Traditional Manufacturing Industry Research Articles

LEARNING ORIENTATION, INNOVATIVENESS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE IN TRADITIONAL MANUFACTURING FIRMS: A HIGHER-ORDER STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL

This study examines the relationships among learning orientation, firm innovativeness and financial performance in the context of the Norwegian wood industry. A questionnaire-based survey was sent to the CEOs of firms in the wood industry in Norway (241 usable replies, response rate of 49 percent). Learning orientation and firm innovativeness were conceptualised and analysed as latent second-order constructs by using structural equation modelling. The findings show that learning orientation has a positive effect on firm innovativeness in the traditional manufacturing industry. In addition, learning orientation was found to positively affect financial performance via the full mediating effect of firm innovativeness. Furthermore, firm innovativeness was also found to have an independent positive effect on financial performance. No direct effect of learning orientation on financial performance was found. According to the data, firm age also does not appear to affect the relationship between learning orientation and firm innovativeness.

R&D COLLABORATION AND NANOTECHNOLOGY — AN OPPORTUNITY FOR TRADITIONAL INDUSTRIES

This paper focuses on assessing the modes of research and development (R&D) collaboration and technological lifecycles in the Finnish pulp and paper industry. This traditional manufacturing industry is currently undergoing changes due to market and technological developments. By discussing industrial and technological lifecycles, this paper aims to establish the extent to which these changes affect the R&D collaboration networks in the industry. The paper also provides insight regarding how the incumbents in this industry change their innovation activities in the face of a new science-based technology — nanotechnology — which is argued to have a significant impact on innovative activities in many traditional and high-tech industries. The results suggest that the Finnish pulp and paper industry is adapting to the changing innovation environment by increasing internal R&D investment and by extending and diversifying its R&D collaboration networks. The results also indicate that nanotechnology is seen as a potential new source of business for the pulp and paper industry but that investment will be required, particularly in absorptive capacity, to take advantage of these new technologies.

Assessing the Localization Pattern of German Manufacturing and Service Industries: A Distance-based Approach

Koh H.-J. and Riedel N. Assessing the localization pattern of German manufacturing and service industries: a distance-based approach, Regional Studies. This paper assesses the agglomeration pattern of four-digit industries in Germany using a rich data set on the population of German firms. To identify geographical agglomeration, the distance-based approach of Duranton and Overman of 2005 is followed. It is found that the location pattern of 71% of the manufacturing industries departs from randomness in the sense that plants exhibit significant geographical localization. In line with previous studies for the United Kingdom and France, the analysis suggests that especially traditional manufacturing industries exhibit strong localization patterns. Moreover, it is found that geographical localization is not restricted to the manufacturing sector, but that it plays an equally important role for service industries.

An analytical study on service-oriented manufacturing strategies

Abstract Service-Oriented Manufacturing (SOM) strategy is a new manufacturing mode by integrating servitization with the traditional manufacturing industry. The advantages and importance of the SOM strategy are gradually recognized by more and more enterprises. However, the enterprises' specific cost structures and cost configurations for providing customized services have influences on the decisions about whether the SOM strategy should be adopted, how to determine the suitable scope of SOM, and how to set the suitable pricing scheme of their offerings. This paper performs an analytical study on the above objectives and proposes an optimal decision model for designing SOM strategy. Our analysis on the SOM strategy under competition offers some insights into: when enterprises should perform SOM; what the suitable scope of SOM is, and how to design pricing strategies for SOM. From this analytical study, we draw some managerial implications that: for an enterprise in a duopoly market, if the fixed part in the unit cost of service is lower than the one third of the equilibrium price, the enterprise should adopt the SOM strategy; in addition, one half of the enterprise's customers should be covered by the SOM strategy at most.

Potential of Locally Available Clay as Raw Material for Traditional-Ceramic Manufacturing Industries

The traditional white-ware manufacturing industries in Bangladesh use clay as the prime raw material which is mostly imported from abroad. The main reasons are the lack of proper clay refining technolo gy in the country and in some part the unsuitable chemical and structural composition of the locally available naturally occurring clays. Moreover, particle size has also been identified as a major challenge in processing of naturally available clay. These two vital aspects affect plasticity and strength of clay during their processing. The composition and particle size of locally available clay were investigated using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) to reveal the potential of these clays for industrial purpose upon refining. XRF analysis showed presence of excess SiO2 content in the form of Silicate, Fe2O3 and TiO2; all of which pose a challenge in the refining process. Moreover the amount of Al2O3 in most of the compositions is also not up to the minimum level. Using the data based on statistics on particle sizes of raw materials of various origins, this experiment was aimed to reveal the composition and properties of locally available clay that can be projected for further refining to make suitable as raw material for whiteware industries. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jce.v26i1.10179 JCE 2011; 26(1): 34-37

Research on China's Electronics Listed Company's Financial Risk Probability and Statistics

Different from the traditional manufacturing industry, electronics industry is representative of high-tech industry and its financial risk has its own characteristics. In this paper, I choose 2000-2009 electronic financial data of listed companies as samples and use two yuan logistic regression analysis to build an assessment of China's electronics companies in financial risk probability model for the electronic companies to evaluate their own financial risks, provide a simple reference to the views to reduce the financial risk and give the basic risk prediction for the electronics company's mergers and acquisitions objects.

Distretti industriali, imprese multinazionali e catene del valore

The paper reconsiders the key issue of the industrial district and the multinational enterprise as two alternative or complementary drivers of local development in the light of new empirical evidence. That evidence derives from the results of two surveys of the determinants of linkages between local firms and foreign affiliates. The surveys were conducted in the Italian province of Modena in the past few years; Modena is well-known internationally for its leading industrial districts, which specialise in both traditional and high-tech manufacturing industries. The evidence shows that local firms and foreign affiliates are actively engaged in a dense local production network where foreign affiliates can play a crucial role in enhancing the position of local firms in global value chains.

Moving Eastwards While Remaining Embedded: The Case of the Marche Footwear District, Italy

This article contributes to the knowledge about the evolution of industrial districts specialized in traditional manufacturing industries as a result of internationalization processes. On the basis of a longitudinal field study, the article describes the change in firms' delocalization that occurred in one of the main fashion-led Italian footwear districts during the period 2001–2009. After the well-known preferential destination towards Central and Eastern Europe, a second, more recent wave of delocalization over long distances is reported. Despite intensified delocalization, subcontracting relationships remain deeply embedded, and the updated evidence indicates a possible homecoming to the original area.

Reacting to the demands of service work: emotional resistance in the Coaching Inn Company

This paper discusses employee resistance to the emotional labour of face-to-face service work. It identifies a difficulty with the extension of the concept of resistance from the more traditional manufacturing industries to service work, asking how far apparently resistant behaviours can sensibly be conceptualised as a challenge to management control of the labour process. This difficulty is explored through a discussion of data drawn from ethnographic research into a chain of public houses. Various forms of resistant behaviour are identified, although the precise nature of this resistance is often blurred by the complex relations between employee, management and customer.

Guest editorial: IJAMT special issue on: product-service systems

Manufacturing industries are shifting their offerings from selling a physical product to sell functions through product-service system (PSS) business model. This enables manufacturing companies to generate more revenue and better satisfying and exceeding customer expectations. The PSS has great impacts on the product life cycle, the customer and the relationship between the product, business processes, organisational structure and cost. Therefore, there is increasing need to understand these challenges and issues that are critical to the success of developing PSS. Scenarios of PSS in different industrial domains are required to illustrate the implementation success factors of such model. Several manufacturing organisations have passed through this transformation and have good insight and knowledge about the challenge. There is a need to enhance multidisciplinary research in the PSS area. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology presents ten selected papers that cover state of the art research in a number of PSS areas. Some of these papers have been selected from the proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Manufacturing Research (ICMR 2008) held at Brunel University, UK on 9–11 September 2008. This special issue commences with two papers on PSS for machine tool industry. Greenough and Grubic’s paper focuses on modelling condition-based maintenance to deliver a service to machine tool users. The paper describes the development and validation of two software tools to explore the relationship between prognostics and health management technologies and servitization in the machine tool industry. The second paper presents the concept of an industrial product-service system for CNC machine tool (mt-iPSS) based on the provision and enhancement of machining capabilities by Zhu et al. An architecture is proposed to enable the mt-iPSS from the aspects of both hardware and software. Huang et al. investigate how the new concept of PSS can be used and extended to transform, elevate and revitalise traditional equipment manufacturing industry such as the mould and die sector. PSS encompasses several challenges in terms of innovation, organisation structure, information flow and uncertainties. Lee and Abu Ali in their paper present an operating system for innovation by offering a methodology for systematic innovative thinking and a toolbox of interconnected tools that can aid in the transformation of core product competencies into effective product-service amalgamations. An approach for a modular organisation structure with the extension of modular organisation units is described by Meier et al. The structure is supporting the flexible use of resources of networking companies. Planning the resources for the integrated PSS delivery is a complex problem that also needs new planning methods. The metaheuristic optimisation strategy is an approach to establish a real-time planning and control. Durugbo et al. present a review of diagrammatic information flow tools which are designed to describe a system through its functions. A case study of selection lasermelting technology implemented as PSS has been employed to show the application of information flow modelling for PSS design. Mittermeye et al. argue that although PSS possess great potential, the health care sector has not given an attention of the research community. They E. Shehab (*) :R. Roy Decision Engineering Centre, Manufacturing Department, Cranfield University, Building 50, Cranfield, Bedfordshire MK43 0AL, UK e-mail: e.shehab@cranfield.ac.uk

Establishing production service system and information collaboration platform for mold and die products

This paper investigates how the new concept of product service systems can be used and extended to transform, elevate, and revitalize traditional equipment manufacturing industry such as the Mold and Die (MD) sector. A mold and die production service systems (MPSS) framework is established based on recent developments within our industrial collaborators. Within the MPSS framework, MD manufacturers become more specialized in producing MD products and components while sharing and outsourcing manufacturing-oriented services (MOS) from a service provider. Typical services include collaborative order pooling and release, collaborative project progress status tracking, contractor-managed collaborative outsourcing, collaborative product design, collaborative production planning and scheduling, and after-sales technical supports. MOSs are designed, developed, and deployed as SaaS (software as application services) following the service-oriented architecture. Collectively, they form iMPSS—an Information and Collaboration Platform that enables MPSS. The use of iMPSS leads to benefits for stakeholders involved in providing mold and die functionality including better shopfloor decisions and reduced IT investments.

The causal effects of organizational internal labor market on firm-specific learning – the mediating effect of willingness to internal transfer

While most of the research work addressed the internal labor market (ILM) issues from the aspect of internal and social equity point of view, our current research is, however, aimed to present the ILM model from the angle of learning the employees' firm-specific and job-specific skills. We took one step further to explore the determinants of firm-specific learning within the organizational ILM using three main criterion comprised of (1) job-related training, (2) advancement via sequence of jobs, and (3) long-term attachment to the organization. With a survey tackling the willingness to transfer internally among employees as our mediator, questionnaires were disseminated among the five traditional manufacturing industries selected in Taiwan. Our statistical results not only demonstrate the positive direct effects of all the dimensions of ILM on firm-specific learning, but also testify the indirect positive effects of ILM through willingness for internal transfer on firm-specific learning.

Marshall’s Scale Economies and Jacobs’ Externality in Korea: the Role of Age, Size and the Legal Form of Organisation of Establishments

This paper revisits the concept of agglomeration economies by estimating the effects of localisation, urbanisation and local competition on labour productivity using establishment-level data in Korean manufacturing industries. It is found that, when an establishment locates in a more localised/specialised, more urbanised/diversified and more competitive area, its workers become more productive due to external benefits from agglomeration. Issues of self-selection bias and omitted variable bias are addressed by instrumenting the variables measuring localisation economies and controlling for the fixed effects of establishments/location and industries/year. However, the external effects from the spatial proximity of other establishments vary across the categories of industry type, age, size and legal form of organisation of establishments. Establishments in traditional heavy manufacturing industries receive more external benefits in a less diversified area, while those in transport equipment manufacturing industries enjoy the largest benefits from localisation. Externalities exist for establishments aged between 2 and 7 years, having at least 10 workers, being corporate and having multiplants (or not being headquarters). Establishments in relatively young industries rely more on diversified environments, while establishments in relatively old industries receive greater external benefits in the same industry cluster. This result supports the product life-cycle location theory of Duranton and Puga.

전력선 통신을 이용한 원격 집진기 bag 제어 시스템 개발

통신과 제어 기술의 발전과 인터넷 기능 강화로 이들을 이용해 전통 제조업에서 위험과 생산 비용을 줄이면서 제품의 성능을 향상시키기 위한 동기 인식이 확산되고 있다. 이에 본 논문에서는 첨단 IT 기술을 전통산업인 집진기에 융합한 지능형 원격 집진기 bag 제어 시스템을 이벤트 기반으로 개발하였다. 먼저 집진기의 센서인 차압 측정기의 아날로그 출력 데이터를 디지털로 변환시키는 A/D 변환기를 마이크로 프로세서를 사용하여 제작하였다. 또 이들을 RS-232 통신 방법으로 전력선 통신 모뎀과 연결하는 기술을 개발하였다. 다음은 전력선 통신을 이용하여 집진기 bag 상태 정보를 효율적으로 전송할 수 있도록 n-바이트 메시지 형식을 정의하였다. 그리고 집진기와 집진기 bag을 논리적으로 모델링하기 위해 자료형을 정의하였고, 이를 이용해 집진기와 집진기 bag을 XML과 객체지향 모델링 기법을 이용해 모델링하였다. 뿐만 아니라 집진기 bag의 교체시기를 정확하게 파악하여 집진기 bag의 교체시기를 관리자에게 실시간으로 다양한 시각적인 사용자 인터페이스를 이용해 제시하도록 개발하였다. Advances in communications and control technology, the strengthening of the Internet, and the growing recognition of the urgency to reduce the risk and production cost are motivating the development of improvements in the traditional manufacturing industry. In this paper, we developed a remote dust collector bag control system which is a combination of advanced IT and traditional dust collector based on the event. At first, we made the A/D(Analog/Digital) converter using a micro processor because the differential pressure transmission, which is a sensor of the dust collector, produces analog volt data. A/D converter can provide RS-232 communication to connect with Power Line Communication(PLC) modem. And, n-bytes message format was defined for the efficient dust collector bag information transmission from a dust collector to a user. Also, we designed the data types to model the dust collector and the dust collector bag, and they were logically modeled using XML and object-oriented modeling method. In addition to that, we implemented the system for showing the dust collector bag exchange time exactly to users at real-time using various visual user interfaces.

Is the influence of the industrial district on international activities being eroded by globalization?: Evidence from a traditional manufacturing industry

This study provides insight into the impact of industrial districts on the international activities of firms, in the particular context of one traditional manufacturing industry: the Spanish home-textile industry. Using a sample of 128 manufacturing firms, the paper shows how location influences the timing and levels of exports and imports. Moreover, our results demonstrate how these influences have been diluted in recent years as the home-textile industry becomes more involved in the global arena. Our findings challenge some key arguments exploring the advantages of the district in the international activities of firms; in particular, first, in questioning the capacity of the district to prevent international sourcing, and second, its vulnerability to the threats created by the growing integration of the world economy.

Detecting agglomeration processes using space–time clustering analyses

Although spatial concentration is understood as the premise of agglomeration economies, it hardly observes the changing aspect of externalities. Based on previous studies in which space–time clustering was observed during the initial stage of the product life cycle and sudden changes of historic accident and discovery, the study hypothesizes that space–time clustering better represents the occurring agglomeration economies than spatial concentration alone. For the empirical test, two methods, the space–time K-function and Kulldorff’s scan statistic, were applied using the ES-202 data of the Columbus MSA. The study discovered that knowledge-based industries represent the agglomeration process due to the product life cycle and sudden change, and that restructuring of industries, from traditional manufacturing industries to knowledge-based industries, is taking place in the study area. In addition, using the space–time K-function, the study identified the threshold of space–time clustering in which the agglomeration process is taking place.

Struttura economico-finanziaria dell'industria italiana: ruolo degli incentivi pubblici

- Italian government's grants to industrial companies have decreased in recent years. Moreover, during the period 2000-2007, less than 25% of total incentives was aimed at sustaining industrial R&D and internationalization activities. In the absence of an effective public aid policy, in 2007 Italian industrial companies were still focused on traditional manufacturing industries and were suffering the increasing competition from emerging countries. The added value of their manufacturing activity has decreased, their technological growth has slowed down, their financial indebtedness has dropped, while their return on equity has increased. The performance of most industrial companies that had received the government's aids has not improved, with the exception of the so-called Made in Italy and the Transportation equipment manufacturing sectors, whose economic performance has improved with state subsidies. Keywords: government grants, manufacturing industries, capital structure Parole chiave: agevolazioni del governo, settori manifatturieri, struttura economico-finanziaria Jel Classification: H81, L52

LA ESTRATEGIA DE OUTSOURCING INTERNACIONAL EN ESPAÑA: UNA APROXIMACIÓN A LOS SECTORES MANUFACTUREROS TRADICIONALES

In recent years, the outsourcing strategy, in its two dimensions (national and international) is being a common practice in companies from developed countries, mainly in traditional manufacturing industries. In this paper we analyze the evolution of the strategy in these sectors over 1985-2004 and the relationship between this strategy and two of its main determinants: size and international experience. The results show that the use of outsourcing has an increasing trend. Moreover, it contrasts the negative influence of size on the use of global sourcing and the significant positive relationship between international outsourcing and international experience of the company.

The Effect of Occupational Safety Legislation in Preventing Accidents at Work: Traditional versus Advanced Manufacturing Industries

We analyze the effect of occupational safety and health (OSH) legislation in reducing workplace accidents. It is argued that different impacts should be expected in advanced and traditional manufacturing sectors. We test this hypothesis with data on Spanish manufacturing throughout the period 1988–2004. To that effect, we estimate the relationship between the number of serious injuries and the potential risk factors, by means of diverse specifications of the negative binomial regression model for panel data. Our results indicate that, while the adoption of the new OSH regulation did contribute to the reduction in the number of injuries in advanced manufacturing sectors, the accident rates in traditional manufacturing did not show any statistically significant change following the reform.

How Elephants Learn the New Dance When Headquarters Changes the Music: Three Case Studies on Innovation Strategy Change

Does a product innovation strategy change at company headquarters resonate the same way at different strategic business units (SBUs)? What factors play a role in differing implementation of new innovation strategies? A collective case study was conducted at three SBUs of an international conglomerate to investigate why the SBUs implement the same corporate innovation charter in vastly different manners, both in strategic processes and in organizing for new product development (NPD). This study's contribution to the literature is twofold. First, it develops initial insights into how three SBUs implement diverse SBU‐level innovation strategies in response to the same product innovation charter. Second, it extends the findings of previous studies on NPD strategy by presenting how three SBUs reshape their structure and resource allocation, changing various dimensions of their innovation strategy while also fitting the competitive structure in their individual, non‐high‐tech, traditional manufacturing industries as they respond to the corporate mandate. In this study, several factors were observed to influence a firm when formulating a new product innovation strategy. First, past performance and strategic typology constrain the innovation paths available. Poor past performance limits available resources whereas the strategic typology managers use limits their ability to recognize other opportunities. Next, capacity constraints provide a catalyst in moving toward process improvements. Third, management involvement in the day‐to‐day implementation of change is necessary to ensure that the new processes are implemented. Finally, corporate performance metrics are quite influential in how SBUs adapt to change. This study identifies that even with the immense power corporate has over these SBUs, some still dance to their own tune, ignorant of their deviation from the corporate mandate because the metric is not sufficient to detect these deviations. This study suggests the use of multiple types of metrics to minimize the likelihood of nearsighted responses to innovation charter changes.