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A heuristic procedure for scheduling production rolls of paper through a finishing operation to cut them down to finished roll sizes is described. The ratio of service time to interarrival time of production rolls at the initial cutting station is large so that insufficient time is available to set it up unless a minimum number of production roils are to be processed in the same manner. Otherwise, some portion of each production roll must go through a reprocessing operation to complete the cutting of finished sizes. The objective is to minimize the cost of trim loss and reprocessing. The procedure generates cutting patterns and usage levels sequentially until all the requirements are satisfied. At each step the search is dependent upon the characteristics of the unsatisfied requirements. A maximum of three solutions is generated for each problem. If none satisfies a predetermined aspiration level, the best of the three is chosen. The procedure was evaluated by scheduling a specific paper production facility and observing the results for a set of 15 problems. For each problem, the best solution was recorded. The overall results from this set of problems were then compared to previously recorded results on problems solved manually. There was a 16% improvement in solution quality for the heuristic procedure relative to the manual method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some of the implications of technological modifications and improvements on industrial management in two types of advanced manufacturing systems displaying flow-like characteristics and designated "process" and "quasi-process" systems. Technological advances often result in the structuring of functional relationships and responsibilities, and affect development of an organizational control system which includes human, procedural and mechanical elements. This analysis is based on field research studies as well as studies reported in the literature. Theoretical considerations and empirical findings are set forth to account for organizational developments such as the simplification or complication of organizational structure. Finally, the managerial-supervisory job functions emerging in these advanced systems provide a basis for clarifying the role of supporting groups and added considerations for a key executive function such as managerial manpower planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new conceptual and analytical vehicle for problems of temporal planning under uncertainty, involving determination of optimal (sequential) stochastic decision rules is defined and illustrated by means of a typical industrial example. The paper presents a method of attack which splits the problem into two non-linear (or linear) programming parts, (i) determining optimal probability distributions, (ii) approximating the optimal distributions as closely as possible by decision rules of prescribed form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a systematic procedure for obtaining the optimum packaging frequencies for a number of items which are manufactured jointly but packaged individually immediately after manufacture. The method described in the paper is equally applicable to those problems where the optimum purchasing policy is to be obtained for a number of items procured from a single supplier. An example involving twenty jointly replenished items is solved to illustrate the procedure given in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an algorithm that will minimize the total processing time for a particular case of the n-job, m-machine scheduling problem. In many industrial processes, jobs are processed by a given sequence of machines. Often, once the processing of a job commences, the job must proceed immediately from one machine to the next without encountering any delays en route. The machine sequence need not be the same for all jobs. Because of this processing constraint that prohibits intermediate queues, most normal scheduling techniques are not applicable. This paper obtains a solution to this constrained scheduling problem by modeling it as a traveling-salesman problem; known solution techniques can then be employed. The paper solves a sample problem and discusses computational considerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts of studies on industrial economics which were published in the November 1964 issue of The Journal of Industrial Economics. The paper titled Decreasing Marginal Cost in Brick Production, by Richard S. Bower, examines the factors that affect production process in the brick industry. The paper titled Gasoline Marketing in the U.S. -- The First Fify Years, by D. F. Dixon, suggests the types of changes which may be expected in the gasoline industry in Great Britain in relation to the distributive structure of the gasoline industry in the U.S. The paper titled On the Idea of a Market, by R. D. Entenberg and A. J. Boness, considers the appropriateness of models of competitive equilibrium to problems of practical market analyses.

This paper considers an N period production planning problem in which a sequence of known demands d[sub 1], d[sub 2], ···, d[sub N] must be satisfied. The cost of production in period t consists of a setup cost K[sub i] plus a marginal cost per unit c[sub t]. The cost of carrying a unit of inventory into period t is h[sup t-1]. An optimal policy is a production plan that satisfies demand st minimum cost. The main results of the paper are a theorem that decreases the computational effort required to find optimal policies and a theorem that establishes the existence of planning horizons. The results of these two theorems are combined in a forward algorithm for the efficient solution of the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a new type of learning function useful in describing how firms improve their performances in new processes. The function, termed the "adaptation function," is shown to be capable of being related to variables that may affect a firm's rate of learning. Next, these variables are discussed, and the adaptation function is fitted to some actual sets of data. Finally, the paper turns to some normative implications of the function. Specifically, the adaptation function is shown to be useful to firms in their budgeting of training and in aiding their equipment replacement decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses economic aspects of manufacturing industries based on the classification of their output into three different types of establishments. In the typical manufacturing industry the plants owned by "diversified" companies are, on the average, larger and have more value added per employee and per dollar of payroll than do the multi-unit single-industry plants, and these in turn bear a similar relationship to the single-unit plant. Several alternative explanations of this phenomenon will be considered. Second, the paper develops and tests the hypothesis that differences in rates of return between industries can be predicted by the extent to which an industry's output is accounted for by multi-unit or single-unit plants. There are a few deficiencies in the statistical treatment of the various types of companies which also should be considered in interpreting these results. Perhaps the most important is the exclusion of proprietors of unincorporated businesses from the employees.

Substantial organizational modifications are taking place in a number of areas of process related industries where, as in steel production, many features of the newer technologies are incorporated. This paper reports on some of the managerial manpower implications arising out of a series of innovations and improvements in a steel production unit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For solving the flow-shop scheduling problem, this paper examines elimination techniques that reduce the set of solutions to a subset that must contain the optimal solution being sought. The paper shows (1) that the elimination method of SZWAKC [Naval Res. Log. Quart. 18, 295–305(1971)] removes at least as many solutions as any other method, and is therefore optimal, and (2) how to construct a general counterexample to any procedure that removes more sequences than this optimal method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the determinants of international diffusion of technological progress. Though it is a special case, our study of the oxygen steel-making process, we feel, has thrown some light on this important problem. We will now summarise the conclusions of our study. 1. We have found that in the case of the oxygen steel-making process an allegation of development theorists that technical change originating in the industrialised countries tends to have a labour-saving bias and hence is unsuitable for underdeveloped countries is not valid. Compared with the open-hearth process, the L-D process represents essentially neutral technical change, saving approximately equally on capital and labour inputs. Compared with the electric furnace process, the L-D process presents a case of capital-saving technical change, though both factor inputs are reduced. Thus, it cannot be asserted that the oxygen steel-making process is an innovation unsuitable for adoption in underdeveloped countries. Even the argument of lack of skilled labour does not carry much force because the oxygen steel-making process does not require any more of special skills. It merely needs a different kind of skill than the labour employed in open-hearth steel production, and since these countries have to train their labour in either skill, they can as well train them in the oxygen steel plants. 2. In the case of steel production one could argue that raw material factors (types of ore and amount of scrap available) and quality of product produced would play an important role in the choice of a process. We have investigated the problems of ore flexibility, scrap flexibility and product flexibility between different processes and found that these factors should not affect the choice between different processes of steel production (at least during the past seven or eight years). 3. One factor that has been frequently emphasised is the role of the size of the market ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about the corporation school related to education in industry. The distinguishing characteristics of the corporation school is that the corporation must be responsible for the activities which are carried on. Classes maintained in connection with the university extension, night schools, and some day schools engage in similar types of educational work. But it is with schools and classes maintained by industrial corporations for their employees, apart from any outside control, that this paper is directly concerned. To find the purpose back of these schools we must consider the rapidly growing chasm between the educational organization and an industrial system constantly becoming more complex. Because of the rapid changes in machine production and the consequent specialization in manufacturing processes the industrial system has undergone increasingly rapid changes. Most of the work is a specialized preparation for a particular job but there is some overlapping with the public school.

The classical formulation of the static job shop scheduling problem with job due dates implies that the question of interest to the manager is: What is the best that can be done to meet due dates with fixed resources? Here, two alternative formulations of the problem are proposed; one because of its practical appeal, the other because of its methodological appeal. The latter is used to develop a multi-pass heuristic scheduling procedure aimed at providing a practical tool for attacking any of the three formulations of the problem. This paper describes the basic structure of the scheduling procedure, the machine coding of a specific version of the procedure, and computational experience with a set of test problems ranging in size up to fourteen jobs and seven machines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the modeling and analysis of a one-machine two-product, integrated production-inventory system. A semi-Markovian model is developed which incorporates a state dependent control system heretofore not used in integrated production-inventory models. Control optimization is achieved through the use of Markov-renewal programming. The model is exercised over a range of parameters in order to determine the characteristics of the system. An analysis of the experimental results leads to the following conjectures about the production-inventory system: 1. For the production-inventory system, the economic manufacturing quantity is greater than that seen in the deterministically derived EMQ. The increase results primarily from increases in expected overtime costs and expected setup costs rather than increases in stockout costs. This is important for applications, since overtime and setup costs are a good deal easier to quantify than stockout costs in a real system. 2. Under some conditions, deterministically derived rules for the application of overtime have merit in a stochastic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A firm may cut costs by installing more parts than its products require. Each product or application requires a specified number of parts such as inductors, resistors and capacitors. For assembly and maintenance reasons, parts are grouped into subassembly modules. If there are economies of scale in manufacturing subassembly modules, it may be worthwhile to standardize on a few module designs that will be used in all products or applications even though a few more parts than needed are installed. The cost of giving away extra parts by using few standard modules must be balanced against the fixed costs of producing more types of standard modules. In the multi-market problem there is a fixed cost with the production of a module, and then another fixed cost when the module is used in a market. The paper presents a solution procedure and the time results of computer runs for the problem of finding the best standard modules for a multi-product, multi-market corporation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent papers have introduced specific input variables in unrestricted Cobb-Douglas functions to define production relationships and obtain measures of technological change for industries and sector classifications. In a similar manner this paper incorporates the engineering, economic, and time aspects of the production process for the computer industry in several statistical models. The purpose of the study is to illustrate that technological change can be accounted for by specific innovations of the industry and that these measures can serve as measures of capital embodied technological change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the problem of scheduling production from one period to the next to minimize long-run expected costs where the only relevant considerations are the expense of revising production and the charges related to inventory. We first consider the case of constant sales known over time in order to compare exact and approximate solutions. The approach to these solutions is based on minimizing the costs of deviating from long-run equilibrium values of production and inventory. The same approach is then used to handle the more realistic possibility of uncertain future demands. Solutions are obtained for both linear and quadratic inventory and production cost functions. Because future demand is assumed to be specified by some probability distribution, inventory costs must be approximated in order to obtain a closed-form solution; however, the result should differ insignificantly from an exact optimal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is the thesis of this paper that the production process has an operating logic whose kernel is found in an organizational plan and program. In this sense there exist only two types of organization, classically identified as the straight-line type and the job-shop type. Considered in usual analytical terms, no industrial plant is completely of one type or of the other. However, the two types are sharply distinguishable -- indeed they are opposites -- in terms, particularly, of their programs, which refer to organic, rather than analytical, parameters. This oppositeness of the two types of production process leads to distinct sets of operating characteristics. Thus, for instance, in the straight-line case the property of functional independence among elementary operations leads to a production sequencing order which is essentially fixed, with linkages based on work pace rather than work content. Conversely in the job-order case, there are functional interrelationships among organic work phases, leading to a variable production sequencing order based on work content rather than work pace. Within this framework the paper traces in each case the logical connections between the particular aspects of the production process, such as in production plans, loadings and schedules, and also in production flow characteristics. The consequences of this with regard to the nature and application of control techniques are also shown, as are the reflections on manpower distribution and wage-payment plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the accounting methods related to start-up products and production processes. The learning curve model is used in start-up product manufacturing processes and, as production and engineering personnel gain experience, productivity increases due to innovations. 24 steel industry start-up processes for 2 integrated firms were looked at and claimed the achieved productivity at the end of the processes was 1.6-11 times greater than the average during the first month of operation.

Past economic development efforts have over-emphasized production problems and neglected marketing problems. The thesis of this article is that marketing "barriers" exist which impede economic growth in developing Latin American societies. The author describes a systems approach for inducing national market development and facilitating economic progress through selective reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on technological innovations, particularly automation, and the impact these developments can have on all segments of business. Most of the significant progress in automation has previously been confined to production processes and manufacturing. Only recently have automation methods been linked with marketing. This has been confined largely to warehousing, transportation, order picking and handling. These innovations speed up the distribution process and lower marketing costs. But what about the other important marketing functions: selling; new product development and testing; communications, including advertising, public relations, and publicity; packaging; and marketing research?

Evolutionary Operation (EVOP) was proposed by Box (1957) and Box and Draper (1969) as an optimizing technique for routine use in industrial processes. To overcome the shortcomings, real or imaginary, of EVOP various modifications were proposed of which Simplex EVOP (Spendley et al., 1962) is the only one, as far as is known, to have been used to any extent. Rotating Square and Random Evolutionary Operation techniques (Lowe,, 1964) mean not to have been used and the author is not aware of any other applications of these two techniques. In this paper some applications of Box-EVOP and Simplex EVOP to chemical manufacturing processes are considered and some suggestions are made why evolutionary operation is not widely used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates and formulates the relationships among average incoming quality limit (AIQL), production process quality level and average fraction defective after production process for a single-stage manufacturing connected-unit situation. Cost components of the system are identified. In order to derive minimum cost single sampling plans where inspection is by attribute, a mathematical model is developed and plans are obtained using discrete optimization for the total expected loss function subject to AIQL and AOQL equality constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an algorithm that will yield the minimum make-span sequence for n-jobs requiring processing through M-machines when no passing is allowed. Theoretical development utilizing combinatorial analysis and proof of sequence optimality precedes the algorithm and an example problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of finding optimal inventory control schemes has received considerable attention in the literature for the case of one inventory at a given location in a production process or distribution system. Almost no analytical work has been devoted to systems of interacting inventories at different locations, and to the problem of selecting optimal inventory locations from a number of possible ones. This is the subject of the present paper. The traditional cost-of-shortage concept is given up in favor of a functional relation between expected demand and average delivery time to the customer. The measure of system performance is sales revenue minus inventory carrying cost. A method employing a combination of dynamic programming and a one-dimensional maximization procedure, yields the optimal inventory locations as well as the corresponding order rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]