Taiwan quality indicator project and hospital productivity growth

The Taiwan Quality Indicator Project (TQIP) is a quality management program that measures and monitors the healthcare quality of hospitals in Taiwan. This paper examines the impact of TQIP participation on hospital productivity growth with the application of the Malmquist productivity change index based on data envelopment analysis (DEA). Analyzing operations data from 31 TQIP regional hospitals over the period 1998–2004, we find that TQIP hospitals improved their productivity in the post-TQIP period. This improvement is attributable to quality change and relative efficiency progress. The simultaneous enhancement in both quality and relative efficiency coincides with the philosophy of total quality management (TQM) spirit, and confirms the efficiency improvement and quality assurance functions of TQIP.     

A Behavioral Training Program for Managers in City Government

A management training program based on Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) principles was conducted for 32 first-level and upper-level managers in city government. Managers then conducted 19 different behavior change projects with their employees. Each project is described in terms of the number of subjects, dependent and independent variables, length, research design, reliability measures, and results. The overall program was evaluated in terms of behavior change, traineelmanager satisfaction with the training, and effectiveness. Twenty-nine change ratios were calculated by comparing the intervention performance mean with the baseline mean, and in all cases, the change ratio showed that productivity improved. In fourteen case's, productivity at least doubled. The results indicate that employee performance in a governmental organization can be enhanced significantly by use of OBM principles.     

The impact of lean practices on operational performance – an empirical investigation of Indian process industries

In deciding to adopt lean manufacturing, it is imperative to investigate where and how lean practices are most needed to influence manufacturing and business performance. Such an investigation becomes indispensable when lean thinking is to be considered in a production arrangement different to the conventional, repetitive, high-volume, stable-demand and discrete-manufacturing environment. This study provides explanations of how performance is improved through the adoption of lean practices in process industries. This is a relatively under-researched area compared to the performance effects associated with the introduction and implementation of lean principles in traditional, discrete manufacturing. Based on a survey of Indian process industries, this study attempts to develop an empirical relationship between lean practices and performance improvement through the use of multivariate statistical analysis. The findings have led to the conclusion that lean practices are positively associated with timely deliveries, productivity, first-pass yield, elimination of waste, reduction in inventory, reduction in costs, reduction in defects and improved demand management. However, within a process-industry context, lean practices related to pull production were found to have a marginal impact on performance improvement. A detailed discussion of the findings along with their theoretical and managerial implications is provided in the paper.     

Manufacturing cycle time reduction using balance control in the semiconductor fabrication line

In semiconductor manufacturing, wafer fabrication is the most complicated and important process, and is composed of several hundred process steps and involves several hundred machines. The productivity of the manufacturing process depends mainly on controlling the balance of WIP (work-inprogress) flow to achieve maximum throughput under short manufacturing cycle times. This paper discusses how to determine the proper WIP level for operations, against which balance status can be measured. Balance measurement can be applied in mathematical modelling for bottleneck scheduling and operations management of the fabrication line. Performances are evaluated through computational experiments to show that balance driven management leads to 15-33% more production in 21% shorter manufacturing cycle time than production driven management.     

EXCELLENCE AT ROHM AND HAAS KENTUCKY: A CASE STUDY OF WORK-TEAM INTRODUCTION IN MANUFACTURING

Over the past few years we have witnessed a sharp decline in the domestic and international market share of U.S. manufacturing organizations. The decline in U.S. manufacturing has provided an avalanche of criticism and attention in the literature and popular press. Recently, however, several organizations have implemented new work-force management policies to reverse the decline. We describe the case of Rohm and Haas Kentucky, Incorporated, a plant that has implemented work teams. The outcomes of these innovations include a decline in worker grievances and turnover, an improvement in the safety record of the plant, as well as an increase in productivity.     

An industrial application for total productivity optimization

Abstract. This paper presents four strategies for total productivity optimization of a real-life manufacturing company. These strategies are developed to attain overall growth, cost reduction, upgrading of technical efficiency and management effectiveness. Such strategies have been modelled mathematically by using a nonlinear mathematical programming approach. The model base and the data base used in implementing the strategies can serve as decision support to management for optimizing total productivity.     

Reducing delivery times for OKP products

The management of the manufacture of ‘one-of-a-kind’ products (OKP) is a neglected field in production management. The key to an improvement in productivity and profitability in this field appears to depend mainly on a reduction in the delivery times for products, which in turn requires a reduction in material throughput times, and in design and production planning lead times. This paper looks at some of the ways which can be used to reduce OKP delivery times.     

Review and preview of productivity research and applications

During the last two decades, productivity research and applications have not been given adequate importance when trying to attain excellence in the management of manufacturing enterprises. Recent developments in managerial philosophies Total Quality Management and Business Process Re-engineering , manufacturing technologies Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, etc. and Information Technology innovations have made the traditional productivity improvement techniques obsolete. This article presents a review consisting of analyses of literature on productivity and a survey of manufacturing enterprises. A five-step preview strategy on productivity is enumerated which provides a meaningful direction towards future productivity research and application. The article is concluded by briefly describing the current research that is being carried out based on the preview strategy evolved.     

Policy Goals for Health and Safety

Health management and safety regulation are separate disciplines but share the aim to extend expectancy of life in good health. The need to improve cost-effectiveness calls for their co-ordinated management according to a unified rationale. Three guiding principles of accountability, demonstrable net benefit and a uniform measure of performance, have been laid out in Canada by the Joint Committee on Health and Safety. They call for open accounting in terms of (health-related quality-adjusted) life expectancy. The principles are utilitarian in format but, it is argued, inequity is naturally diminished in the process of optimizing cost-effectiveness through maximum marginal returns. Comments are made on practical implementation. The need for public consent in practice calls for two additional principles reflecting fair procedure and sovereignty of the citizens. It is concluded that public health and safety measures should be surveyed, documented for cost-effectiveness and prioritized for improvement.     

IMPLEMENTING INITIATIVES ON QUALITY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL ISSUE ON TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT

In the early 1980s, companies around the world, learning from the Japanese experience, saw that they could address their severe competitive problems related to productivity and quality only by looking at the entire set of processes and organizational relationships in the context of the customer's needs. This approach was termed total quality management (TQM). As companies pursue quality-related initiatives, they must deal with a number of issues; some of these issues are addressed here: measurement of benefits, feedback and recognition, work-teams, teaching continuous improvement, and enhancing the effectiveness of statistical process control charts.     

Management leadership and productivity improvement programs

The intent of this empirical research is to identify the critical factors that are potentially fatal to productivity improvement programs and to analyze these factors relative to management leadership concepts. From this analysis we determine that these “fatal” factors can be prevented by the pre-existence of a leadership-based program that requires participative involvement of all members of an organization through good performance measurement and a sound reward system.     

The myth of aggregate planning

Abstract

Abstract. An empirical study explores the business environment, the nature of manufacturing, and the planning cycle, using a sample of enterprises with seasonally-biased sales profiles for their products. This enables both the principles and the practicalities of aggregate planning to stand comparison with the observed rubric of manufacturing management. The conclusion is that neither is germane to industry, and that, in general, practitioners develop an effective (broad) manufacturing strategy with an appropriate resources-acquisition programme. The master production schedule then strikes an acceptable balance between productivity, flexibility, and financial risk.     

Improving supplier performance using a comprehensive scheme

Improving and coordinating buyer and supplier efforts to increase productivity and competitive advantage in a supply chain is an important issue. Numerous studies have proposed models, principles and criteria for supplier evaluation and selection. Hence, evaluating and improving supplier performance are important when building long-term supply chain competitiveness. This study presents a novel and comprehensive framework that illustrates the linkages between evaluating supplier performance and planning improvements. The proposed framework comprises four parts: building an evaluation model, evaluating supplier performance based on the buyer perspective, evaluating supplier performance based on the supplier perspective and scheduling improvement tasks. This study applies a hybrid genetic algorithm to help suppliers schedule improvement tasks based on the evaluation findings. Finally, evaluation data of a light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturer in Taiwan is used to interpret the procedure and verify model effectiveness.     

Evaluation of productivity and technology measures in manufacturing industries

This paper reviews and criticizes the advantages and disadvantages of currently used productivity indices. A Total Operational Productivity (TOP) model that can be applied to manufacturing industries is introduced. A mathematical procedure is constructed to determine a hypothesized Technology Factor Index (TFI). A relationship between TOP and TFI is explored to direct management decisions for productivity improvement. A case study based on the Canadian Metal Fabricating Industry is used to illustrate the applicability and workability of the developed models.     

A success story on improving white collar productivity: Implications for engineering management

This paper discusses the experience of the American Productivity Center and seventeen corporations that particpated in a two-year action research project that tested the Center's six-phase methodology for improving productivity in the white collar workplace.The six-phase methodology was implemented in 98 pilot groups representing the full range of “knowledge worker” environments: accounting and finance, customer service, engineering, facilities management, marketing and sales, operations, MIS personnel/HRM, research and development, and purchasing. The project demonstrated that white collar work can be measured; worthwhile improvements are possible in all functional areas; and the managerial, professional and support staff can lead the improvement process on a continuous basis.     

Employment and Productivity

Abstract. The paper examines the (potential) effects of new technologies on productivity and job growth. In particular the nature and causes of the “productivity paradox” are firstly dealt with. Even though the leading edge sectors show higher than average productivity growth, since the early 1970s aggregate productivity measures have declined. This paper examines several possible explanations of this phenomenon, concluding that new technologies and the related issue of organisational, institutional and social change provide the most significant explanation. “Replacing a steam engine with one or more electric motors, leaving the power distribution system unchanged, appears to have been the usual juxtaposition of a new technology upon the framework of an old one…Shaft and belt power distribution systems were in place and manufacturers were familiar with their problems. Turning line shafts with motors was an improvement that required modifying only the front end of the system… As long as the electric motors were simply used in place of steam engines to turn long line shafts, the shortcomings of mechanical power distribution systems remained.”     

Effect of best management practices on the performance and productivity of small firms

Abstract

Recent research on productivity finds that best management practices are a crucial but neglected element in explaining firm productivity. This stream of research also focuses on why a large number of firms may not implement best management practices despite their apparent benefits. In this paper, we examine the adoption of best management practices in small leveraged buyout (LBO) firms. Our choice of small LBO is motivated by the fact that these firms undergo extensive restructuring and, therefore, there is an opportunity to study the adoption process of best management practices. The findings show that buyout companies introduce best management practices (operations, monitoring, targets and incentive-related practices) at different stages of their development, and more importantly, these practices evolve in response to changes in various firm-level characteristics. For example, companies emphasizing cost leadership tend to follow targets and monitoring related practices while firms following a differentiation strategy are more likely to implement incentives and operations related management practices. Buyout sponsors’ board representatives and new CEO also play a critical role in the adoption of these best management practices which are linked to superior firm performance, measured as growth in revenues, productivity and return on assets.     

Definition and effect of productivity on corporate performance

The discussion of productivity is usually dominated by considerations of the productivity of labour, but in general terms a productivity ratio may be defined as the number of physical units of output per unit of resource input. This gives rise to many productivity ratios and it can be shown that they are inter-connected, so that an improvement in one ratio can be achieved at the expense of others. Furthermore, an improvement in labour productivity need not always result in reduced unit costs and increased profitability. The relationships between all these measures need to be explored through a modelling approach to determine the conditions under which productivity contributes to improved corporate performance. Some examples demonstrate the use of the proposed methodology.     

Morphology: A tool for exploring new technology

New products, new services and new approaches to doing business may be essential in order to return to a period of long term economic prosperity. A particularly powerful approach to innovation is the technique called ‘morphology’. Kondratieff's use of the morphology technique to analyse business cycles, and also an original use of morphology to analyse the categories of existence, are here applied to deduce office worker archetypes and significant business management issues as a function of economic phase. The economic phases of prosperity, recession, depression and recovery are related to the following business management issues: productivity, time management, innovation and management by objectives. These issues correspond, respectively, to the following office worker archetypes: information worker, skill worker, knowledge worker and decision maker.