Recent advances in manufacturing operations management

Recent advances in manufacturing operations management

Article Type: Guest editorial From: Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Volume 27, Issue 1.

1. Introduction

Manufacturing operations utilises manpower, machine, materials, methods and money (i.e. capital). These "5 Ms" are key inputs for finished products delivered to the markets for consumption. Modern day manufacturing processes strive to focus on less energy consumption, flexibility of operations, near defect-free production and waste minimisation. Within the literature there are a number of recent articles on theory building and testing, and their real-world applications in these areas. A thorough search on the "Web of Science" reveals that a good number of keywords are very popular in the area of manufacturing operations management (Figure 1). This search was conducted for the 15 years ranging from 2000 to 2015. However, the trend of using some keywords from the past in the field of manufacturing operations management is still continuing. These keywords are lean manufacturing/production, quality management, capabilities, production planning, performance and operations strategy. During the early 1990s manufacturing operations was focused on the quality of the products and processes involved in production. Beginning from the late 1990s, in the context of globalisation, manufacturing operations management had taken on a new shape. Supply chain management has become part and parcel of manufacturing operations (Bhattacharya et al., 2015). This is evident from the usage of the keywords depicted in Figure 1. In order to take the benefits of competitive advantage in the marketplace a portion of manufacturing operations management focuses on the supply chain held by the manufacturing organisations. The characteristics of their supply chains determine the management of some of their manufacturing operations. Territorial regulations and global treaties have added a new dimension of sustainability to the manufacturing operations. Practitioners and researchers of manufacturing operations commonly face a challenge in integrating sustainability with their areas of interest (Kleindorfer et al., 2005). Currently much innovation is taking place in the manufacturing processes and technologies as well. Cases reveal that innovation, if supported by the lean manufacturing philosophy, may give rise to the three dimensions of sustainability. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider sustainability as a separate entity in manufacturing operations. In other words, sustainability may become a third dimension of supply chain operations. Therefore, future trends of manufacturing operations may be directed towards more lean-supported innovation, which will lead towards quality enhancement, reduction of the total price of the products, energy efficient products and products with a smaller carbon footprint. In a nutshell, the future focus is to create value for organisations and for society (Bayraktar et al., 2007) while considering the afore-stated aspects.

Figure 1 Most cited keywords in the field of manufacturing operations management (January 2000-November 2015)

2. Current trend

Impelled by the impact of the International Conference on Manufacturing Research 2012 (ICMR 2012) conference held at Aston University, Birmingham, UK, the idea for this special issue on "Advances in Manufacturing Operations" emerged. The authors had observed closely some of the core themes of the conference and conversation with the former Editor-in-Chief, Professor David Bennett, the authors decided to organise a special issue with the Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management. The journal was identified, as it was the most appropriate place for the proposed theme. During the preliminary stage, 12 good quality articles were identified from ICMR 2012. After a thorough review and screening of these articles, six papers were found to be suitable for inclusion in the special issue. These screened papers were accepted for publication after some revisions. The papers contain some holistic applied research in the field of manufacturing operations management. Eclectic operations management approaches have been reported in these papers. In the subsequent paragraphs broad overviews of these papers are given.

One of the papers (Soosay et al., 2015) published in this special issue reports the shift in the nature of competition in two countries – Sweden and Australia. The shift is identified as the increasing complexity of the global business environment, and changes in technology and customer expectations.

Another paper (Ayeni et al., 2015) presents an empirical study conducted within a framework of the key characteristics of operations. The approach adopted in this paper assesses the aviation industry's lean status with regard to maintenance, repair and overhaul. The paper teaches that "lean implementation is not limited to purely production activities but to also include service-orientated activities".

Kato et al. (2015) investigate four different theoretical perspectives related to the firm's competitive advantage within business relationships. The paper evaluates the source of automotive suppliers' competitive advantages and the current state of Japanese suppliers' competitiveness as well. The findings of this paper add a meaningful insight to the supplier classification for the chosen sector.

Thomas et al. (2015) identify the tools, methods and models that UK manufacturing companies adopt and apply in order to achieve resiliency and economic sustainability. The paper highlights the issues with existing resiliency and sustainability models. A survey of 72 companies within the UK manufacturing industry provides information on where UK manufacturing companies are adopting specific resiliency and sustainability models. The paper reports that the resiliency/sustainability landscape of the UK manufacturing industries is complex.

The concept of informality and description of the notion of a system combining informality and ERP systems is reported in Wang et al. (2015). The paper is based on empirical research, with four manufacturing case studies of Chinese firms. The paper reports that the system combining four dimension of informality and ERP systems can elicit knowledge from frontline workers, leading to timely improvements in the system.

Identification of the process employed for the strategic management of a manufacturing network is elucidated in Szwejczewski et al. (2015). The process is identified through three manufacturing organisations' cases, in order to guide practitioners in the performance of the task. The paper reports the research conducted within a capital intensive continuous processing manufacturing company. One of the findings of this research is that the integration of a process-focused factory into an existing network of product-focused sites can cause an increase in both the complexity of the coordination of network management and its costs.

Acknowledgements

The three Guest Editors of the special issue entitled "Advances in manufacturing operations" take this opportunity to gratefully acknowledge all of the 23 contributing authors. The anonymous reviewers shared their valuable time in reviewing all these manuscripts and providing constructive comments, which made this special issue possible. The Guest Editors convey heartfelt thanks to Professor Harm-Jan Steenhuis, the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, for providing his support and constructive suggestions from time to time. The Guest Editors extend their heartfelt thanks to the former Editor-in-Chief, Professor David Bennett, without whom the idea of this special issue might not have been made possible. The Guest Editors would also like to acknowledge the cooperation provided by Amy Barson, the Content Editor of Emerald Group Publishing Limited, and Samantha Thompson, the former Managing Editor of Emerald Group Publishing Limited, and the editorial office colleagues who have all endeavoured to bring this Special Issue to print. The Guest Editors feel that this special issue will significantly contribute to the field of manufacturing operations management.

Dr Arijit Bhattacharya Operations, Supply Chain & Logistics Management Group, College of Business Administration, University of Dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Dr Walid Cheffi College of Business and Economics, UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates, and

Dr Prasanta Kumar Dey Operations & Information Management Group, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK

References

Ayeni, P., Ball, P. and Baines, T. (2015), "Towards the strategic adoption of lean in aviation maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) industry: an empirical study into the industry's lean status", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 36-61

Bayraktar, E., Jothishankar, M.C., Tatoglu, E. and Wu, T. (2007), "Evolution of operations management: past, present and future", Management Research News, Vol. 30 No. 11, pp. 843-871

Bhattacharya, A., Dey, P.K. and Ho, W. (2015), "Green manufacturing supply chain design and operations decision support", International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 53 No. 21, pp. 6339-6343

Kato, T., Nunes, B. and Dey, P. (2015), "Is Keiretsu really a source of competitive advantage for Japanese automotive suppliers?", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 62-81

Kleindorfer, P.R., Singhal, K. and Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2005), "Sustainable operations management", Production and Operations Management, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 482-492

Soosay, C., Nunes, B., Bennett, D., Sohal, A., Jabar, J. and Winroth, M. (2015), "Strategies for sustaining manufacturing competitiveness: comparative case studies in Australia and Sweden", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 6-37

Szwejczewski, M., Sweeney, M. and Cousens, A. (2015), "The strategic management of manufacturing networks", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 124-149

Thomas, A., Byard, P., Francis, M., Fisher, R. and White, G. (2015), "Profiling the resiliency and sustainability of UK manufacturing companies", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 82-99

Wang, Y., Greasley, A. and Albores, P. (2015), "Do manufacturing firms need informality in ERP post-implementation? A study of Chinese manufacturing sites", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 100-123