A mathematical model for job shop scheduling with multiple process plan consideration per job

In this paper, a mixed integer programming model is formulated for scheduling a set of jobs through a shop when each job is supplied or provided with multiple process plans or process routings. Simultaneous selection of a process plan for each job and the sequencing of the jobs through the machines in the shop based on the set of selected process plans is addressed. The procedure developed seeks to integrate the selection of machines for each job and the sequencing of jobs on each machine based on the objective of minimizing production makespan. the application of the procedure is demonstrated with an example problem. The following conclusions were drawn as a result of the research: (1) the procedure developed produces optimal or near optimal solution; (2) the benefit from the developed approach is that it allows a shop to adaptively select process plans for jobs to optimize on production makespan. By combining solution quality with scheduling flexibility and efficiency, the productivity of a shop can be greatly enhanced.     

Integrated planning of inbound and outbound logistics with a Rich Vehicle Routing Problem with backhauls

This paper addresses the integration of the planning decisions concerning inbound logistics in an industrial setting (from the suppliers to the mill) and outbound logistics (from the mill to customers). The goal is to find the minimum cost routing plan, which includes the cost-effective outbound and inbound daily routes (OIRs), consisting of a sequence of deliveries of customer orders, pickup of a full truck-load at a supplier, and its delivery to the mill. This study distinguishes between three planning strategies: opportunistic backhauling planning (OBP), integrated inbound and outbound planning (IIOP) and decoupled planning (DIOP), the latter being the commonly used, particularly in the case of the wood-based panel industry under study. From the point of view of process integration, OBP can be considered as an intermediate stage from DIOP to IIOP. The problem is modelled as a Vehicle Routing Problem with Backhauls, enriched with case-specific rules for visiting the backhaul, split deliveries to customers and the use of a heterogeneous fleet. A new fix-and-optimise matheuristic is proposed for this problem, seeking to obtain good quality solutions within a reasonable computational time. The results from its application to the wood-based panel industry in Portugal show that IIOP can help to reduce total costs in about 2.7%, when compared with DIOP, due to better use of the delivery truck and a reduction of the number of dedicated inbound routes. Regarding OBP, fostering the use of OIRs does not necessarily lead to better routing plans than DIOP, as it depends upon a favourable geographical configuration of the set of customers to be visited in a day, specifically, the relative distance between a linehaul that can be visited last in a route, a neighboring backhaul, and a mill. The paper further provides valuable managerial insights on how the routing plan is impacted by the values of business-related model parameters which are set by the planner with some degree of uncertainty. Results suggest that increasing the maximum length of the route will likely have the largest impact in reducing transportation costs. Moreover, increasing the value of a reward paid for visiting a backhaul can foster the percentage of OIR in the optimal routing plan.     

Long range planning— Japan-USA— A comparative study

This article reports on a comparative study carried out in the U.S.A. and Japan. He concludes that in the U.S.A. long range planning is used to integrate the strategies of divisions and to control the divisions. The planning process is usually bottom-up rather than top-down.In Japan, long range planning is used for improving strategic decisions of top management, so the planning process is a centralized interactive process.Project emphasis rather than quantitative planning is a common characteristic in both the U.S.A. and Japan. However American corporations are more advanced in this respect. Many Japanese corporations suggest that project emphasis is the key success factor for planning.To cope with uncertainty, American corporations tend to update their plans every year or even at shorter intervals, while adopting contingency plans.To the same end, Japanese corporations are using two time horizon plans which are composed of a long range strategy and a medium range plan.With respect to follow-up and implementation, American corporations follow-up more closely and long range planning is used for the evaluation of managers of divisions. The quality of plan and accomplishment are reflected to the economic rewards.Japanese corporations are less inclined to follow up the long range plan itself, but it is considered as important to implement it through the budget and also through the project plan. Project teams are quite frequently used.     

Planning for job creation

It is generally accepted that the future is uncertain and consequently structure plans must be monitored and revised, as necessary, to take account of changing cirsumstances. But the perspective taken both to the initial Plan, in its survey of the current scene and its likely trends, and to monitoring, is crucial. The present study presupposes that structure planning tends to be backward looking and gives insufficient attention to the potential changes in technology and society that could begin to develop during the plan period.     

Strategic planning in large firms—some guidelines

Some argue that a foundation for planning has been achieved when a firm can state its strategic plan in terms of products and markets. (This is referred to as the ‘business form’ in this article). If this statement is true, what factors will aid a firm in achieving the business form in its strategic plans? In this article, details of strategic planning in over 50 large firms taken from an empirical research sample are examined to illustrate which factors seem to lead to the business form of strategic plan in these firms.     

How are companies planning now?—a survey

This article reports on the changes that have taken place in the long-range planning practices of several U.S. and Canadian firms over the last 5 years. In October 1974, the long-range practices of approximately 400 firms were reported in Long Range Planning. A follow-up survey of these same firms was recently completed. The percentage of responding companies that prepare some type of written long-range plan has not changed; however, there have been some changes in the extent and content of these plans. The mix of objectives, use of external factors, plans for growth, and methods for controlling the plan have all changed slightly between 1974 and 1979.     

Co-Opting the Streets of Liverpool: Self-Organization and the Role of Local Authorities

ABSTRACT

Within the context of austerity politics, there is an increasing emphasis on regeneration initiatives that originate in civil society itself. While community-led contributions are supported by local authorities for their self-organisation and empowerment of communities, ownership of the planning process allows the local authority to retain power over the community, and subsequently co-opt initiatives in the interest of their own wider regeneration plans. However, given communities often lack resources, the involvement of the local authority is often necessary to ensure future development. This paper argues that this dynamic places community-led schemes at risk of co-optation, meaning plans are community-outsourced rather than facilitating the potential of self-organisation by communities.     

The carrying capacity of a region: A planning model

While traditional planning often assumes unlimited growth potential, in reality such growth has absolute limits in terms of resources available and maintenance of the ecosystem. These limits (the region's carrying capacity) can be modeled; one such model, the State-of-the-System (SOS) Model, is described in this paper and is designed to test various assumptions about the desired growth of an area under explicit side conditions or limitations. Such a model could be used to test the validity of establishing comprehensive plans, to identify critical growth constraints, and to weight policy choices.     

Public Knowledge of and Involvement with Metropolitan and Local Strategic Planning in Australia

Despite academic and practitioner debate surrounding public involvement in planning, little is actually known about the extent to which the public is aware of the planning process. The focus of this paper is the examination of the underlying, latent public knowledge of the planning system in Australia. This latent knowledge (or more accurately, the absence of this knowledge) emerges as a barrier to public involvement. This paper examines public perceptions of the importance of metropolitan and local strategic plans, knowledge of these plans, the main sources of this knowledge, and the extent to which the public is likely to become involved with strategic planning process. The paper concludes that despite large segments of the population viewing strategic planning as important, only a small proportion is actually aware of the plans themselves, while an even smaller proportion is likely to become involved in the planning process.     

Comprehensive planning for libraries

In the area of planning, the literature has been almost entirely concerned with planning in the business (i.e. profit) setting. Some literature does exist on planning in the nonprofit sector, but it usually deals with tactical planning of the short-term character. This is specially true in the area of libraries and many librarians have developed and do administer large, complex organization— where conprehensive, long range planning is almost completely untreated in the literature.The current paper discusses the various steps in the strategic planning process, and relates them to a situation in which comprehensive long range plans for a new health sciences library have been developed, and to a considerable degree, implemented. In this framework, the steps of developing purpose and objecives, forecasting and policy formulation, developing and choosing growth strategy, determining resource requirements and provions, developing an organizational structure, and control system utilization are discussed both in the general framework of comprehensive planning, and with respect to actual experience in the development of a health sciences library. The roles of tactical planning and the implementation of plans are also treated.     

Strategic planning for social and political change

Formalized planning is currently applied to planning for operations and capital investment, planning for products and markets, and occasionally for manpower. However, there is little evidence that companies are producing formal plans and programmes to deal with social and political change. Unfortunately, public opinion is moving against business, action groups inside and outside companies are challenging the authority of management, and public officials and politicians are already framing new laws and regulations. Unless managers begin to get more involved in the framing of these controls they are likely to find laws enacted and enforced by people who have little knowledge or sympathy with business. In this article the author points up the necessity to assess the social and political challenge to their business, and formulate and implement social and political strategies and plans aimed at ensuring the survival and prosperity of their organisations.     

The corporate road-map—Planning at Babcock & Wilcox

This article reports on the status of the planning program at Babcock & Wilcox. The article is divided into three parts. The first section describes the theory and structure of the B&W Corporate Strategic Plan and the plans that comprise it; the second section discusses what characterizes a good plan; and the third previews what might be in store for the Company.     

Who Shall Follow? factors affecting the adoption of succession plans in Taiwan

Succession planning is widely believed to help business organizations with internal resourcing, reduce attrition of the work force caused by job-hopping high-fliers, and prepare qualified candidates for appointment to senior management positions. It is further known that when organizations fail to treat their succession plans as living documents, they may not only threaten their own continuity but also lose the opportunity to revitalize themselves. Even so, succession planning has been slow to take root in traditional Chinese businesses, which have been noted for their informal organization, top-down decision making, and emphasis on personal ties and relationships. However, rapid growth and increasingly tougher competition may force these firms to change their style of management. This study assesses the extent to which formal succession planning has taken hold among Taiwanese business firms, and identifies factors underlying the decision to adopt a formal plan. For those local firms that have not introduced formal planning, it seeks to determine the concerns that have inhibited or prevented them from doing so. Finally, this paper attempts to detect differences that may exist between Chinese- and foreign-owned firms in the tendency to adopt succession plans.     

Spatial Planning in Ghana: Exploring the Contradictions

The purpose of this research is twofold: to explore the complexity of spatial plan preparation and implementation in Ghana using Kumasi as a case study; and second, to examine the contradictions of spatial plans and ‘actual development’ occurring in Kumasi. Using social science research methods (semi-structured interviews) and physical survey (land use plans), findings indicate that spatial planning in Kumasi is a bureaucratic process hijacked by urban planning agencies with limited involvement of urban residents. As a result, urban development is considerably influenced by spontaneous informal development patterns (i.e. self-organization). This phenomenon of self-organization is expressed in a context of uncertainty created by weak spatial planning system which encourages haphazard development. Regrettably, in Kumasi, self-organization is often overlooked by spatial planning agencies as they focused on rigid and exclusionary spatial plans. This paper advocates consideration and integration of self-organization processes in spatial planning efforts to respond adequately to the urban development challenges confronting Kumasi.     

Let the Citizens Map—Public Participation GIS as a Planning Support System in the Helsinki Master Plan Process

Current public participation methods are laborious, reach few participants and are ineffective at gathering usable information for planning. This situation leads often to mistrust and dissatisfaction in the process and outcome. This article identifies the critical conditions for meaningful use of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools to support the making of master plan in Helsinki. With PPGIS tools, residents’ insight of their living environment can be reached and utilized along the planning process. The results are divided to conceptual and empirical points. Whereas the conceptual points emphasize better understanding of the locus of the PPGIS tools in planning process, the empirical findings reveal new ways to study how residents’ perceptions align with the plan proposal. Though new tools, data and analysis can support representativeness, independence, early involvement, influence and transparency, planners and residents need more understanding of the benefits of these tools. The study indicates that though planners found the collected data and the analysis valuable, they still lacked the skills and institutional motivation to use the data effectively. The results point out that when PPGIS tools can be integrated to the mainstream planning practices, the tools have the ability to evolve to a more comprehensive participatory planning support system.     

The components of strategic planning

What is the current level of strategic planning in the United States? What objectives are quantified in the strategic plans? What kinds of environmental factors are identified in the planning process? What areas are planned for? How often are the strategic plans reviewed? These are among the questions which were raised in a recent survey of 323 companies whose results are summarized in this paper. It is hoped that this study will permit practitioners to compare their planning with planning being performed in their industry.Suggested improvements in the stategic planning process include more frequent monitoring of performance against the plans, more comprehensive environmental surveillance, and greater emphasis on organizational structure plans. The strategic planning process was found to be constantly evolving and cyclical. The strategic planning activity expanded during adversity and contracted when business prospects were good.     

Cutting to the chase: what physician executives need to know about HIPAA

All health care providers, plans, and clearinghouses will be affected by the federally mandated uniform standards for administrative transactions. This article presents distilled core information about the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) legislation--the standards, penalties for violations, and status of final rules. It also raises several key unsolved issues of which clinicians, executives, and health care providers must be aware so they can prepare and plan for the upcoming changes. HIPAA is intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health care system, as well as to increase the protection and confidentiality of individually identifiable health information. The costs of making the transition to the legislated standards and processes remain a worrisome factor. Although there are two years before these standards must be implemented, and cost and compliance issues resolved, work has already begun in many health institutions to identify and address them.     

我国上市公司CFO薪酬与盈余质量的相关性研究

本文研究了我国上市公司CFO薪酬与盈余质量的相关性.研究发现,随着我国上市公司治理机制的不断完善,上市公司逐步建立起了以盈余为业绩指标的CFO薪酬激励机制.通过文章逐层递进的研究,我们发现我国上市公司CFO薪酬激励契约显著地区别反映了盈余中的非经常性损益和经常性损益,但是却未能有效地区别反映经常性损益中的应计项目和经营性现金流,存在类似"功能锁定"的现象.进一步细分研究样本后,我们发现由于盈余管理上市公司CFO薪酬激励契约对非经常性损益和经常性损益的不合理权重赋值,扭亏上市公司的CFO薪酬激励契约反而刺激了CFO进行盈余管理.根据研究我们认为,解决CFO薪酬激励契约对应计项目和经营性现金流的"功能锁定"现象,改进盈余管理上市公司CFO薪酬激励契约成为目前我国上市公司完善CFO薪酬激励机制的两个重要任务.     

Capacity for Stakeholder Participation in Recovery Planning

It is generally accepted that meaningful participation by a representative, well-informed public contributes to a better plan. We surveyed the lead official responsible for the development of recovery plans in a sample of US Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties to determine capacity for stakeholder participation. We report on a variety of engagement techniques that were positively associated with an increase in participation in recovery plan development. We also link increased participation with better plan quality scores in plan quality principles. Investing human and fiscal resources in participation can increase involvement in the planning process and improve recovery plan quality.     

Italian Urban Plans: Diversified Approaches and Methods for Assessing Their Quality

This article poses the difficult task of providing a brief overview of Italian urban planning, difficult to understand for foreign observers because each Region has different legislation and urban planning tools. The paper describes an original methodology that evaluates the quality of the approach differentiated as (1) ‘of the plan’ (reformist, participative, from the territory); (2) ‘in the plan’ (integrated strategic, sustainable); (3) ‘with the plan’ (conformative, methodological, recompositional, systemic-infrastructural); and (4) ‘beyond the plan’ (beyond governance methodologies). The paper also compares aspects of quality present in plans for large, medium and small Italian cities. The conclusions review factors of excellence that may be used in other international scenarios.