Shahram Taj, Souheil Badaa, Sarena Garcia-DeLeone and Beena George
This case tackles the diaper industry in a developing country and can be applied to three different undergraduate or graduate level courses, including Marketing Management…
Abstract
Subject area
This case tackles the diaper industry in a developing country and can be applied to three different undergraduate or graduate level courses, including Marketing Management, Strategic Management, and Operations and Supply Chain Management. The case describes the industry, the manufacturing process, along with detailed information about Novatis Group's business and functions and the overall improving economic environment in Morocco.
Study level/applicability
The Novatis Group case has several objectives that can be applied to three different courses within undergraduate and graduate studies including Marketing Management, Strategic Management, and Operations and Supply Chain Management.
Case overview
The case focuses on Novatis Group, a diaper manufacturing company located in Morocco which competes against multinational companies (MNCs) such as Procter and Gamble and Kimberly Clark in order to satisfy the rising diaper needs of the country. Morocco is a developing country that is strengthening its manufacturing industries. The rising economic conditions have given way to a growing middle class and an increased demand for disposable baby diapers. Novatis uses two distribution channels for the diapers: the multi-tiered distribution channel and the streamlined (straight to retailer) channel. Novatis Group is producing diapers at full capacity; still demand has exceeded supply.
Expected learning outcomes
Students will understand the business processes in a developing country and how a small, local company can compete against large MNCs.
Supplementary materials
Teaching notes are available, please consult your Librarian to access.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adaptation of lean production and assess its current state of practice in selected plants in electronics, telecommunication…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the adaptation of lean production and assess its current state of practice in selected plants in electronics, telecommunication, wireless, computer, food/beverage, garment, pharmaceutical, chemical, petroleum, printing, A/C and heating, and a few others in China.
Design/methodology/approach
An assessment tool is used to evaluate actual manufacturing practice related to key areas of inventory; team approach; processes; maintenance; layout/handling; suppliers; setups; quality; and scheduling and control. Manufacturing executives at manufacturing plants answered 40 questions in the assessment. Each response in the assessment is scored and a total score for each plant is recorded by adding average scores for all areas.
Findings
Application of lean production in China started in the late 1970s in the automotive industry, much earlier than by American and European manufacturers. The results of assessments show that the petroleum industry is in lead among all industries, followed by computer, telecommunication/wireless, and electronics industries. The findings from lean production system design‐related questions show low scores in layout design, volume/mix flexibility, setup, visual factory, and point‐of‐use delivery. However, plants earned high scores in materials flow, scheduling/control, on‐time delivery of finished goods, and overall defect rate. The findings have some similarity with recent studies about Chinese manufacturing firms' performance and competitiveness.
Research limitations/implications
Research findings are from some selected manufacturing plants in China and they should not be interpreted as an indicator of that particular sector in China.
Originality/value
This study investigates actual lean manufacturing practice and performance in Chinese plants.
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Shahram Taj and Cristian Morosan
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of lean operations practice and design on the Chinese manufacturing performance, using lean assessment data from 65 plants…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of lean operations practice and design on the Chinese manufacturing performance, using lean assessment data from 65 plants in various industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory factor and regression analyses are used to examine the associations among operations practice, production design, and operations performance. Three constructs are developed, two for operations practice (human resources and supply chains) and one for production design.
Findings
Factor analysis shows that three factors are sufficient to represent the lean performance dimensions of flow, flexibility, and quality. Regression analysis shows that the lean performance factors are strongly related to operations practice and production system design. Using lean factors and operations practice/design, our results indicate significant gaps in lean manufacturing practices among different industries, with the petroleum and hi‐tech industries performing relatively best. In addition, the garment industry performs very well in flexibility, indicating it does not compete just on price, but also on rapid response. Finally, all industries perform well in quality, underlining the emerging economy character of China. These results support other recent findings of the positive impact of lean operations on the performance of the Chinese manufacturing sector.
Research limitations/implications
The paper's findings, which are based on the experience of selected manufacturing plants in China, should not be interpreted as indicative of the characteristics of the Chinese manufacturing plants in general.
Originality/value
This paper advances the evidence on the role of lean manufacturing in two ways. First, to derive more robust statistical results, the paper relies on primary lean assessment data, as opposed to secondary opinion survey data common to most other studies. Second, to obtain more general findings, the paper makes use of a wider set of relevant variables, both for assessing manufacturing practice and performance, than is usual in the literature.
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Purpose – To increase productivity in an automotive assembly plant to satisfy customer demand and also develop best practices for productivity improvement for robotic welding…
Abstract
Purpose – To increase productivity in an automotive assembly plant to satisfy customer demand and also develop best practices for productivity improvement for robotic welding operation lines. Design/methodology/approach – Principles of lean manufacturing and constrained management have been applied to increase the plant's output in order. Constrained management was used to identify bottlenecks in the plant that limits the throughput and lean manufacturing helped to identify waste (muda) in the constrained production areas. Analytical tools such as matrices are used for mapping sequence of robotics movements to identify interference and desired path for welding line. Findings – Results of applying constrained management and lean manufacturing in tandem have revealed the plant's overall bottlenecks and means of increasing the throughput. Research limitations/implications – The research findings are from an automotive assembly plant in a mass production industry, and the results may not be applicable to other types of industry. Practical implications – A very useful best practice for the productivity improvement that is easy to use by plants' management to help them identify and manage bottlenecks, and to eliminate waste from the production system. Originality/value – This paper offers practical and easy‐to‐use productivity improvement tools based on lean and constrained management principles to help manufacturing managers to make their operations more productive.
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To evaluate the current state of manufacturing in some selected plants in electronics, telecommunication/wireless, and computer industries in the Republic of China.
Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the current state of manufacturing in some selected plants in electronics, telecommunication/wireless, and computer industries in the Republic of China.
Design/methodology/approach
A spreadsheet‐based assessment tool is used to evaluate nine key areas of manufacturing. Participants are asked to answer questions for each area, namely inventory; team approach; processes; maintenance; layout/handling; suppliers; setups; quality; and scheduling/control. A score is given for each response in the assessment. Scores are then totaled for each of the nine areas. The results are then displayed in the score worksheet and finally a lean profile chart is created to display the current status of the plant and the gap from their specific lean targets.
Findings
Results of the lean assessment tool have revealed a somewhat significant gap from the lean manufacturing target, but have also identified opportunities for improvement.
Research limitations/implications
The research findings are from some selected manufacturing plants in Chinese hi‐tech industries and they should not be interpreted as an indicator of that particular sector in China.
Practical implications
A very useful lean assessment tool that is easy to use by plants' management to help them identify their current state of manufacturing and the gaps from ideal lean targets.
Originality/value
This paper offers a practical and easy to use assessment tool to help manufacturing managers to make their manufacturing operations more productive.
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Shows how to implement a preventive maintenance (PM) system in ahigh volume manufacturing operation with a just‐in‐time environment.Determines the tasks that are…
Abstract
Shows how to implement a preventive maintenance (PM) system in a high volume manufacturing operation with a just‐in‐time environment. Determines the tasks that are performance‐coupled in a specific machine by using a simple flowchart. Computes for every component suitable for PM, earliest economic replacement time and earliest expected replacement time. Using a time graph, the PM is scheduled for components that are performance coupled in a specific machine. This procedure is straightforward and can be easily followed by plant floor personnel.