Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to work on an analytical approach to test sensitivity of a maintenance‐scheduling model. Any model without sensitivity analysis is a “paper work” without advancing for wider applications. Thus, the simulation of simultaneous scheduling of...

Small manufacturing companies make up the base industrial backbone of many countries including the USA. Even though CIM is generally believed to help manufacturers to compete globally, small companies are ot able to adopt the technology owing to CIM′s substantial investments and its associated...

A management system which has been used in Japan's Toyota Motor Company for many years is described. The system is applicable to the assembled goods industry and is widely used in such circumstances in that country. It extends well beyond production and inventory control and incorporates a...

Teaching students basic differences among various production systems, such as the American JIC (Just‐in‐case) system, the Japanese JIT (Just‐in‐time) system and the latest OPT (Optimised‐Production‐Technology) system, is not a simple task. Students can be taught basic principles, but...

Purpose – Studies conducted on advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems have found problems in the marginal or negative returns from APS systems when they are implemented in manufacturing planning and control processes. The purpose of this study is to examine what problems exist in the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of physical proximity between schedulers and operators within manufacturing firms. In literature, a small distance between interdependent employees is assumed to be a prerequisite for a high level of coordination. This study...

Two distinct models of delivery reliability versus delivery speed are tested. On the basis of data from a survey of 193 manufacturing firms, factors associated with the “planning” systems of firms, such as production‐plan goals achieved, inventory goals achieved, and master schedule...

Some hierarchical approaches for production planning in a batch type manufacturing environment are described. In a single stage production system, three aggregation levels exist: types, families and items. The performance of a hierarchical system model is largely dependent on the methods of...

Purpose – This paper sets out to present a reappraisal on advanced planning and scheduling (APS) systems in industrial settings and propose an effective approach for APS implementation. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is adopted, and a research framework comprising...