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Operations Management Quality Management.

The case can be used in a number of course contexts, including undergraduate and graduate courses in operations management and quality management.

Central Tobacco Plant (CTP) is a tobacco processing and packaging company, operating in the Central America and Caribbean region. This case focuses on a waste measurement exercise conducted in the cigarette production department of CTP, which was commissioned by George Edwards, the Secondary Manufacturing Department Manager. The reason for the exercise was the announcement that CTP could possibly face a plant audit, where a poor result could cause the shifting of manufacturing of some products, or, in the worst case scenario, all of it product lines, to one of the larger, and more efficient manufacturing plants in the Central America and Caribbean region. The waste measurement exercise is carried out as a three-week student–industry project by two students pursuing an MSc programme at the local university, who are mentored by both Edwards and by a university supervisor. At the end of the exercise, Edwards needs to consider the appropriateness of the current waste measurement system, the quantities of waste produced and opportunities to reduce waste.

The case has four primary learning objectives: to illustrate the role of performance measurement in process improvement, to explore the perspective of lean manufacturing in waste management, to apply basic quality tools in the analysis of a manufacturing process and to identify opportunities for process improvement.

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CSS 9: Operations and Logistics

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of Government via its industrial policy aimed at building competitiveness in apparel manufacturing in a developing country.

A conceptual framework that proposes the causal relationships between policies and competitiveness is applied to the apparel manufacturing sector in Trinidad and Tobago. The study utilises primary data from interviews and observations, and secondary data sources inclusive of industry and fashion companies reports. Data analysis of four vertical policies is performed via the use of system dynamics modelling and simulation.

The four vertical policies were found to impact three interrelated elements in the apparel manufacturing sector: the market, apparel products and productive resources. Policies that intentionally focussed on improving market attractiveness benefited wide segments of the industry. However, policies that focussed on product and resource attractiveness that were designed as direct support for selected firms had a lower impact on overall industry competitiveness than those that had an industry-wide focus.

A single industry in a small developing island state limits the generalisability of the research findings. Additionally, non-reporting of export data and aggregation of industry data limits the conclusions that can be drawn regarding the impact of the vertical policies on the apparel industry. 10; 10;

Policy-makers should consider the scope of the vertical policies in terms of the number of firms in the industry to benefit, and the need for complementary horizontal policies for creating enabling environments for competitiveness.

The paper proposes a conceptual framework to capture relationships between vertical policy and competitiveness.

This case study deals specifically with the issue of manufacturing strategy, and business strategy.

The case can be used in a number of course contexts, including undergraduate and MBA programs. The focus is on both business strategy and manufacturing strategy issues. The case can be assigned as an opening vignette, during the initial phases of business strategy, since the case situations and concepts are both simple and clear. It can also be assigned for an in-depth treatment of manufacturing strategy.

The case focuses on Capital Mills Limited (CML), a flour milling company, and concentrates on whether the company should refurbish its two 40-year old flour mills at a cost of US$6 million or if the company should invest US$15 million in the construction and installation of a new, fully-automated “Lights out” flour mill. This decision is viewed as a “make or break” decision for CML, since for the first time in the company's 40 year history will it face significant direct competition, in the form of the impending entry of a second flour milling company.

The case has four primary learning objectives, namely to: illustrate the linkages between business level strategy and the functional level, manufacturing strategy; discuss the role of a company's history and internal resource structure in the decision making process; explore how operational issues influence capital expenditure decisions; and explore the perspective of managers in different functions in an organization that is facing a new competitive challenge.

Teaching notes are available – consult your librarian for access.

For Small Island Developing States (SIDS), achieving export manufacturing competitiveness is a major challenge. This paper aims to provide a framework that can be used to study the export competitiveness for food manufacturers.

The revealed comparative export advantage (RXA) and the constant market share (CMS) measures are used in a case study set in the Trinidad and Tobago’s food and beverage sector to study export manufacturing competitiveness.

When using the RXA and CMS measures to assess the current state of export manufacturing competitiveness in SIDS, specific product groupings should be used in the analysis to obtain a more accurate assessment of competitiveness than that provided when using aggregate commodity groups. Furthermore, the export market section of the conceptual framework provides a structured approach towards studying the distribution effect element of the CMS analysis.

Trade data are heavily used, which is subject to a number of well-documented limitations. In addition, there is no mandatory registration for companies operating in the case country, which results in under-reporting of industrial activity, and so limits the use of the framework in studying the exporting companies and the export products. Finally, a single case study limits the generalizability of the findings.

In particular, policymakers responsible for designing interventions for increasing export manufacturing competitiveness can use the framework to consider specific strategies as they relate to the exporting companies, the export products and the export markets.

This paper brings together three basic elements that contribute to export manufacturing competitiveness in the form of the conceptual framework.

Mix flexibility is a critical manufacturing flexibility type needed to produce a company's range of products. Oftentimes, multiple products are produced on shared resources which require coordination mechanisms to ensure their effective utilization. This paper aims to explore the applicability of the product wheel concept as a coordination mechanism that can be used to manage shared resources in operational mix flexibility achievement in process industries.

The product wheel concept is a construct from the theory of lean manufacturing adoption in process industries. This construct is applied as a sequencing coordination mechanism, where similar products are grouped together to run consecutively in a production schedule. A single case study is used to illustrate the development and evaluation of a product wheel design.

The results show that the product wheel concept does achieve the aim of grouping similar products in the production schedule, and, as such, can be used to improve the production planning process through the reduction of the number of time-intensive changeovers without sacrificing product availability to meet customer demand. The product wheel, however, is not a mathematical optimization technique; but is instead a heuristic technique which requires the use of judgment and experience to achieve an optimal design.

A theoretical contribution to the study of mix flexibility has been made, where the application of the product wheel construct presents a novel approach to the study of operational mix flexibility achievement, via the sequencing of products on shared manufacturing resources.

The food and beverage industry, particularly the agro‐processing and packaging industry, plays a critical role in the economies of Latin America and Caribbean countries. To remain competitive and to increase competitiveness, companies operating in this industry must achieve operational efficiency – where one contributing factor would be the efficient management of their work‐in‐progress (WIP) inventories.

Constructs from related manufacturing management research areas such as manufacturing strategy and coordination theory, are incorporated into a conceptual framework to examine the reasons WIP are needed in food plants. The framework is used to inform the development of an audit tool, which is applied in a case study.

An audit tool is proposed, which can be used by practitioners to review the structural and infrastructural decisions that impact WIP.

The audit tool is applied in one case study. Further application of the tool will test its overall comprehensiveness.

The audit tool can be used as part of a structured decision making process.

The paper brings together a number of constructs to create an audit tool that can be used in both greenfield and existing plants in the food industry.

The purpose of this paper is to address a research gap relating to the understanding of how one type of manufacturing flexibility – mix flexibility – is achieved during day‐to‐day operations.

Constructs from coordination theory are used in order to understand the way in which physical manufacturing resources are coordinated during daily operations to produce a company's product mix. A multiple case study methodology is used to investigate the applicability of these constructs in the flour milling industry. Subsequently, a conceptual framework is proposed which captures the coordination mechanisms used in the achievement of mix flexibility.

The paper finds that mix flexibility requirements influence how a company achieves mix flexibility. Further, the findings indicate that, at an operational level, mix flexibility is achieved via the use of coordination mechanisms to manage specific dependencies relating to mix flexibility requirements.

Mix flexibility achievement was studied in a single industry. Future research can test the applicability of the conceptual framework in other manufacturing settings.

An empirical contribution to the study of manufacturing flexibility achievement has been made, where the application of constructs from coordination theory presents a novel approach to the study of manufacturing flexibility achievement.