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

Research in closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) has grown rapidly over the last 10 years. The authors offer a critical review of influential CLSC research that takes a business economics perspective. Much of the research was inspired by practice-driven thoughtpieces, and this helped to keep research focused on relevant issues. However, CLSC research has several assumptions, such as perfect substitution between new and remanufactured products that risk becoming institutionalized. There is a strong need to carefully examine current industrial practice so that research remains focused on relevant problems. Deeper understanding of consumer perceptions of remanufactured products, product diffusion, and valuation of returned products are needed for the field to continue to add insights into developing sustainable economies.

Production and Operations Management

Article history: Received October 20, 2015 Received in revised format April 28, 2016 Accepted May 18 2016 Available online May 2

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An investigation into the determinants of customer satisfaction

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Current Standards Landscape for Smart Manufacturing Systems

Recent outbreaks of food contamination scandals in India have resulted in increased concerns amongst consumers about food safety. Further, to tackle such circumstances, conformation to quality has become a must in Agriculture Supply Chain (ASC). Agro-stakeholders have tried to accomplish this demand through the integration of technology in ASC. One such technology is blockchain, which is still in its infancy in terms of adoption in India. Fueled by this motivation, we aim to investigate the significant barriers for blockchain adoption in Indian ASC. The constructs are identified through a comprehensive literature search and opinion of domain experts from five agro-organizations, academia, and agro-stakeholders. Further identified construct is modeled using an integrated ISM-DEMATEL approach, which not only interrogates interrelationship amongst identified constructs but also evaluates the intensity of the relationship between them. The identified constructs are also clustered into a suitable group using Fuzzy-MICMAC. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is also performed to check the robustness of the proposed model. The results reveal that “lack of government regulation and lack of trust among agro-stakeholder to use blockchain” are significant adoption barriers of blockchain in Indian ASC. Moreover, the managerial implication about the results is also provided, which will be useful to government and related agencies to take suitable measures to overcome these obstacles for increasing the rate of blockchain adoption in Indian ASC.

Blockchain technology adoption barriers in the Indian agricultural supply chain: an integrated approach

Total Productive maintenance (TPM) is increasingly implemented by many organizations to improve their equipment efficiency and to obtain the competitive advantage in the global market in terms of cost and quality. But, implementation of TPM is not an easy task. There are certain enablers, which help in the implementation of TPM. The utmost need is to analyse the behaviour of these enablers for their effective utilization in the implementation of TPM. The main objective of this paper is to understand the mutual interaction of these enablers and identify the ‘driving enablers’ (i.e. which influence the other enablers) and the ‘dependent enablers’ (i.e. which are influenced by others). In the present work, these enablers have been identified through the literature, their ranking is done by a questionnaire-based survey and interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach has been utilized in analysing their mutual interaction. An ISM model has been prepared to identify some key enablers and their managerial implications in the implementation of TPM.

An ISM approach for modelling the enablers in the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

The life cycle of production system shows the progress of production system from the inception to the termination of the system. During each stage, mainly in the design stage, certain strategic decisions have to be taken. These decisions are more complex as the decision makers have to assess a wide range of alternatives based on a set of conflicting criteria. As the decision making process is found to be unstructured, characterized by domain dependent knowledge, there is a need to apply an efficient multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) tool to help the decision makers in making correct decisions. This paper explores the application of a novel MCDM method i.e. Preference selection index (PSI) method to solve various decision-making problems that are generally encountered in the design stage of production system life cycle. To prove the potentiality, applicability and accuracy of PSI method in solving decision making problem during the design stage of production system life cycle, five examples are cited from the literature and are compared with the results obtained by the past researchers.

Application of preference selection index method for decision making over the design stage of production system life cycle

In the highly competitive environment, to be successful and to achieve world-class-manufacturing, organizations must possess both efficient maintenance and effective manufacturing strategies. A strategic approach to improve the performance of maintenance activities is to effectively adapt and implement strategic TPM initiatives in the manufacturing organizations. Total productive maintenance (TPM) is not easy to adopt and implement, due to presence of many barriers. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse these barriers. A questionnaire based survey was conducted to rank these barriers. The results of this survey and interpretive structural modelling approach have been used to model and analyse key barriers and drive managerial insights.

Analysis of barriers of total productive maintenance (TPM)

Total quality management (TQM) implementation has been an important aspect for improving organisational efficiency. Organisations work for TQM implementation, spend their resources on it and expect anticipated benefits of TQM in terms of profitability, customer satisfaction and quality of product. There are, however, certain barriers which inhibit the successful implementation of TQM. The main objective of this paper is to understand the mutual interaction of these barriers and identify the 'driving barriers' (i.e. which influence the other barriers) and the 'dependent barriers' (i.e. which are influenced by others). In the present work, these barriers have been identified through the literature, their ranking is done by a questionnaire-based survey and interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach has been utilised in analysing their mutual interaction. An ISM model has been prepared to identify some key barriers and their managerial implications in the implementation of TQM.

Identification and modelling of barriers in the implementation of TQM

Today’s dynamic market has forced the manufacturing managers to take interest in flexibility which bestows on an industry to respond promptly to market opportunities and changing technologies. The development of capabilities to be flexible rests on the mandate of top management, helps industries to manage market uncertainties and tends to enhance manufacturing performance. Manufacturing organisations are looking at flexible manufacturing system (FMS) as a viable alternative to enhance their competitive edge. There are, however, some factors affecting the flexibility of FMS. The aim of this research is to analyse and identify those factors which influence some other factors in a big way (called driving factors) and those which are most influenced by the others (called dependent factors). In this paper, these factors have been identified through literature, their ranking is done by a questionnaire-based survey and interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach has been utilised in analysing their mutual relationships. An ISM model of these factors has been prepared to identify some key factors and their managerial implications.

Rajesh Attri

Papers

An ISM approach for modelling the enablers in the implementation of Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

Application of preference selection index method for decision making over the design stage of production system life cycle

Analysis of barriers of total productive maintenance (TPM)

Identification and modelling of barriers in the implementation of TQM

Modelling the factors affecting flexibility in FMS