Developing effective strategies for managing factory operations is an ongoing concern of managers and researchers.1 Effective manufacturing practices include employing technically oriented managers and multiskilled workers, organizing for cross-functional problem solving, and adopting cellular manufacturing, especially in the context of assembly processes, job-shop manufacturing, and computer-integrated manufacturing.2 Typical best practices for lean manufacturing encompass the use of pull systems (i.e., just-in-time, low inventories, short setups, and make-to-order), the use of statistical process control (SPC), emphasis on immediate resolution of quality problems, cultivation of multiskilled workers, and use of worker teams. In general, best practices and factory operations in most industries have dramatically improved as knowledge of the principles of manufacturing operations has broadened. However, some discrete-manufacturing solutions, for example, pull systems or traditional SPC, may not apply or may not be adequate for production processes such as continuous-type or hybrid operations. This article suggests that, for many such processes, the management of technical complexity is a pertinent issue. I present detailed factory-level data from a three-year research project of the global color picture tube industry, which uses a process that is a hybrid of continuous and assembly processes. I note several factory practices that confirm previous studies and point to important differences between the methods considered to be most appropriate... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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