Dealing with ex‐Soviet republics, American companies desperately need
reliable information about the current status of production and
operations management in the former Soviet Union. Describes some aspects
of managing operations in Russia and other ex‐Soviet republics. The
emphasis is made on forecasting, product design, facilities layout and
automation, work measurement, inventory management, and quality control.
Based on this analysis, presents some recommendations for improving
operations management in the former Soviet Union.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG), a part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is the nation's leading agency in maritime security, safety, and stewardship. One of the primary USCG resources is a fleet of boats (maritime vessels less than 65 feet in length) of various types that must be allocated to USCG stations nationwide. This paper describes the academic-industry collaboration between the authors and the USCG, which resulted in the development of an integer linear programming model that optimally matches supplies of various types of boats to station demands. The paper also introduces a model for the optimal sharing of scarce boat resources. In addition, we generalize our model, using value-atrisk and robust optimization ideas, to manage the risk of boat shortages. The paper reports on the USCG implementation process and discusses internal resistance issues and eventual adoption. We describe USCG modifications to the model recommendations due to practicalities not captured by our model. Finally, we present the significant improvements to USCG quantitative performance metrics that resulted from our model's recommendations. These include a considerable reduction of excess capacity and boat shortages at the stations, a decrease in the overall fleet size with a simultaneous increase in boat utilization, and overall reduction of the fleet operating cost. We also discuss in depth how our model effected these improvements.
This chapter presents the main principles, features, applications, and future development of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. In more than 30 years of evolution, ERP systems have undertaken a significant transformation from function‐specific applications to fully integrated process‐driven systems that operate over the Internet. ERP is identified as an extended enterprise management system that integrates traditional ERP applications (manufacturing, distribution, financials, human resources, marketing, and sales) with supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and B2B e‐commerce applications. The chapter describes the main ERP principles—integration and automation—as well as ERP features—process‐driven systems, single database, company‐wide information, scalability, etc. It also focuses on the ERP groups of applications emphasizing the core applications, application enhancements, and e‐commerce solutions. The chapter details ERP benefits and drawbacks. It discusses ERP solutions for various industries and small companies and presents ERP hosting utilizing applications service providers (ASP). Finally, the chapter describes the ERP selection and implementation process, concentrating on selection criteria and implementation measurements.
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