Purpose – Aims to show that material flow concepts developed and successfully applied to commercial products and services can form equally well the architectural infrastructure of effective healthcare delivery systems. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on the “power of...

Reviews the dynamic operation of supply chains and reaches some simple conclusions for reducing demand amplification, which consequently attenuates swings in both production rates and stock levels. The results are based on one particular supply chain, for which the use of systems simplification...

The Law of Industrial Dynamics ensures that if a production control system can amplify then it will surely find a way of doing so despite the best efforts of production schedulers to take corrective action. In fact, practical studies show that such human intervention frequently aggravates the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to exploit site‐based research evidence from a range of value streams so as to prioritise the industrial engineering (IE) foci necessary to move towards the goal of a seamless demand chain. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 40 real‐world...

The UK cast iron foundry industry is surveyed in terms of past performance, present situation and future trends. The traditional “feast or famine” image is discussed in terms of the actions required to improve quality, customer relationships and performance. The article highlights these...