In the real world, production systems are affected by external and internal uncertainties. Stochastic demand - an external uncertainty - arises mainly due to forecast errors and unknown behavior of customers in future. Internal uncertainties occur in situations where random yield, random production capacity, or stochastic processing times affect the productivity of a manufacturing system. The resulting stochastic production output is especially present in industries with modern and complex technologies as the semiconductor industry. This thesis provides model formulations and solution methods for capacitated dynamic lot sizing problems with stochastic demand and stochastic production output that can be used by practitioners within Manufacturing Resource Planning Systems (MRP), Capacitated Production Planning Systems (CPPS), and Advanced Planning Systems (APS). In all models, backordered demand is controlled with service levels. Numerical studies compare the solution methods and give managerial implications in presence of stochastic production output. This book addresses practitioners, consultants, and developers as well as students, lecturers, and researchers with focus on lot sizing, production planning, and supply chain management.

This book represents the essential body of knowledge for an introductory operations management course. The guiding principle in the development of Matching Supply with Demand has been “real operations, real solutions.”

Optimal stopping problems determine the time to terminate a process to maximize expected rewards. Such problems are pervasive in the areas of operations management, marketing, statistics, finance, and economics. This dissertation provides a method that characterizes the structure of the optimal stopping policy for a general class of optimal stopping problems. It also studies two important optimal stopping problems arising in Operations Management. In the first part of the dissertation, we provide a method to characterize the structure of the optimal stopping policy for the class of discrete-time optimal stopping problems. Our method characterizes the structure of the optimal policy for some stopping problems for which conventional methods fail. Our method also simplifies the analysis of some existing results. Using the method, we determine sufficient conditions that yield threshold or control-band type optimal stopping policies. The results also help characterize parametric monotonicity of optimal thresholds and provide bounds for them. In the second part of the dissertation, we first generalize the Martingale Model of Forecast Evolution to account for multiple forecasters who forecast demand for the same product. The result enables us to consistently model the evolution of forecasts generated by two forecasters who have asymmetric demand information. Using the forecast evolution model, we next study a supplier's problem of eliciting credible forecast information from a manufacturer when both parties obtain asymmetric demand information over multiple periods. For better capacity planning, the supplier designs and offers a screening contract that ensures the manufacturer's credible information sharing. By delaying to offer this incentive mechanism, the supplier can obtain more information. This delay, however, may increase (resp., or decrease) the degree of information asymmetry between the two firms, resulting in a higher (resp., or lower) cost of screening. The delay may also increase capacity costs. Considering all such trade-offs, the supplier has to determine how to design a mechanism to elicit credible forecast information from the manufacturer and when to offer this incentive mechanism. In the last part of the dissertation, we study a manufacturer's problem of determining the time to introduce a new product to the market. Conventionally, manufacturing firms determine the time to introduce a new product to the market long before launching the product. The timing decision involves considerable risk because manufacturing firms are uncertain about competing firms' market entry timing and the outcome of production process development activities at the time when they make the decision. As a solution for reducing such risk, we propose a dynamic market entry strategy under which the manufacturer makes decisions about market entry timing and process improvements in response to the evolution of uncertain factors. We show that the manufacturer can reduce profit variability and increase average profit by employing this dynamic strategy. Our study also characterizes the industry conditions under which the dynamic strategy is most effective.

Guiding engineering and technology students for over five decades, DeGarmo's Materials and Processes in Manufacturing provides a comprehensive introduction to manufacturing materials, systems, and processes. Coverage of materials focuses on properties and behavior, favoring a practical approach over complex mathematics; analytical equations and mathematical models are only presented when they strengthen comprehension and provide clarity. Material production processes are examined in the context of practical application to promote efficient understanding of basic principles, and broad coverage of manufacturing processes illustrates the mechanisms of each while exploring their respective advantages and limitations. Aiming for both accessibility and completeness, this text offers introductory students a comprehensive guide to material behavior and selection, measurement and inspection, machining, fabrication, molding, fastening, and other important processes using plastics, ceramics, composites, and ferrous and nonferrous metals and alloys. This extensive overview of the field gives students a solid foundation for advanced study in any area of engineering, manufacturing, and technology.

This book covers a wide range of management issues, concerning planning, control and continuous improvement. It especially focuses on the management of the enterprise and production processes in the era of globalization, discussing the process of transferring production to developing countries, covering issues in technological culture, and reporting on quality control issues and on problems related to continuous process improvement. Modern strategies such as Six Sigma and lean manufacturing are also discussed. Another topic concerns the management of the education sphere, and how to develop the latter to prepare employees to the changes brought by the technical development. Based on papers presented at the 6th International Scientific-Technical Conference MANUFACTURING 2019, held in Poznan, Poland on May 19–22, 2019, this book bridges issues in quality engineering with concepts of ergonomics and sociology, thus offering a timely, practice-oriented guide to both the engineers and managers of the future.

The 8-volume set contains the Proceedings of the 25th ECOS 2012 International Conference, Perugia, Italy, June 26th to June 29th, 2012. ECOS is an acronym for Efficiency, Cost, Optimization and Simulation (of energy conversion systems and processes), summarizing the topics covered in ECOS: Thermodynamics, Heat and Mass Transfer, Exergy and Second Law Analysis, Process Integration and Heat Exchanger Networks, Fluid Dynamics and Power Plant Components, Fuel Cells, Simulation of Energy Conversion Systems, Renewable Energies, Thermo-Economic Analysis and Optimisation, Combustion, Chemical Reactors, Carbon Capture and Sequestration, Building/Urban/Complex Energy Systems, Water Desalination and Use of Water Resources, Energy Systems- Environmental and Sustainability Issues, System Operation/ Control/Diagnosis and Prognosis, Industrial Ecology.

Mastering management skills is hard to achieve by newcomers starting their careers in the chemical industry. The message coming from there is that good chemists swiftly have to become good managers if they are to survive and progress in today's competitive climate. This book is designed to help guide younger R & D chemists to ways in which they can quickly evolve skills which are built around three factors - people, knowledge and time. It covers the management of scientific personnel, management within a variety of R & D organisational structures, creating a climate of innovation, the management of projects including the time management and communication aspects of the job. The author, Peter Bamfield, is now working as a consultant. Due to his long experience in the chemical industry, he was elected President of the Royal Society of Chemistry's Industrial Affairs Division. This second edition of the book has been revised and updated to take recent global developments and restructuring in the chemical industry into account, as well as the rising importance of information technology in management.