Search results

ABSTRACTUnderstanding bottlenecks is an in‐class experiential learning exercise designed to improve students' understanding of production system capacity issues. After an introductory teaching session on capacity and constraint management, students are formed into groups of six to assume the roles of one raw material handler, four production workers, and one finished goods receiver and are asked to produce 20 units of product beta. Prior to the start of the exercise, the students are asked to predict the completion time of the 1st, 10th, and 20th units of product beta. When all 20 betas are completed, students compare their predicted completion times to the actual completion times. The results of the game show that while students can easily identify the system's bottleneck, they often have difficulties distinguishing the practical implications of the process time of the system versus the process cycle time; thus, their predicted completion times of the 10th and 20th units are typically overinflated compared to actual completion times. A debrief session is then used to solidify students' understanding of the relationship between bottlenecks and capacity. The exercise is well‐received and highly rated by students; furthermore, it is not resource‐intensive, requiring 40‐45 minutes of classroom time, 20‐25 strips of paper per group, and a visible stopwatch.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address a research gap relating to the understanding of how one type of manufacturing flexibility – mix flexibility – is achieved during day‐to‐day operations.Design/methodology/approachConstructs from coordination theory are used in order to understand the way in which physical manufacturing resources are coordinated during daily operations to produce a company's product mix. A multiple case study methodology is used to investigate the applicability of these constructs in the flour milling industry. Subsequently, a conceptual framework is proposed which captures the coordination mechanisms used in the achievement of mix flexibility.FindingsThe paper finds that mix flexibility requirements influence how a company achieves mix flexibility. Further, the findings indicate that, at an operational level, mix flexibility is achieved via the use of coordination mechanisms to manage specific dependencies relating to mix flexibility requirements.Research limitations/implicationsMix flexibility achievement was studied in a single industry. Future research can test the applicability of the conceptual framework in other manufacturing settings.Originality/valueAn empirical contribution to the study of manufacturing flexibility achievement has been made, where the application of constructs from coordination theory presents a novel approach to the study of manufacturing flexibility achievement.