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Operations flow effectiveness: a systems approach to measuring flow performance

Afy-Shararah, Mohamed; Rich, Nicholas

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Authors

Mohamed Afy-Shararah

Nicholas Rich



Abstract

© 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited. Purpose: Effective operations management systems (OMS) measurement remains a critical issue for theorists and practising managers (Neely, 2005; Bititci et al., 2012). Traditional labor efficiency measures sufficed when all that was made could be sold or when mass production systems filled warehouses with stock and the OMS had little relationship with “the consumer.” Modern manufacturing systems require a different form of flow optimization (beyond labor efficiency) measurement (Schmenner, 2015). The essential unit of measure for all OMS designs is the optimal use of time for process value adding and the flow of materials into and from the conversion process. Timely flow, therefore, satisfies the needs of multiple organizational stakeholders including cash flow (accounting), consumer reaction times (marketing) and the general steady state flow of materials (sales and supply chain). The purpose of this paper is to present the results of testing a new performance measure of operations flow effectiveness (OFE) with ten purposively selected cases. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is theory building using ten, purposively selected, longitudinal case studies drawn from the UK high-value manufacturing (HVM) sector using a pluralist methodology of interviews, observation and secondary data. Findings: The OFE measure provides a holistic view of material flow through the input-process-output cycles of a firm. The measure highlights OMS design weaknesses and flow inhibitors that reduce cash flow using a time-based approach to measuring OMS performance. The study validates the OFE measure and has identified six key design elements that enable high flow performance. Originality/value: The paper tests a new process-focused flow performance measure. The measure supports a holistic approach to the manufacturing enterprise and allows different OMS designs to be evaluated so that organizational learning may be enacted to support performance improvement.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 23, 2018
Online Publication Date Aug 14, 2018
Publication Date Nov 5, 2018
Deposit Date Jun 21, 2018
Publicly Available Date Aug 24, 2018
Journal International Journal of Operations and Production Management
Print ISSN 0144-3577
Publisher Emerald
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 38
Issue 11
Pages 2096-2123
DOI https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2016-0575
Keywords flow, performance measurement, high-value manufacturing, case study
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/872910
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2016-0575
Additional Information Additional Information : This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published version is available here: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-09-2016-0575
Contract Date Jun 21, 2018

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