A well-known but previously unpublished monograph by Ramchandran Jaikumar (1945–1998) on the nature and history of manufacturing. The development of mass manufacturing ranks as one of the most important contributions to human living conditions ever – of the same magnitude as agriculture and...

To have recorded somewhere, instant by instant, every detail of the operation of a manufacturing system - what more could management want? 'What less?' asks Ramchandran Jaikumar, who contends that the data collection capabilities of modern, advanced technology-based manufacturing systems,...

Designing distribution systems requires two decisions, one strategic (i.e., the number of levels between the producer and the customer) and the other tactical (i.e., channel management policies such as trade discounts and rebates). While the modeling literature focuses on one or the other,...