In this paper, we attempt to investigate how the value chain is configured in several international supply networks and identify the implications that supply network configuration decisions bring to the operation of the network. The aspects of configuration investigated here including allocation of value chain activities including: research and development, procurement, manufacturing, distribut...

The problem starts with the poor working capital position, leading to high raw material cost and uncompetitive final product pricing. This leads to the generation of a very low investible surplus. Not having investible surplus has forced the state-owned manufacturing companies to a financial situation where they are facing severe dearth of capital. The age-old plant and machineries coupled with...

Productivity and Trade Orientation in UK Manufacturing Within a structural model we explicitly allow for the trade orientation of companies to estimate productivity dynamics within 4-digit UK manufacturing industries. We use the FAME data on UK companies over the period 1994-2003. Following Ackerberg et al. (2005) we adjust the algorithm in Olley and Pakes (1996) by augmenting investment and ex...

2 Manufacturing companies have historically had an on-off relation with technology. Most have aggressively adopted traditional technologies such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). However, they have been slow in adopting recent digital technologies such as big data analytics, real-time order confirmation, Web-EDI among others. Moreover, most have adopted technologies to varying extent creat...

Manufacturing companies more and more face the challenge of ensuring sustainable production. In particular, they continuously need to report sustainability data about their products and manufacturing processes that is categorized by various sustainability indicators. However, in a supply chain, such data collection also involves the companies suppliers. Thus, companies must issue cross-organiza...

After-sales services are important to manufacturing companies both as a source of income and as a source of gaining competitive advantage. Searching for new sources of value in the after-sale market is thus of importance for these companies since it could help them to attract customers. Manufacturing companies are now seeking innovative ways to develop after-sales services with the use of remot...

Many manufacturing industries, especially small to medium-sized companies, are in the process of exploring the move from two-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) technologies to three-dimensional CAD tools interfaced with product data management (PDM) systems. For many companies, their current organizational structure is not well suited to fully leverage the capabilities of new CAD/PDM techn...

Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) plays a major role in quality and flexibility improvements in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Advanced manufacturing technologies provide a great potential for improving manufacturing performance to compete in the global markets. Proper decision making in pre-implement and implementation of Robot technology as one of the types of AMT plays an importa...

Nowadays, manufacturing processes have become highly complex. Besides, more and more, governmental institutions require companies to implement systems to trace a product's life (especially for foods, clinical materials or similar items). In this paper, we propose a new framework, based on cyber-physical systems, for developing traceability systems in small manufacturing companies (which because...

This article aims to evaluate the use of lean manufacturing practices, according to SAE J4000, in a supply chain of the pharmaceutical industry. The data were collected in four companies: a manufacturer, a distributor and two suppliers. The results show companies are aligned in only one of the six elements of the standard.