外文翻譯--制造業(yè)改進方法綜述（英文）

1、A review of improvement methods in manufacturing operationsThomas Gru ¨nbergIntroductionEfforts to improve the performance ofcompanies have been important since thestart of the industrial era. The first known andwel

2、l-documented practitioners in the area ofperformance improvement were Adam Smith1776), Eli Whitney 1800), Baggage 1832),Frank B. and Lillian Gilbreth 1900), Taylor1903) and Henry Ford 1913) Johansson,1997; Olhager, 2000)

3、. Since the 1950s,competition between companies hasincreased as markets have becomeincreasingly global and there are no signs thatthis competition will ease. This increasedcompetition creates an ever greater need forfirs

4、t-rate improvement methods that cansustain competitiveness.The origins of a number of the methods ofoperations improvement in use today lie inthe strong development period during andimmediately following the Second World

5、War, principally in the USA. These methodswere imported to, and improved on in, Japan;for example at the Toyota CompanyWomack et al., 1996). Examples of suchmethods are total preventive maintenanceTPM) that originated wi

6、th the simpleconcept of preventive maintenance PM) inthe USA Nord et al., 1997) and total qualitymanagement TQM) developed by Juran andDeming Bergman and Klefsjo ¨, 1995). Theoriginal US methods were successfullyimp

7、orted and adapted to a Japanese way ofworking. From simple, basic concepts andapproaches, the Toyota production systemTPS) was synthesised and resulted in variousadditions and derivative methods like kaizen, 5S and bench

8、marking. Together, suchmethods resulted in the lean manufacturingconcept. When such methods were re-imported into the West, implementation wasoften not fully successful. This is still the caseWomack et al., 1996). Womack

9、 et al. 1996),assert that most Western companies are still’’traditional’’ mass production companies.They exemplify this with General Motors,which has too many plants, too manymanagers and too many workers. However,the de

10、velopment of such methods in Japandid spark a new round of thinking in the Westand the development of a number of newimprovement methods as a competitivecounteraction against the Japanesemovement, e.g. theory of constrai

11、nts TOC),business process reengineering BPR) andThe authorThomas Gru È nberg is employed in the Swedish PostalServices as an industrial PhD candidate, connected toWoxe Ân Centrum, Royal Institute of Technology,

12、 Sweden.KeywordsOperations management, Performance measurement,Improvement, MethodologyAbstractThere is a range of methodologies and techniques aimedat improving the effectiveness and efficiency ofoperational activity. E

13、xamples are business processreengineering, total quality management andorganisation development. Such methods differ from eachother in how ``improvement’’ should be achieved andimplemented and even what to improve. In th

14、is paper anumber of improvement methods, together with theiraims and implementation processes, are discussed. Itbecomes apparent from a review of these methods, basedon the literature available, that none of the methodsp

15、resented is particularly adept at identifying what toimprove ± how to find potential improvement areas. Thepaper describes a performance factor model and ameasurement model designed to fill this gap; they areguides

16、as to what to analyse and how to measure inimprovement work.Electronic accessThe Emerald Research Register for this journal isavailable athttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisterThe current issue and full text arch

17、ive of this journal isavailable athttp://www.emeraldinsight.com/0043-8022.htm89Work StudyVolume 52 . Number 2 . 2003 . pp. 89-93# MCB UP Limited . ISSN 0043-8022DOI 10.1108/004380203104628901930s Westlander, 1999). OD is

18、 less of acontinuous technique than, say, TOC andTQM.This is fairly typical. Each of the methodshas a particular background and was created/developed to solve particular forms ofimprovement problem – or problems withinpa

19、rticular contexts. TPM, for example,focuses on improved machine availability –and improving overall equipment efficiencyJostes and Helms, 1994).The theory of constraints pays attention tobottlenecks. It recognises that i

20、t is importantto increase throughput to a maximum in anybottleneck within a production processRahman, 1998).Business process re-engineering is lessdirectly focused – and is thus more of ageneral improvement methodology.

21、Itsparticular approach is to consider radicalchange as a means of improving operationsVakola and Rezgui, 2000). This radicalchange allows new, revolutionary ideas toevolve; these may make a dramatic change inperformance,

22、 compared to the evolutionaryand incremental improvements that are oftendelivered by the more focused methods. Benchmarking is not really an improvementtechnique as such, more a means ofidentifying areas for improvement.

23、 It focuseson measurement and comparison of businessperformance. This can be a highly revealingexercise – especially if the comparison is withother similar organisations Harrington,1998).TPM, TQM and lean manufacturing f

24、ocuson the reduction of ’’waste’’ – but within aholistic consideration of the ’’big picture’’Sui-Pheng and Khoo, 2001; Karlsson andA Ê hlstro ¨m, 1996; Hawkings, 2001;Gunasekaran et al., 1998).Simulation techni

25、ques may be used asdirect improvement methods – but also oftenact as a support decision tool forimprovement work Johansson andGru ¨nberg, 2001).The only one of these methods thatprescribes where to start to look for

26、improvements is TOC, which tells us to startwith a bottleneck in manufacturing. However,this pre-supposes that more output is therequired outcome.Though the focus of a particular methoddoes indicate broad ’’start’’ areas

27、, the methodsare too generalised to provide specific help inchoosing what to improve in operations.DiscussionThere is an extensive range of change andimprovement methods described within theliterature. Many of them – bec

28、ause they arefocused – presume that some work hasalready taken place to identify the ’’problemarea’’ and thus select the tool.Figure 2 suggests a number of factors thatcould be the target of an improvement project– all m

29、ay have some significant effect onperformance, productivity and profitabilityPPP).A preliminary analysis – for the purposes ofdiagnosis – may involve analysis of waste,cost, etc. Which areas of the business, of aparticul

30、ar department, or of a particularprocess consume the most pay costs, materialcosts, etc. If a relatively quick analysis iscarried out, a Pareto analysis can be used tohelp decide which factors should be the focuson the i

31、mprovement project.The nature of the factor selected might thendictate the particular improvement method tobe used. If not, one of the more generictechniques must be used. Which particular onemay be based on very simple

32、factors such asthe level of existing expertise and experience,the availability of specialist help, etc.Operations improvement often involvesmeasurement, both as a diagnostic tool and asa monitoring tool to measure progre

33、ss andresults. It is not possible to be prescriptive asto what to measure, since that depends on thenature of any ’’problem’’ and the area underreview.A ’’model’’ of a typical ’’process’’ is shownin Figure 3. This is bas

34、ed on a number ofmodels of process mapping and performancemeasurement Anupindi et al., 1999; Slack etal., 1998; Wisner and Fawcett, 1991). Foreach of the major components of the model,it is necessary to consider theappro

35、priateness of measurement to the aimsof the study) and the particular importancewhen measuring speed, volume, cost, qualityand precision.ConclusionThere are many methods available to use inthe improvement of operational

36、activity.Some are relatively) generic; others arespecific to a given area of work. Most of themhave some fundamental similarities. What is91A review of improvement methods in manufacturing operationsThomas Gru Ènber