International Journal of Global Community (Riksawan Institute - IJGC-RI)
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Semi-interchangeable machines:Implications for workload control
No full textWorkload control (WLC) is developed as a production planning and control concept for make-to-order job shops. Effective WLC requires a profound decision regarding order release to allow balancing the workload across capacity groups. WLC design has to reflect the company characteristics, especially machine characteristics. In practice, machines that perform the same type of operations are generally not completely identical but semi-interchangeable. The importance of the load balancing function requires careful consideration of semi-interchangeability within WLC. This paper develops different control alternatives to deal with semi-interchangeability and tests them in a simulation study. The results of the study indicate that the most intuitive control option-grouping semi-interchangeable machines into a single capacity group and making the routeing decision at dispatching-does not give the best performance, despite the advantages of pooling synergy. For a low degree of interchangeability it is more attractive to place semi-interchangeable machines in separate capacity groups and to make a routeing decision at order release. This enables more detailed load balancing resulting in shorter throughput times. More generally, it is shown to be advantageous to postpone the final routeing decision until dispatching, though considering separate capacity groups for a preliminary routeing decision at the time of release.</p
Foreign bank entry and performance with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe
No full textSince the Fall of the Wall in 1989, large international banks have been opening branches in former Eastern Bloc countries with high expectations. Ilko Naaborg investigated how these banks function in eleven different countries. In 1995, on average, foreign banks made up about 25 percent of the total number of banks. In 2002 that figure had increased to 61 percent. ‘Home advantage’ In the meantime, foreign banks have become the most important providers of financial products in these countries. They dominate the national banks, both in the number of banks and in the assets they manage: from 4% in 1995 to 84% in 2002. Naaborg investigated the financial performance of these banks and compared this with that of the local national banks. Against all expectations, the local national banks turned out to generate more profits – despite their higher overheads. With this conclusion, Naaborg has provided the first evidence of the so-called ‘home advantage’ of national banks. Corruption By 2001, the profitability of foreign banks in Central and Eastern Europe had decreased significantly when compared with the early transition period of the 1990s. In the second part of his thesis, Naaborg highlights the factors that may have influenced this, including political stability, quality of legislation and degree of corruption. Naaborg points out the importance of government policy directed towards improving the institutional environment, including better availability of data concerning local businesses, better legislation to protect both creditors and debtors and a reduction in the susceptibility of the judiciary to corruption
Operational performance of two-stage food production systems:process interactions and capacitated storage
No full textThe food sector has seen several important developments in recent years. First, competition has become fiercer because of the increased market power of food retailing. Secondly, quality legislation has become more stringent due to a growing concern for food safety throughout the society. Third, sustainable production has become more important, and organizations are held responsible for the environmental performance of their production system. In this thesis, several aspects of these developments are studied from an Operations Management perspective. Specific questions that are addressed are: * What are the implications of capacity- and time-constrained intermediate storage on production performance? * What are the performance implications of demand characteristics like high product mix variability and lead time reductions? * How do planning decisions and process configurations influence the realization of product losses The results provide insight in the operational performance of two-stage food production systems with intermediate storage. This performance not only entails competitiveness (through the insights on lead time performance), but also sustainability (through the insight in realization of product losses)
Advanced analysis of branch and bound algorithms
No full textAls de code van een cijferslot zoek is, kan het alleen geopend worden door alle cijfercombinaties langs te gaan. In het slechtste geval is de laatste combinatie de juiste. Echter, als de code uit tien cijfers bestaat, moeten tien miljard mogelijkheden bekeken worden. De zogenaamde 'NP-lastige' problemen in het proefschrift van Marcel Turkensteen zijn vergelijkbaar met het 'cijferslotprobleem'. Ook bij deze problemen is het aantal mogelijkheden buitensporig groot. De kunst is derhalve om de zoekruimte op een slimme manier af te tasten. Bij de Branch and Bound (BnB) methode wordt dit gedaan door de zoekruimte op te splitsen in kleinere deelgebieden. Turkensteen past de BnB methode onder andere toe bij het handelsreizigersprobleem, waarbij een kortste route door een verzameling plaatsen bepaald moet worden. Dit probleem is in algemene vorm nog steeds niet opgelost. De economische gevolgen kunnen groot zijn: zo staat nog steeds niet vast of bijvoorbeeld een routeplanner vrachtwagens optimaal laat rondrijden. De huidige BnB-methoden worden in dit proefschrift met name verbeterd door niet naar de kosten van een verbinding te kijken, maar naar de kostentoename als een verbinding niet gebruikt wordt: de boventolerantie
Review of: Eunice D. Howe (ed.), Art and Culture at the Sistine Court. Platina's "Life of Sixtus IV" and the Frescoes of the Hospital of Santo Spirito. Vatican City (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Studi e testi, 422), 2005
No full textVermogensstructuur van decentrale overheden:theorie en empirie
No full textDit onderzoek tracht de wenselijke en werkelijke vermogensomvang en -structuur van de Nederlandse gemeenten en provincies te bepalen. De volgende vragen komen achtereenvolgend aan bod: • Wat kan de economische theorie zeggen over de gewenste) vermogensstructuur van decentrale overheden? (Hoofdstuk 2) • Hoe ziet de vermogensomvang en -structuur van de Nederlandse decentrale overheden eruit? (Hoofdstuk 3 en 4) o Welke problemen belemmeren het vergelijken van de vermogensposities van Nederlandse gemeenten en provincies (Hoofdstuk 3) o Hoe kan de vermogensomvang en -structuur van de decentrale overheden worden bepaald? (Hoofdstuk 3) o Hoeveel eigen vermogen en vreemd vermogen hebben de Nederlandse decentrale overheden? (Hoofdstuk 4) • Welke factoren zijn van invloed op de feitelijke omvang van het eigen vermogen van Nederlandse gemeenten? (Hoofdstuk 5) • Welke beleidsimplicaties vloeien voort uit deze studie? (Hoofdstuk 6
Determining the cross-channel effects of informational web sites
No full textThis dissertation investigates the effects of an informational Web site on offline behavior, specifically with regard to customer buying behavior in a “traditional” store. This chapter serves to introduce the literature on informational Web sites (§1.2) and the multichannel environment (§1.3). It also highlights that this dissertation contributes to existing literature by providing insights into (1) the effects of informational Web sites, (2) the sequential process of search and purchase in multiple channels, (3) differences in the process across segments and product categories, (4) the effects of free-riding behavior, and (5) methodologies that can be used to measure these effects (§1.4). We provide a number of definitions in Section 1.5 that we use throughout this dissertation. In Section 1.6, we describe the empirical setting of this dissertation. The introductory chapter ends with an overall outline of the dissertation and an overview of the research issues to which it pertains (§1.7)