Identifies four factors as constituting the primary basis for global competition in providing customers with value: customization, quality, response time, and price. However, finds that these factors interact in a multiplicative rather than the commonly‐assumed additive manner, giving...

When a functional layout is converted to a cellular layout, the cell design is generally based on a static picture of production volume and part mix, but manufacturing environments face ongoing changes in these parameters. It is expected that, eventually, changes in production volume and part...

Volume flexibility is an important but not very well understood concept that allows a firmto leverage its scarce resources for optimal utilization with upswings and downswings inbusiness. Our research using 3 different research methods suggests that the key problemsin developing a volume...