The design of manufacturing planning and control systems is a strategic decision for manufacturing firms. In this paper we analyze the interrelationships among the choices of planning and control approaches at different hierarchical levels, including sales and operations planning (chase; level), master scheduling (make-to-order; assemble-to-order; make-to-stock), material planning (time-phased;...

We consider a scenario in which we wish to compute a good schedule of jobs using the same machine upon which we will process the scheduled jobs. The jobs to be processed are sufficiently short that the time spent processing a job is comparable to the time spent scheduling that job. We consequently have an interesting trade-off between how much time we should spend thinking about making our job ...

Existing approaches to risk management in construction procurement primarily dwell on strategies designed for commonly identifiable risk factors in typical project environments. Commonly identifiable risk factors would include too early or late material delivery a condition typically ameliorated by implementing a Just In Time (JIT) plan; inferior construction materials typically mitigated by em...

We consider the ship planning problem at maritime container terminals where containers are loaded onto and discharged from ships using quay cranes. The container transport between the ships and the yard positions in the terminal is carried out by a fleet of straddle carriers. Based on a stowage plan provided by the shipping company, the dispatcher assigns containers to specified bay positions. ...

Distributed processing commonly requires data spread across machines using a priori static or hash-based data allocation. In this paper, we explore an alternative approach that starts from a master node in control of the complete database, and a variable number of worker nodes for delegated query processing. Data is shipped just-in-time to the worker nodes using a need to know policy, and is be...

Purpose – This study aims to assess the impact of a JIT-selling strategy on organizational structure by generally replicating the previous work of Germain et al. Design/methodology/approach – In contrast to the sample population of logistics managers surveyed by Germain et al. this research draws on data from manufacturing executives with marketing responsibilities. More importantly, a major li...

It has become increasingly important for educators to examine successful ICT implementations with the aim of understanding precisely what makes them successful in teaching and learning. In this study, an analysis of data from qualitative case studies of four Canadian schools illuminates factors that facilitate successful ICT implementation. Findings suggest that informal ICT education, such as ...

This paper addresses the issue of combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies in management and organization research. It reviews the extant literature, and applies such combined methodology in a research project on vertical strategic alliances, conducted within a just in time manufacturing environment in North America, in 2001. While the major positive and negative aspects are highlig...