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...

In a changing and more dynamic market of the 1980s, available mathematical programming algorithms on which production planning in process industries was based did not provide the required responsiveness. Although it is suggested in the literature that a variable cycle times policy will enable...

The ability of small businesses to make and adjust to the paradigm shift needed to benefit from the Japanese production theory has been questioned in the literature. Zangwill (1992) questioned the limits of the Japanese Production Theory (JPT) and in a subsequent paper (Zangwill, 1994) held on...

Purpose – This paper seeks to explore two issues, namely: whether Greek consumers are interested in information provided to them for beef meat through systems of traceability, and whether they are willing to pay in order to acquire specific information for beef meat....

The birth of lean production. Craft production. The mass production system. The growing dysfunction. The birth of lean production -- The lean production system. Why lean production? Systems and systems thinking. Basic image of lean production. Muda -- Stability. Standards in the lean system....

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine the factors which influence the ability of SMEs to align their enterprise‐planning systems with the requirements and constraints of supply chain relationships in order to meet their own and their customers' strategic and operational requirements. The...