Global Manufacturing Research Articles

Pre-owned fashion as sustainable consumerism? Opportunities and challenges in the Vietnam market

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify opportunities and challenges for small- to medium-sized pre-owned fashion enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam. While recent studies have identified the growth of pre-owned fashion in developed economies, pre-owned clothing remains negatively associated by some consumers with overseas charity donations of second-hand clothes to Vietnam, following the economic upheaval of the 1980s.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data were collected via semi-structured in-depth interviews with founders and/or owners of pre-owned fashion SMEs (n = 5, aged 25–40 years) with physical stores located in Ho Chi Minh City alongside online retail platforms. All interviewees are significant industry and consumer influencers.FindingsYounger Vietnamese consumers are motivated by (1) pre-owned fashion's value for money compared to buying new western branded luxury items and (2) the ability of pre-owned and vintage fashion to allow the wearer to create a unique personal style. While Vietnamese consumers and retailers associate “sustainable fashion” with various, often unrelated concepts, the impact of global and local discourse around sustainable fashion in the last five years has generally supported wider interest in pre-owned fashion.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the relatively modest pool of English-language research on the fashion and textiles industry in Vietnam, a global fast-fashion manufacturing hub. The findings advance understanding of how pre-owned fashion is growing as a high-end niche market despite significant supply chain restrictions as well as a lingering perception of pre-owned fashion as charitable donations.

Combating copycatting from emerging market suppliers in global supply chains

We examine how different strategies can be used to protect global manufacturers from the prevalent issue of supplier copycatting in emerging markets. In particular, using a game‐theoretical model, we consider a manufacturer that sells a product to an emerging market, which requires the completion of multiple tasks. The manufacturer can perform any of these tasks in‐house or outsource any of them to an emerging market supplier. The former approach carries a higher cost, while the latter puts the manufacturer's intellectual property (IP) at risk of supplier copycatting. Either the manufacturer or the emerging market government can exert enforcement effort to protect the IP rights within the supply chain. Our results show that, surprisingly, there are cases where the manufacturer should outsource fewer tasks when in‐house production is more costly. Further, even though the supplier is the target of the enforcement, we show that the manufacturer's enforcement effort can help the supplier but hurt customers and the emerging market. Concerning whether the government or the manufacturer should take responsibility for IP protection, we recommend that the government enforce IP protection when the manufacturer has a weak brand quality and that the manufacturer enforce IP protection when it has a strong brand. This managerial insight provides a theoretical framework for the recent practitioners’ debate about who should be responsible for protecting IP rights within the supply chain.

Formulation of research and development strategy by analysing patent portfolios of key players the semiconductor industry according to patent strength and technical function

Silicon wafer is the base material of chips and is an important manufacturing technology in semiconductor industry. This research conducts international patent analysis of five major patentees, SUMCO, Shin-Etsu, GlobalWafers, Siltronic, and SK Siltron, also the top five global silicon wafer manufacturers in the world, in order to get research and development strategy.Qualitative and quantitative analysis of technology and means on entire industry as well as individual companies are visualized by technology means matrix, comprehensiveness, and relative patent advantage index. Two categories of indicators of “Patent Portfolio Strength” and “Patented Technology Strength” are calculated, and the patent portfolios of assignees are shown on 2D map.The results demonstrated by taking the GlobalWafers as an example to formulate its R&D strategy, it is lack of patent at manufacturing apparatus, raw material manufacturing, and inspection method, and lack of function objective at melt level, crystallographic, and crucible improvement. These may be the points of breaking through technical barriers. It is good suggestion to increase the average number of independent claims and the ratio of PCT applications to improve the quality of international patent portfolios. The advice from patent technology strength analyses is that it needs to develop more advanced technology.

Does industrial robot application promote green technology innovation in the manufacturing industry?

Manufacturing green technology innovation is important in achieving climate goals and is the key in promoting sustainable economic development. Using the industrial robot data and manufacturing green technology innovation data from 34 countries from 1993 to 2019, this paper reveals the mechanism and heterogeneity of the application of industrial robots (IRA) affecting green technology innovation (GTI) in the global manufacturing sector. The results indicate the following: (1) The IRA significantly promotes GTI, and the endogenous and robustness tests show that the results are robust. (2) The IRA promotes GTI with a dual-channel mechanism—the mediating effect of green R&D investment and the moderating effect of environmental regulation. (3) There is two-dimensional heterogeneity in terms of the application industries and regions in terms of the green technology innovation effects of industrial robot applications. (4) In addition, the implementation of Industry 4.0 is in favor of the stimulating effects of industrial robots on green technology innovation. Finally, valuable policy advices are proposed based on the empirical results.

Sustainable supply chain management in the leather industry: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT As a global manufacturing sector, the leather industry has been a critical player in the international commerce market. With growing concerns about its sustainability, there tends to be an increasing number of studies in academic literature as well as grey literature (e.g. industry reports) focusing on leather supply chain management. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive review of the current research that illustrates the relationships between sustainable leather supply chain governance practices and their antecedents and consequences. This paper aims to identify the main themes of sustainable leather supply chains through a systematic literature review of 61 studies published between 1992 and 2022 identified from the Scopus and WoS databases and industry reports and propose a theoretical framework based on the thematic findings for future research. In these contexts, five themes were identified from the literature: drivers, practice, barriers, enablers and outcomes of sustainable supply chain governance in the leather industry. Ultimately, a conceptual framework identifying the themes and their linkages was developed. The article also suggests future research directions and managerial implications.

A multi‐perspective exploration of the environmental website disclosure in global manufacturing

AbstractIn this work, more than 340 of the largest manufacturing companies from China, Europe, Japan, and the United States are analysed to measure the extent of their environmental website disclosure from multiple perspectives, to explore determining factors of disclosure and to investigate whether disclosure correlates to scores of environmental performance ratings. The study data set included more than 80 website observation items, data about downloadable annual sustainability reports, financial performance data and the environmental scores in the CDP Rating and the Refinitiv ESG Scores. Descriptive statistical analyses and correlation analyses were performed for the entire sample and for the regional subsets of the sample. One of the major results is that all regions show low levels of website disclosure. However, some variation in the extent of disclosure was found. The lowest level of disclosure was found for Chinese websites. Higher levels were observed for the companies from Europe, Japan and the United States. The analysis of the reports revealed that only one‐third of the sample companies from China but more than half of the companies from Europe, Japan and the United States supply recent reports. It was also found that integrated reports are less used in the United States, particularly when compared with companies from Europe and Japan. Insights also suggest that there is a weak to moderate correlation between one of the disclosure scores used and the Refinitiv ESG Scores. Further correlation analyses did not provide indications that company age and financial performance are to be considered determining factors of environmental website disclosure.

Design and Implementation of a Logistics Decision Support Platform Based on Global Manufacturing From the Perspective of the Belt and Road Initiative

The belt and road initiative development strategy proposed by Secretary General Xi Jinping is currently being carried out. The world economy will work more closely together, and the logistics industry will advance to higher level of development. In this paper, to help realize improved world-wide logistics, a decision-making platform based on global manufacturing was built from a survey and an analysis of the overall competitiveness of the logistics industry in terms of demand for logistics services and logistics service capabilities. The platform was found to offer good performance and meet the application requirements.

Economic policy uncertainty and investment-cash flow sensitivity: evidence from India

PurposeThis study examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on the investment-cash flow sensitivity (ICFS) of Indian manufacturing firms.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses the fixed-effect method to investigate the effect of EPU on ICFS from 2004 to 2019.FindingsThis study finds that EPU increases ICFS, which is more (less) during the crisis (before and post-crisis) period. The authors also find that the effect of EPU on ICFS is more for smaller, younger and standalone (SA) firms than the larger, matured and business group affiliated (BGA) firms. This study also reveals that EPU reduces corporate investment (CI). Further, the authors find that cash flow is more significant for the investment of financially constrained firms and the negative effect of EPU is more for these firms.Research limitations/implicationsThis study considers the Indian manufacturing sector. Therefore, this study can be extended by analyzing the relationship between EPU and ICFS for the service sector.Practical implicationsFirst, this study can be useful for corporates, academicians and government bodies to understand the effect of EPU on ICFS and CI. Second, this study will help corporates to focus on internal funds to finance corporates' investment during the crisis period because EPU increases the cost of external finance which may increase ICFS and reduce CI. Third, lending agencies, investors and stakeholders should also focus on the firm's nature, ownership, size and age because these factors play a crucial role to reduce or increase the negative effect of EPU on ICFS. Fourth, the Government should make appropriate policy measures in terms of concessional interest rates to increase the easy availability of external finance for SA, small size, and young firms to reduce the negative effect of EPU on CI because these firms are considered as more financially constrained firms.Originality/valueThis study adds new inputs to the current literature of EPU in several ways. First, this study is one of the main studies focused on the relationship between EPU and ICFS (CI). Especially in emerging countries like India, examining this relationship extends previous research. Second, this study also examines the impact of EPU on ICFS for BGA, SA, small, large, matured and young firms as well as crisis and non-crisis periods. Third, this study uses the sample of the Indian manufacturing sector which has emerged the qualities to become a global manufacturing hub and attracting global investors. Therefore, examining the effect of EPU on ICFS for these firms will be more interesting.

Driving Factors and Mechanisms of AMT Application Levels for Equipment Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on Programmatic Grounded Theory

As a major part of the global manufacturing industry attaining technological upgrades, the adoption and application of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) plays a vital role in the development of enterprises. Thus, it is of the utmost significance to examine the driving factors that affect AMT application levels in equipment manufacturing enterprises. Through extensive interviews, the use of the qualitative research method of grounded theory, and the three-stage coding of the interview data from intelligent manufacturing pilot demonstration enterprises and projects, this study identified the key influencing factors for the AMT application levels of equipment manufacturing enterprises. We obtained 46 concepts and extracted 18 key categories and 6 main categories. Then, the logical relationships between the main categories were established. Finally, a driving factor model for the AMT application levels of equipment manufacturing enterprises was constructed. The results reveal that the driving factors that affect the AMT application levels of equipment manufacturing enterprises can be summarized as capability factors (technical capability, market capability, and management capability), motivation factors (material incentives and development incentives), and opportunity factors (external stakeholders). Overall, this study proposed a mechanism from the three aspects of ability, motivation, and opportunity.

Embedding in Global Value Chains, Innovative Human Capital and China’s Manufacturing Upgrades

Since the reform and opening up, China has actively participated in the Global Value Chain (GVC) division of labor system and achieved rapid economic growth and moderate industrial upgrading. However, with the rapid development of GVC, more and more countries are participating in the global competition, and China’s manufacturing industry is facing the serious challenge of “two-way squeeze” from the return of high-end and low-end transfer. This paper constructs a theoretical framework of GVC embedding and innovative human capital accumulation affecting manufacturing upgrading, and empirically examines the impact of GVC embedding location enhancement and innovative human capital accumulation on manufacturing upgrading from the perspective of product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The findings show that innovative human capital accumulation enhances the positive effect of GVC embedding on product upgrading and efficiency upgrading. The extent of this effect varies across types of industries; for product upgrading, the positive regulating effect of innovative human capital on the positive relationship between embedded location and China’s manufacturing upgrading is most pronounced in labor-intensive industries; for efficiency upgrading, innovative human capital plays a more significant positive regulating effect in capital-intensive and technology-intensive industries. Based on the above conclusions, the Chinese government should strengthen diversified investment in high-level talents and invest in the expansion of cooperative learning platforms in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the global value chain manufacturing industry, establish and improve relevant laws and regulations on intellectual property protection and transformation of innovation results, and solve the problem of deviation of talents from optimal allocation, so as to better exert the regulating effect of innovative human capital and promote the upgrading of China's manufacturing industry.

Research on China’s Manufacturing Industry Moving towards the Middle and High-End of the GVC Driven by Digital Economy

A country’s manufacturing industry is often an important route for national prosperity, but it is also a conduit by which a digital economy may become truly useful. This is so the deep integration of the digital economy and manufacturing industry can enhance independent innovation efficiencies, promote the development of advanced manufacturing clusters, and constantly spawn new models, forms of business, and industries. Consequently, it is crucial to improve China’s global manufacturing value chain. This article starts with an analysis of the development status and competitiveness of the digital economy in China and abroad. It establishes a structural equation and uses the latest data from the World Input-Output and Asian Development Bank databases. It introduces new variables, such as digitization, research and development (R&D) investment, and industrial scale to empirically analyze China’s manufacturing industry’s global value chain (GVC). The results show that the digitization of China’s manufacturing industry can increase the forward participation of GVC in the manufacturing industry to improve the division status of GVCs. Analyses suggest that due to insufficient R&D investment in the division of labor in the GVCs, China’s manufacturing industry is prone to low-end lock-in, inefficient industrial structures, and weak innovation ability. Consequently, the following suggestions are proposed: China’s manufacturing industry needs to accelerate digital transformation, increase R&D investment, actively participate in the division of labor in the GVCs, and enhance core competitiveness.

If Electric Cars Are Good for Reducing Emissions, They Could Be Even Better with Electric Roads.

This research investigates carbon footprint impacts for full fleet electrification of Swedish passenger car travel in combination with different charging conditions, including electric road system (ERS) that enables dynamic on-road charging. The research applies a prospective life cycle analysis framework for estimating carbon footprints of vehicles, fuels, and infrastructure. The framework includes vehicle stock turnover modeling of fleet electrification and modeling of optimal battery capacity for different charging conditions based on Swedish real-world driving patterns. All new car sales are assumed to be electric after 2030 following phase-out policies for gasoline and diesel cars. Implementing ERS on selected high-traffic roads could yield significant avoided emissions in battery manufacturing compared to the additional emissions in ERS construction. ERS combined with stationary charging could enable additional reductions in the cumulative carbon footprint of about 12–24 million tons of CO2 over 30 years (2030–2060) compared to an electrified fleet only relying on stationary charging. The range depends on uncertainty in emission abatement in global manufacturing, where the lower is based on Paris Agreement compliance and the higher on current climate policies. A large share of the reduction could be achieved even if only a small share of the cars adopts the optimized battery capacities.

The effect of team-member knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) and a common learning experience on sourcing teamwork effectiveness

PurposeA lack of sourcing-specific team research prevents a full understanding of sourcing teamwork effectiveness (STE). Moreover, the limited purchasing and supply management (PSM) team literature often tends to focus on an aggregate group level. The paper makes a step towards adopting an individual actor perspective on teamwork effectiveness with an emphasis on the context of sourcing, explicating the effects of team-member knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs), and examining how these relationships are moderated by a common learning experience of strategic sourcing masterclass.Design/methodology/approachBased on a cross-sectional survey, this study analyses a sample of 90 sourcing team members from a global aerospace manufacturing company using hierarchical regression analysis.FindingsThe results suggest that four of the five KSAs positively and significantly affect STE; the exception was collaborative problem solving. Masterclass learning outcomes were found to positively moderate the effects of these KSAs on STE, again exclusive of the collaborative problem-solving KSA.Research limitations/implicationsCross-sectional design focused only on the aerospace sector may affect generalizability. Further, longitudinal research designs would capture the effects of the common learning experience over an extended period.Practical implicationsSourcing team members could be selected based on having KSAs which significantly affect teamwork effectiveness. Training and development for sourcing teams should combine guided reflexivity and cross-training to deliver learning outcomes that create similar team mental models.Originality/valueThe study provides an individual team-member perspective on the functioning of sourcing teams which is absent in the extant research. It contributes to the very limited research base on skills in PSM.

Supply chain transparency for sustainability – an intervention-based research approach

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all manufacturing sectors from basic products to luxury goods including the automobile industry. This has necessitated a new line of research on competency building, transparency, and sustainability in automotive supply chains. In this study, the authors examine the competencies required to improve the automotive supply chain routine operations to address the parts supply crisis from multitier suppliers in the post-COVID-19 environment. The authors also propose a list of competencies required in the automotive supply chains to deploy the transparency for sustainability (TfS) framework on a long-term basis.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have adapted a cross-case study process using intervention-based research and a design science approach for use in this study and used multiple sources for data collection such as published literature, operational experience, and critical opinions of original equipment manufacturer representatives. The research design includes interviews with global OEMs practitioners as one of the relevant sources of information.FindingsThe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak on automotive manufacturing operations and global supply chains is unprecedented. The TfS framework cycle has been validated using the real-world semiconductor supply crisis which deals with multitier sustainable supply chain management (MTSSCM), and the authors found that there are competency gaps when compared with existing literature. The list of key competencies identified along with the formulation of design propositions to facilitate both the supply crisis and collaboration among automotive firms to enhance their business performance were also presented.Research limitations/implicationsThe COVID-19 pandemic is impacting the automobile sector significantly. This situation has created many opportunities and obstacles, but this paper only considers the automotive semi-conductor shortage situation, which may be resolved in the near future when there are more installed capacities. Therefore, it is unclear whether the proposed responses will result in long-term solutions. Further adjustments may be needed to revisit the TfS framework. The research paper only addresses the automotive side of the current supply crisis, but more sustainability issues may arise in the future, which need to be dealt with separately.Practical implicationsResearch findings may prove particularly interesting to global automotive vehicle manufacturers, suppliers and policy makers who are seeking to understand multitier supply networks to resolve the current challenges associated with the post-COVID-19 pandemic situation.Originality/valueIn addition to contributing to developing competency requirements, this study enhances the evolving research stream of MTSSCM by linking it to wider research applications of intervention-based research coupled with design science.

Эпик фейл ЦИФРОВОЙ ТРАНСФОРМАЦИИ БигТеха. ГДЕ КЛЮЧ к левел ап? [Сокрушительный провал цифровой трансформации транснациональных корпораций. Где ключ к новому уровню управления?

World trend of the XXI century — Industry 4.0 and digital platforms. In 2014, General Electric (GE) partnered with Big Tech giants — AT&T, Cisco, IBM and Intel — to take control of the global manufacturing industry created the Industrial Internet Contributors Association (Industry IoT Consortium IIC). By 2021, the IIC included Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Huawei, Bosch, EMC, SAP, Siemens, SAS and others. GE together with BigTech created the industrial cloud platform Predix, declaring it to be practically an “operating system” for factories, analogous to Android or iOS in the world of machines, the language of the industrial Internet. However, in 2020 GE and Predix suffered a devastating fiasco. The article provides an analysis of the root causes and problems, and formulates the requirements for digital platforms of industrial software. The author describes alternative solutions and new principles for implementing digital transformation of Industry 4.0 based on the closing technologies of digital genesis, graph-centric platforms, tools, models and systems of collective conscious scientifically based balanced management (industrial, corporate, social, state). Closing technologies offered by Russia have got an enormous social and political resource.

An integrated framework of Industry 3.5 and an empirical study of simulation-based automated material handling system for semiconductor manufacturing

ABSTRACT Industry 4.0 empowered by the advanced technologies has driven digital transformation of global manufacturing networks for smart production. However, most of the industries may not be ready for direct migration. To fill up the gaps, this study aims to develop an integrated framework of Industry 3.5 as a phased migration towards Industry 4.0 while employing methodologies and technologies to show systematic approach for the existing manufacturing ecosystem. Moreover, an empirical study of automated material handling system (AMHS) for semiconductor manufacturing is conducted as validation, in which congestion of AMHS can be reduced by integrating machine learning, dispatching strategies, and simulation modelling. The empirical study has shown the practical viability of the proposed integrated framework of Industry 3.5 under the existing system and manufacturing environment.

Does Manufacturing Sector Output Significantly Predict Economic Growth in Nigeria?

The predictive power of the manufacturing output on growth is a topical issue, especially with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on global manufacturing and economic activities. As such, this study examines how Nigeria’s manufacturing output can be observed in estimating economic growth. The ARDL model and OLS technique were employed in our assessments, and quarterly data was sourced from the CBN statistical bulletin for 2019 and the NBS annual report from 2010Q1 to 2020Q4. The study finds that manufacturing output positively and significantly affects growth in Nigeria and therefore can significantly predict further economic growth and, by extension, recession in Nigeria. It also recommends the need to improve the ease of doing business and security, adjusting interest rates for manufacturers, stabilize the exchange rate, develop infrastructure, and increase interventions in the manufacturing sector in Nigeria.

A reliability-and-cost-based framework to optimize maintenance planning and diverse-skilled technician routing for geographically distributed systems

We present an agile maintenance framework where technician assignment and maintenance schedules are planned jointly to ensure timely operation and maintenance (O&M) services. Such an agile framework can quickly respond to organizational scheduling requirements while controlling service costs and not compromising machine reliability. For preventive maintenance (PM) and replacement tasks, a diverse-skilled technician organizing and routing model (D-STORM) is developed for geographically distributed systems with the following decision variables: (1) the scheduled maintenance start time, (2) the appropriate maintenance level (i.e. PM or replacement) for a network of machines, (3) the composition of technician teams subject to constraints controlling the number of technicians per team and their skill levels, (4) the optimal service route for each team. And the two objectives are: (1) maximizing the total reliability improvement and (2) minimizing the total service cost. Other than traditional maintenance policies, we propose a machine-team-technician assignment approach to provide a flexible and unified maintenance framework that can incorporate diverse-skilled technicians and multi-level maintenance operations. Numerical studies show significant advantages in terms of improved reliability and reduced costs, providing a set of alternative solutions for global original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Moreover, Pareto solutions help OEMs to adopt the most appropriate maintenance scheme for their practices.

Field‐Free Switching of Magnetization by Tilting the Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy of Gd/Co Multilayers (Adv. Funct. Mater. 26/2022)

Field-Free Switching In article number 2112561, Jung-Il Hong, Chanyong Hwang, and co-workers demonstrate field-free spin-orbit torque switching of perpendicular magnetization in amorphous and ferrimagnetic Gd/Co multilayers accompanied by a tilted magnetic anisotropy axis. This tilted anisotropy could facilitate the development of magnetic memory and logic devices without the need for external application of a global magnetic field or manufacturing complex magnetic structures to induce symmetry breaking.

HOW TO STRENGTHEN A CULTURE OF INNOVATION BY COMBINING VALUES-BASED AND EVIDENCE-BASED INNOVATION MANAGEMENT

Values-based management and evidence-based innovation management both improve a company’s innovation performance. However, there are no systematic studies of how combining values-based and evidence-based innovation management influences the innovation culture in mid-sized B2B companies. In this exploratory case study, we describe how a longitudinal analysis of innovation culture and a values-based initiative were combined in a 7-step approach, which was applied in a global mid-sized B2B manufacturer of drug-delivery systems and pharmaceutical components over a three-year period. The results of the longitudinal innovation culture survey and the analysis of front-end innovation key performance indicators provided insight into the positive impact of new normative company values on the organisation’s innovation culture as well as on the effectiveness of the idea generation process. The exploratory case study demonstrates how a customised combination of values-based and evidence-based innovation management elements can systematically strengthen an organisation’s innovation culture and the effectiveness of its idea generation process.