Employment Of Temporary Workers And Use Of Overtime To Achieve Volume Flexibility Using Master Production Scheduling: Monetary And Social Implications

Flexibility and in particular volume flexibility is an important topic for industrial manufacturing companies. In this context, the harmonization of the available and required capacity is a central task, especially with increasing fluctuations in customer demand. In classical approaches, this is considered only by the use of additional capacities and there are only a few approaches that combine aspects of personnel planning with production planning. Therefore, this article presents a linear optimization model for master production scheduling that includes aspects of personnel requirements planning. It is used to investigate different strategies for the use of overtime and temporary workers in order to achieve different levels of volume flexibility. With regard to the monetary and social impacts, the results indicate that overtime has a stronger influence to achieve volume flexibility than the use of temporary workers. However, both are affected by substantial deficits in human working conditions. But the results also imply a promising potential for improving the social aspects without a significant increase in costs.

Creating Short-Term Volume Flexibility in Healthcare Capacity Management

It is well-known that unpredictable variations in supply and demand of capacity in healthcare systems create the need for flexibility. The main tools used to create short-term volume flexibility in the healthcare system include overtime, temporary staff from internal calling lists, moving staff across units, internal staffing pools, external staffing agencies, queuing patients, and purchasing care from external providers. We study the creation of short-term volume flexibility in healthcare systems to manage short-term capacity losses and demand fluctuations. A questionnaire was developed and distributed among healthcare managers in the Region Västra Götaland healthcare system. Respondents were asked to what extent they used each tool to create short-term flexibility in capacity. Data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Several significant tendencies were found, including that acute units use overtime and internal staffing pools to a larger extent, and queuing patients and external providers to a lesser extent than planned units. The prerequisites and required managerial approaches used to efficiently manage aggregate capacity in the system differ substantially between different parts of the system. These differences must be addressed when, for example, capacity pools are considered. These results serve as a stepping stone towards a more thorough understanding of efficient capacity management in healthcare systems.

Supplier flexibility in the order-to-delivery process – a customer perspective

PurposeFlexibility is one enabler of efficient use of resources and is therefore an antecedent to sustainability. The purpose of this article is to identify supplier flexibility variables in, and related to, the order-to-delivery (OTD) process and categorize them into a framework, followed by empirically exploring the framework.Design/methodology/approachA perception-based survey was sent to Swedish purchasing managers. 289 responses were received. After descriptive gap analysis, exploratory factor analysis was applied to structure the responses into factors. This formed the basis for hierarchical linear regression analysis, explaining supplier flexibility.FindingsA conceptual framework, specifying supplier flexibility into volume, delivery and information exchange dimensions and relating these dimensions to the OTD process, was developed. Significant negative gaps between actual and demanded volume flexibility and delivery flexibility were identified, while positive gaps were found for information exchange flexibility. The factor analysis revealed three factors. The regression analysis verified that OTD-related information exchange flexibility and OTD-related volume and delivery flexibility explain the variation in OTD-specific flexibility and are important antecedents for supplier flexibility in the OTD process.Research limitations/implicationsA contribution to research is the framework – with defined, related and empirically validated flexibility types.Practical implicationsThe study proposes a perception-based way to capture supplier flexibility in the OTD process, which is of practical relevance when evaluating suppliers.Originality/valueIdentifying, conceptualizing and capturing types of supplier flexibility in the OTD process is new related to academic literature. Also the wide empirical study mapping supplier flexibility gaps is unique in its focus.

Digitization of manufacturing: the role of external search

PurposeManufacturers seek to innovate and improve processes using new digital technologies. However, knowledge about these new technologies often resides outside a firm's boundaries. The authors draw on the concept of absorptive capacity and the literature on open innovation to explore the role of external search in the digitization of manufacturing.Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed and distributed a survey to manufacturing firms in Switzerland, for which 151 complete responses were received from senior managers. The authors used multiple linear regressions to study the relations among the breadth and depth of external search, firms' adoption of digital technologies and operational performance outcomes.FindingsExternal search depth was found to relate positively to higher adoption of computing technologies and shop floor connectivity technologies. No significant correlation was found between external search breadth and firms' adoption of digital technologies. Regarding performance outcomes, there is some evidence that increased adoption of digital technologies relates positively to higher volume flexibility, but not to increased production cost competitiveness.Practical implicationsManufacturing firms that aim to digitize their processes can benefit from inbound open process innovation, but its utility varies for different clusters of digital technologies. Generally, the findings suggest that firms should build strong ties with a few external knowledge partners rather than surface relations with many.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the growing literature on the digitization of manufacturing with an analysis of the relation between firms' external search and their adoption of digital technologies. It adds early empirical insights to the literature on open process innovation.

Empirical analysis of enablers and performance outcome of manufacturing flexibility in an emerging economy

PurposeThe objective of this paper is to empirically test and verify the enablers of volume flexibility and product-mix flexibility and to assess the influence of these flexibilities on operational performance.Design/methodology/approachA research framework consisting of nine pairs of hypotheses was developed using an extensive literature review. Using a self-administered questionnaire, 391 responses were collected, and these responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling techniques.FindingsThe findings empirically confirm the enablers of volume flexibility and product-mix flexibility. The proposed model explained 59 percent variance in volume flexibility and 63 percent variance in product-mix flexibility. Volume flexibility and product-mix flexibility together explained 38 percent variance in operational performance.Research limitations/implicationsTheoretically, this study advances flexibility literature in two significant ways. First, the study conducts first of its kind quantitative empirical investigation considering upstream, downstream, and internal integration practices as enablers of volume flexibility and product-mix flexibility. Second, this study adds to the flexibility literature by suggesting the positive influence of volume and product-mix flexibility on the operational performance of firms.Originality/valueThe study reinforces the role of enablers in the development of volume and product-mix flexibilities. Thus, the study provides a comprehensive view of flexibility enablers that can be used as a diagnostic tool, which practitioners can use to assess and deploy flexibility.

Impact of Manufacturing Flexibility on Business Performance: Malaysian’s Perspective

This research aims to investigate the impact of manufacturing flexibility on business performance. The manufacturing flexibility dimensions are mix, new product, labor, machine, material handling, routing and volume flexibility. The measures for the business performance are product market performance, customer satisfaction and profitability. The impact of manufacturing flexibility on business performance has been tested using a cross sectional study employing survey methodology, conducted within five manufacturing industries in Malaysia. Data were obtained from 137 returned questionnaires, which were analyzed using correlational and regression analyses. The results of the correlation analyses indicated that the manufacturing flexibility dimensions were positively and highly correlated among themselves, thus suggesting that the dimensions were interdependent. Meanwhile, the findings of the regression analyses provided support for the idea that manufacturing flexibility has a positive and significant impact on business performance. In other words, manufacturing flexibility improves business performance. In conclusion, this empirical research provides insights and a better understanding about the relationship between manufacturing flexibility and business performance. This research allows researchers/practitioners to gain in-depth knowledge about the concept of manufacturing flexibility and its impacts.