Competitive Capabilities among Manufacturing Plants in Developing,Emerging, and Industrialized Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Competitive capabilities have been defined as a plant's actual performance relative to its competitors, with the most commonly investigated capabilities being quality, delivery, flexibility, and cost. However, most research in this realm has investigated capabilities within developed countries, and neglected the context of developing and emerging nations, which are increasingly becoming viable economic entities in global supply chains in their own right. The present study fills this gap and carries out a comparative analysis of competitive capabilities among plants in developing, emerging, and industrialized countries. Basing our arguments on the resource‐based view of the firm, we suggest that the influence of competitive capabilities on each other varies among plants in differentially industrialized regions. Specifically, we suggest that, on average, competitive capabilities tend to influence each other to a greater degree in plants in emerging and developing countries compared to industrialized countries. Along similar lines, we suggest that the influence of the four competitive capabilities on performance improvement is manifested more strongly among plants in emerging and developing countries than among plants in industrialized nations. We investigate these contentions with data from 1,211 plants in 21 countries. The results are particularly important for decision makers as they decide on the increasingly global location of their manufacturing operations or the configuration of their global supply chains.     

中国制造业企业创新行为的观测和实证研究 ——基于浙江省制造业1454家企业问卷调查的分析

 本文在浙江省制造业1454家企业大样本调查问卷的基础上,在微观层面研究了企业创新行为以及影响因素。首先利用统计分析的方法考察了企业创新投入的特征、创新投入的行业分布以及创新投入的产出绩效,并且发现了企业规模与R&;D强度之间呈现倒U型关系,这与安同良等人发现的倾斜V型关系的结论不同。其次运用计量分析的方法在有效控制了企业所处行业的技术水平差异、企业产权结构、政府资金扶持、企业品牌和企业设备技术水平后,研究发现：企业规模与企业创新投入之间也呈现较明显的倒U型关系,并且存在规模“拐点”;企业知识产权战略对企业创新投入具有明显的促进作用;出口贸易对企业创新投入并不显著,但发达国家特别是针对发展中国家设置的技术性贸易壁垒的技术标准化要求对企业创新投入有比较明显的促进作用;而企业集聚对企业的创新投入的影响并不确定。     

Requirements for successful implementation of new manufacturing technologies

This paper addresses the issue of why many U.S. companies have had major problems implementing “programmable automation” technologies in a manner to exploit their full potential. Many competitors in Japan and Europe have been much more successful. The theme of the paper is that the real impediment to the effective use of this new manufacturing hardware lies in some deeply entrenched attitudes and ways of doing things that are incompatible with the requirements and unique capabilities of the new hardware. Barriers to successful implementation are explored and implications for managerial practice are discussed.     

A simulation study of dispatch rules for reducing flow times in semiconductor wafer fabrication

Semiconductor wafer fabrication involves very complex process routing, and reducing flow times is very important. This study reports a search for better dispatch rules for achieving the goal of reducing flow times, while maintaining high machine utilization. We explored a new simulation-based dispatch rule and a queue prediction dispatch rule. Using simulation experiments and an industrial data set, we also compared several other dispatch rules commonly used in semiconductor manufacturing with our proposed dispatch rules. Among these rules, in addition to the simulation-based dispatching rule, the shortest-remaining-processing-time, earliest-due-date and leastslack rules also performed well in terms of reducing flow times. The reasons behind these good rules are discussed in this paper. Based on the previous works and this study, accurately predicting and effectively utilizing future flow times can improve the quality of production management decisions.     

A machine-learning approach for a sintering process using a neural network

This paper presents a machine-learning approach using a multi-layered neural network (NN) with application to a sintering process in an iron- and steel-making plant. Our method induces 'operational rules' that determine operational conditions to obtain products that meet a given quality specification. In our application, an operational condition decides the appropriate ranges of chemical composition and heat input to obtain sinter with desirable properties. Our approach consists of two stages. First, backpropagation (BP) training is performed to obtain a NN which decides whether a given condition is appropriate or not. Secondly, from the trained NN, we extract rules which explain what operational conditions are appropriate. In spite of the effective learning capability, a major drawback of a NN is 'unreadability' of the learned knowledge, or the lack of an explanatory capability, which is crucial in the second stage. We developed a rule extraction algorithm which contributes to overcoming this 'unreadability'. The extracted rules are found to agree well with the knowledge in material science.     

Generating testable socio-technical systems theory

Suggestions for enhancements to socio-technical systems (STS) theory are offered based on a multiyear development process. First, researchers engaged in an iterative process of working with socio-technical systems (STS) and non-STS practitioners of organizational design to operationalize STS theory. Second, the operationalized theory was validated using an 86-company survey. Third, the operationalized theory was field-tested to discover its usability for practitioners addressing real-world organizational design problems.     

Is the scheduling task context-dependent? A survey investigating the presence of constraints in different manufacturing contexts

Abstract

Most studies regarding real scheduling constraints only consider the constraints related to the specific manufacturing environment studied, limiting the possibility of drawing general conclusions. A survey of 50 companies was conducted in order to discover which constraints were present and what their relationship was with the scheduling context. This paper investigates which practical scheduling constraints are present in the manufacturing industry and whether the scheduling task is context-dependent. Results of this study show that some practical production constraints are context-dependent.     

Information Systems Adaptation and the Successful Implementation of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies*

Few plants have initial success with advanced manufacturing technologies (AMTs), and adaptations are commonly required after installing new technologies. We especially know little about the outcomes of adaptations that manufacturers regularly employ in the context of AMTs. Sociotechnical theory and the technology literature suggest that AMTs commonly require four types of adaptations including those to process technologies, human resources, operational structures, and information systems. This study investigates which of these four adaptations and their interactions lead to improved operational performance. Data were collected on 104 plants that implemented a single type of manufacturing AMT. Findings indicate that information systems (IS) adaptation during the course of AMT implementation was the most important action. Surprisingly, human resource and process technology adaptations were linked to lower performance, and no interactions had any clear effects. The results also show that practitioners underestimated the relevance of IS adaptations during contemporary or “second-generation” AMT implementation projects and overemphasized the need for shop floor changes.     

中国与“一带一路”沿线国家制造业耦合性的四维分析

本文创新性地构建“产业耦合性评价指标体系”，并基于UIBE GVC数据库中的ADBMRIO表从制造业的竞争性、互补性、依存性和融合性四个维度对中国与“一带一路”沿线国家间制造业的耦合情况进行分析。同时，基于增加值贸易分解法对相关指数进行修正，使其可以准确反映增加值贸易视角下双边贸易关系的真实情况。随后从总值贸易和增加值贸易两个视角出发，进一步对中国与33个“一带一路”沿线国家14个制造业产业自2010-2017年间的耦合性进行对比分析。结果显示：从整体来看，在总值贸易视角下中国与沿线国家制造业可以保持良好的耦合性，但在增加值贸易视角下双边耦合水平出现恶化；从细分区域来看，无论在总值贸易还是增加值贸易下，东南亚和东亚地区都与中国在制造业领域内具有良好的耦合性，而中东欧地区与中国制造业的耦合性表现则最不理想，中亚和南亚地区均表现一般；从细分行业来看，在精炼石油、木制品、纸制品、皮制品等行业中，双边具有相对较好的耦合性，各国在不同行业中的表现也各不相同。最后，针对如何提升中国与“一带一路”沿线国家制造业耦合性的问题，本文从竞争、互补、依存和融合四个方面提出不断推进中国与沿线国家进一步合作、提升双边制造业耦合水平的建议。     

中国制造业出口贸易的技术水平——测度及行业特征检验

笔者将以考察国家层面的出口品技术含量指数延伸到一国内部的行业层面,并构建了相对技术含量指数和整体技术水平指数,分析了中国制造业出口贸易的变迁。实证结果表明,中国制造业出口品的相对技术含量是低层次的,常用的技术水平指标高估了中国的实际情况,但是整体技术水平仍然呈现上升趋势并表现出不同的特征。此外,笔者还检验了相对技术含量与三类行业特征的相关关系。