives; excellent performer and incremental working method. To further expand upon the continuous improvement process (CIP – embodied within performance management), the paper describes the virtuous cycle of improvement, which consists of the consecutive steps of “planning”, “doing”, “checking” and ultimately of “acting” accordingly to the previous steps. It can be concluded that a high-performing company acts according to its mission, plans in line with the vision do as defined in the strategy and checks by reflection.
Originality/value
This unique study provides invaluable insight into the performance management of Dutch steel processing companies. Although the research context was narrowly defined, the findings presented are equally applicable to clients, contractors and sub-contractors active in other sectors of the construction industry. The research concludes by prescribing factors of mitigation strategies to support chief executive officers to focus on the optimum distribution of their scarce resources.