MANUFACTURING OPERATIONS
Mission Statement
This department encourages the publication of manuscripts that significantly enhance our understanding of how to manage production and distribution processes of manufacturing companies, i.e. the ones that produce physical goods as opposed to services. A variety of issues that relate to the operations management of such companies are of interest to the department, from production planning and scheduling, to inventory management, quality improvement and control, procurement and outsourcing practices, to facilities location, capacity expansion, equipment selection and layout design. We will provide a more detailed list of topics below, without implying that this list is exhaustive in any way.
We welcome papers from the spectrum of paradigms in the broad operations management field. We are open to a diverse set of rigorous methodological approaches, from operations research modeling, to economics or behavioral based models, to surveys, experiments, field based and empirical studies. We are interested in the creation of new theoretical and conceptual models as well as the methodological deepening and rigorous empirical testing of existing theories. Papers that deal at a high level design and operations decisions, or are concerned with tactical day-to-day execution and control issues, or display innovative applications and state-of-the-art practices in manufacturing management are equally welcomed for submission.
The predominant criterion of acceptance for publication of a submitted paper will be its ability to clearly communicate both managerial relevance and methodological rigor.
The fundamental evaluation question posed is if the studied issues in the paper are of significant interest to practicing operations managers and the insights provided constitute substantial contribution to current knowledge and operations practice. Even though there are no restrictions on research methods used, the paper must meet the highest standards of scientific rigor concerning the appropriate selection and competent use of the applied method.
If there are questions on the appropriateness of submission of a particular paper to the department, we invite the author(s) to contact, preferably via email, the department editor. He will be glad to perform an early screening and advise on the suitability of the submission to the department.
Sample list of topics:
- Demand forecasting processes for manufactured goods
- Inventory management
- Production planning and control
- Production sequencing and scheduling
- Lot Sizing and Coordinated Replenishment issues for manufactured and procured raw materials and components
- Quality management and continuous improvement practices
- Quality and reliability control
- Aggregate and workforce planning
- Capacity expansion
- Capacity management
- Productivity measurement and improvement
- Assembly line balancing and production line design
- Material requirements and enterprise resource planning
- Information technology and advanced manufacturing practices
- Lean operations practices
- Synchronous manufacturing and bottleneck scheduling
- Stochastic modeling of production systems
- Managing manufacturing lead times
- Make or buy decisions, and associated outsourcing practices
- Contract manufacturing and third party operations & logistics practices
- Supplier management practices for manufacturing companies
- Push and pull production systems
- Hierarchical production planning
- Simulation of production systems and their applications
- Work-in-process management and production lead time control
- Shop floor control
- Design of facilities networks
- Facility location
- Facility layout
- Equipment and manufacturing technology selection
- Interfaces between design and manufacturing practices
- Information technology and process reengineering
- Advanced warehousing, material handling and distribution practices for manufacturing companies
- Behavioral management and team work elements in manufacturing management
- Group technology and focused manufacturing practices
- Global operations issues
- Managing manufacturing operations in developing countries
- Integrated risk management for global operations.
Departmental Editors
Professor Li Chen
Cornell University
li.chen@cornell.edu
Professor Panos Kouvelis
Olin School of Business
kouvelis@olin.wustl.edu
Senior Editors
W.C. Benton, Ohio State University
Onur Boyabatli, Singapore Management University
Zhi-Long Chen, University of Maryland
Tinglong Dai, Johns Hopkins University
Lingxiu Dong, Washington University in St. Louis
Neil Geismar, Texas A&M University
Michael Ketzenberg, Texas A&M University
Cuihong Li, University of Connecticut
Yun Fong Lim, Singapore Management University
Mili Mehrotra, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Adam J. Mersereau, University of North Carolina
Joseph Milner, University of Toronto, Canada
Harihara P. Natarajan, University of Miami
Tava Olsen, University of Melbourne
Anand Paul, University of Florida
Tharanga Rajapakshe, University of Florida
George Tagaras, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Yu (Sammi) Tang, University of Miami
Danko Turcic, University of California at Riverside
George Vairaktarakis, Case Western Reserve University
Jing Wu, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Xiaole Wu, Fudan University
