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Link Manufacturing Process and Product Life Cycles
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleThe regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […] -
Competing Through Manufacturing
Decision making and problem solving Magazine ArticleThe past several years have witnessed a growing awareness among American managers of the central importance to competitive success of first-rate competence in the work of production. At the top of many corporate agendas now rests the determination to boost productivity, product quality, and new product innovation. This is all to the good. What managers […] -
The Feudal World of Japanese Manufacturing
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleYears ago, while visiting friends in the United States, I happened to see the classic children’s film The Wizard of Oz. Near the end, Dorothy at last appears before the all-powerful wizard—a terrifying image of smoke and light. Only when her dog, Toto, tugs at a curtain over to one side does she see a […] -
Time to Reform Job Shop Manufacturing
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleAmerican industry is beginning to put its manufacturing house in order. Companies building high-volume standardized products like copiers, appliances, and automobiles are learning from their foreign rivals and emulating their commitment to ongoing product and process innovation. But one important segment of U.S. industry—job shop manufacturers—continues to postpone needed reforms. Many of these companies have […] -
The U.S. Needs to Reimagine Its Pharma Supply Chain
Business and society Digital ArticleOverreliance on foreign suppliers is leading to domestic drug shortages. -
How Digital Fulfillment Is Changing Manufacturing
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleIt can vastly improve companies' ability to understand and satisfy customer needs. -
The Next Supply-Chain Challenge Isn’t a Shortage — It’s Inventory Glut
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleStrategies for reducing excess inventory, stemming the rate of inventory change, and preventing the situation from happening in the future. -
Just How Important Is Manufacturing?
Economics Digital ArticleHaving a strong domestic manufacturing base is vital to the United States maintaining its world leadership in innovation. That is because advanced manufacturing provides an important institutional foundation for learning and developing process skills and capabilities that are increasingly intertwined with core R&D in some of the industries most important to the country’s economic future. […] -
Is U.S. Manufacturing Making a Comeback?
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleA resurgence of U.S. manufacturing seems to be in the offing. With production costs rising in China, some companies are bringing their manufacturing back... -
Entrepreneurs Take On Manufacturing
Global Business Digital ArticleHardware startups are easier to launch than ever. -
Crate & Barrel Holdings CEO Janet Hayes on Navigating Turbulent Times for Retail
Business and society Digital ArticleConsumers’ tastes are changing fast, but one things remains: they value quality, value, and inspiration in their products. -
German Manufacturing Is Leading a Digital Industrial Revolution
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleA new generation of innovations is already underway. -
The First Step to Fixing U.S. Manufacturing
Technology & Operations ResearchThe industry depends on small suppliers, and they're struggling. -
Read a Plant--Fast
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleIn the early 1980s, visitors on an hour-long tour of a factory headed by Eugene Goodson reported surprisingly accurate details about the plant, its technology,... -
Hidden Factory
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleTo reduce high manufacturing overhead, companies should look beyond their direct labor and materials costs to the costs of transactions. These transactions... -
From Lean Production to the Lean Enterprise
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleIn our book The Machine That Changed the World, we explained how companies can dramatically improve their performance by embracing the “lean production” approach pioneered by Toyota. By Eliminating unnecessary steps, aligning all steps in an activity in a continuous flow, recombining labor into cross-functional teams dedicated to that activity, and continually striving for improvement, […] -
It's Time to Bring Manufacturing Back to the U.S.
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleA growing number of executives of U.S.-based companies are repatriating their manufacturing capabilities - moving some production operations back from... -
The Human Costs of Manufacturing Reform
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleIf there is anything more powerful than an idea whose time has come, it is one that is the product of wishful thinking. Ask any manager or management consultant what the related essentials of manufacturing reform are, and the answer will likely come back: a just-in-time approach to eliminating waste, rigorous statistical process control to […] -
Manufacturing—Missing Link in Corporate Strategy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleA company’s manufacturing function typically is either a competitive weapon or a corporate millstone. It is seldom neutral. The connection between manufacturing and corporate success is rarely seen as more than the achievement of high efficiency and low costs. In fact, the connection is much more critical and much more sensitive. Few top managers are […] -
Beyond World-Class: The New Manufacturing Strategy
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleCompanies need strategies for building critical capabilities to achieve competitive advantage.
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Globalization of CEMEX
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details CEMEX is a Mexican company that has become a major international competitor in cement while maintaining a higher level of profitability than other, longer-established... -
Bayonne Packaging, Inc.
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details A printer and paper converter produces customized packaging used by industrial customers to deliver promotional materials, software, luxury beverages,... -
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study15.05View Details This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering... -
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering... -
Kristen's Cookie Co. (A2)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Intended for distribution during class, this case contains one set of answers to the (A1) case. It introduces the concept of a Gantt chart and discusses... -
Drinkotec: Changing a company, changing a life (A): Daring to change
Management Case Study8.95View Details Franck-Erik Flegbo and Cyril Le Terrien were already successful executives in a major multinational when they decided that it was time to dream, and to... -
Thermaware, Inc.
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Thermaware, Inc., a manufacturer of top-of-the-line industrial thermostat controllers, is considering moving toward a single-piece-flow system. From the... -
AB InBev: Brewing Up Forecasts during COVID-19
Management Case Study8.95View Details In July 2021, the CEO of AB InBev's European operations and his team strategized to position the company for success post-pandemic. As the world's largest... -
Executive Shirt Co., Inc.
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details The Executive Shirt Co. is contemplating a move into custom-made shirts. The company's general manager has charged two of his managers to come up with... -
John Deere Component Works (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details The division has recognized the inadequacies of its existing, traditional cost system for estimating product costs. Describes the innovative activity-based... -
Wooqer: Making Business Social (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Information technologies enable key divisions of an organization such as HR, Training, Operations, and Legal, to achieve operational efficiency. In addition,... -
The Creative Industries: Managing Products and Product Portfolios, Module Note
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details This module note examines the way in which professional content producers in the creative industries approach product and product portfolio management,... -
Jackson Automotive Systems
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Jackson Automotive Systems produces automotive parts for advanced heating and air conditioning systems, engine cooling systems, fuel injection and transfer... -
ExtendSim (R) Simulation Exercises in Process Analysis (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Second set of exercises meant to be used with ExtendSim, a simulation package created by Imagine That, Inc. of San Jose, California, that allows students... -
WBLT Public Television, 1999
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This disguised case is a vehicle for discussion of the financial situation facing the management of a US public (nonprofit) television station. "WBLT"... -
Saturn Corp.'s Module II Decision
Strategy & Execution Case Study6.95View Details In the Spring of 1994, Saturn Corp. was setting sales records by attracting more than 25,000 buyers per month. Saturn officials believed there was a long-term... -
Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (C1)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details To follow Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (B2). The division has just received a request for dramatically increased production. If it complies... -
Creating a Process-Oriented Enterprise at Pinnacle West
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Pinnacle West is in the energy-related services business and headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Its largest subsidiary, APS, is a power utility that serves... -
Mercury Athletic: Valuing the Opportunity
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details In January 2007, West Coast Fashions, Inc., a large designer and marketer of branded apparel, announced a strategic reorganization that would result in... -
Kroeker Farms Limited: Expanding Hemp Production
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study8.95View Details Kroeker Farms Ltd. (Kroeker) had 500 acres of organic hemp in 2016 and planned to expand to 1,100 acres in 2017. Kroeker was one of the largest producers...
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Globalization of CEMEX
Strategy & Execution Case Study8.95View Details CEMEX is a Mexican company that has become a major international competitor in cement while maintaining a higher level of profitability than other, longer-established... -
Bayonne Packaging, Inc.
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details A printer and paper converter produces customized packaging used by industrial customers to deliver promotional materials, software, luxury beverages,... -
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (A)
Technology & Operations Case Study15.05View Details This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering... -
Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A), Teaching Note
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleMolycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to... -
Why Domestic Outsourcing is Leading America's Reemergence in Global Manufacturing
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleWith cost advantages from manufacturing in Asia and Mexico steadily deteriorating, U.S. firms are reassessing the option of domestic outsourcing to remain... -
Fair Park Covid-19 Mass Vaccination Site (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details This case is an opportunity to apply the methods of the Toyota Production System (TPS) to the analysis of an everyday service application: administering... -
Link Manufacturing Process and Product Life Cycles
Operations and supply chain management Magazine ArticleThe regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […] -
Kristen's Cookie Co. (A2)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details Intended for distribution during class, this case contains one set of answers to the (A1) case. It introduces the concept of a Gantt chart and discusses... -
Drinkotec: Changing a company, changing a life (A): Daring to change
Management Case Study8.95View Details Franck-Erik Flegbo and Cyril Le Terrien were already successful executives in a major multinational when they decided that it was time to dream, and to... -
Thermaware, Inc.
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Thermaware, Inc., a manufacturer of top-of-the-line industrial thermostat controllers, is considering moving toward a single-piece-flow system. From the...