According to W. Edwards Deming, American companies require nothing less than a transformation of management style and of governmental relations with industry. In Out of the Crisis, originally published in 1982, Deming offers a theory of management based on his famous 14 Points for Management. Management's failure to plan for the future, he claims, brings about loss of market, which brings about loss of jobs. Management must be judged not only by the quarterly dividend, but by innovative plans to stay in business, protect investment, ensure future dividends, and provide more jobs through improved product and service. In simple, direct language, he explains the principles of management transformation and how to apply them.

Out of the Crisis

A discrete event system (DES) is a dynamic system that evolves in accordance with the abrupt occurrence, at possibly unknown irregular intervals, of physical events. Such systems arise in a variety of contexts ranging from computer operating systems to the control of complex multimode processes. A control theory for the logical aspects of such DESs is surveyed. The focus is on the qualitative aspects of control, but computation and the related issue of computational complexity are also considered. Automata and formal language models for DESs are surveyed. >

The control of discrete event systems

A survey of maintenance policies of deteriorating systems

Recent trends in modeling of deteriorating inventory

To help meet competitive realities operations managers need to know more about the strategic aspects of manufacturing flexibility. This paper takes steps toward meeting that need by critically reviewing the literature and establishing a research agenda for the area. A conceptual model, which places flexibility within a broad context, helps to identify certain assumptions of theoretical studies which need to be challenged. The model also provides a basis for identifying specific flexibility dimensions. The manner in which these dimensions may limit the effectiveness of a manufacturing process, and the problems in operationalizing them are discussed. Focusing next on the neglected area of applied work, concepts are presented for analyzing whether desired amounts of flexibility are being achieved and whether the potential for flexibility built into a manufacturing process is being tapped. Once more, a procedure is outlined for altering a plant's types and amounts of flexibility over time. The research agenda...

Manufacturing flexibility: a strategic perspective

1 Discrete Part Manufacturing Systems 2 Evolution of Manufacturing System Models: An Example 3 Single Stage 'Produce-to-Order' Systems 4 Single Stage 'Produce-to-Stock' Systems 5 Flow Lines 6 Transfer Lines 7 Dynamic Job Shops 8 Flexible Machining Systems 9 Flexible Assembly Systems 10 Multiple Cell Manufacturing Systems 11 Unresolved Issues: Directions for Future Research Appendix A: Standard Probability Distributions Appendix B: Some Notions of Stochastic Ordering Appendix C: Nonparametric Families of Distributions

Stochastic models of manufacturing systems

Most of the traditional models in production and inventory control ignore the financial states of an organization and can lead to infeasible practices in real systems. This paper is the first attempt to incorporate asset-based financing into production decisions. Instead of setting a known, exogenously determined budgetary constraint as most existing models suggest, we model the available cash in each period as a function of assets and liabilities that may be updated periodically according to the dynamics of the production activities. Furthermore, our models allow different interest rates on cash balance and outstanding loans, which is an enhancement over most traditional models in that inventory financed by a loan may be more expensive than that by out-of-pocket cash. We demonstrate the importance of joint consideration of production and financing decisions in a start-up setting in which the ability to grow the firm is mainly constrained by its limited capital and dependence on bank financing. We then explain the motivation for asset-based financing by examining the decision making at a bank and a set of retailers in a newsvendor setting.

Inventory Management with Asset-Based Financing

This paper reviews recent work on the development of analytical models of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs). The contributions of each of the groups concerned with model development are summarized and an assessment is made of the strengths and weaknesses of its modelling approach. A number of directions in which models require extension are outlined, in particular the representation of such aspects of FMS operation as the tool delivery systems, the blocking phenomenon, the transient behavior and the differences between flexible machining systems and flexible assembly systems. Further work is also required on the structure of FMS control and the integration with plant production planning and control.

Flexible manufacturing systems: a review of analytical models

The classical EOQ formula assumes that all relevant costs and prices are constant. In this paper it is shown that with inflation the choice of the inventory carrying charge used in the EOQ formula ...

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fjors.1975.113.pdf

Economic Order Quantities with Inflation

SUMMARY The efficiency of an automatic transfer line can be increased by dividing the line into a number of stages and providing buffer stores between the stages. The results of a theoretical study of the effect of buffer stocks on automatic fixed cycle in line transfer machines are reported. It is shown how the improvement in efficiency depends on the number of stages, the relative failure rate of the stages, the capacity of the buffers and the distribution of stage repair times. The optimum way to operate the line is never purposely to stop a stage to fill the buffers. Using practical data on transfer line performance, the improvement in efficiency which would be obtained through providing buffers is indicated.

John A. Buzacott

Papers

Stochastic models of manufacturing systems

Inventory Management with Asset-Based Financing

Flexible manufacturing systems: a review of analytical models

Economic Order Quantities with Inflation

Automatic transfer lines with buffer stocks