Managing engineering design in complex supply chains

The trend towards organising design, development and manufacture via supply chains, rather than predominantly in-house, poses major challenges for design management. Procurement methods based on adversarial competitive tendering are generally unsuited to complex engineering products requiring strong design and development coordination. Literature on ‘supplier partnerships’ has largely overlooked the implications for managing design and development. This paper reports the results of a major project that focuses upon this issue, concentrating on practical case studies – from British Rail, Netherlands Railways, Rolls Royce and British Coal – that involve the management of ‘devolved’ engineering design by large business organisations. A spectrum of approaches from in-house to fully devolved design is described. It is concluded that there does not appear to be a single best approach for managing devolved design, but that appropriate approaches for an organisation depend on its location in the supply chain and its ability to manage organisational change

Organizational Innovations of Firms from the 1850s in the USA and Japan

Organizational Innovations (OIs) are defined as disembodied technology as against embodied technology or technical (technological) innovations. The firms, as we see them today in the USA, Japan and many other countries, are organized according to OIs that took place in the USA and Japan in the last 150 years or so. A historical review during that period will identify OIs in these two countries. OIs such as integration of production and distribution, focal factories, and just-in-time cum quality control (JIT/QC) are more thoroughly described.organizational innovations, disembodied technology, firms, economic growth, historical review

Asset management and governance: an analysis of fleet management process issues in an asset-intensive organization

Efficient asset management is a key performance driver for asset-intensive organizations. Achieving high utilization and return on investment on physical assets are central corporate objectives for public and private organisations alike. Current approaches on asset management include the engineering and governance perspectives. Both perspectives offer valuable but incomplete insights on the management of asset performance: experience demonstrates that an exclusive focus on one or the other may lead to sub-optimal asset and organizational performance. In this paper, we investigate how an integrated approach to asset management can be constructed in the context of vehicle fleets. Beginning with an analysis of how the asset management process is operated through the asset lifecycle, we identify key engineering and organizational factors influencing asset performance. The relationships between factors are analyzed to provide an integrated fleet asset management approach

Choosing the appropriate project management structure, project financing, land acquisition and contractual process for Indian railway mega-projects: a case study of the Dedicated Freight Corridor project

A large number of railway mega-projects are planned or are under implementation for capacity augmentation, for serving the needs of trade, specific regions or industry sectors. Since transport capacity is one of the main levers of economic progress, it is essential that augmentation of transport capacity is not held up. It is therefore essential to choose the appropriate project management structure, project financing, land acquisition and contractual process to ensure design, construction and commissioning of projects without cost and time overruns. These choices have to be made keeping in view the context of the organisational technical capacity, financial capability, contractor capacity, and industry and trade growth pattern. This paper examines the various project management structures, methods of project financing, land acquisition and contractual processes along with their advantages and disadvantages. The paper takes the specific case of the Dedicated Freight Corridor project to examine the appropriateness of options

Better safe than sorry? Reliability policy in network industries

This report develops a roadmap for reliability policy in network industries. Based on economic theory, we analyse the relationship between reliability and various types of government policy: privatisation, liberalisation, regulation, unbundling, and 'commitment policy'. We let government policy depend on (1) the feasibility of competition between networks, (2) contractibility of reliability, and (3) the relation between profit maximisation and public interests. We test this roadmap on the basis of the empirical literature and case studies on electricity, natural gas, drinking water, wastewater, and railways.

Contracting and Safety

This open access book examines the increase in outsourcing, contracting and subcontracting as ways of organising work. It explores the impact of these employment arrangements on public safety, particularly when they are linked to complex supply networks in a range of engineering industries including oil and gas, nuclear power and aviation. The brief provides practical recommendations on how best to manage arrangements that target short-term profitability and also maintain excellence in long-term safety outcomes. The brief is a source of advice for organisations on how to maximise the benefits and minimise long-term system reliability issues that can be introduced by contracting and outsourcing, rather than assuming it to be a wholly negative or positive practice. Contracting and Safety comprises qualitative, empirical studies focusing on high-reliability organisation. As such, this brief provides a rich picture of the experience of working in complex supply chains. It will be of interest to researchers in industrial safety, as well as safety professionals and project managers within engineering industries

Railway Reform in China.

The purpose of this working paper is to consider the current situation of Chinese Railways, the progress of reforms to date, and possible future developments. The first section describes the current problems of Chinese Railways, as a vast organisation subject to strong central control, facing enormous and rapidly growing demands which it is unable to satisfy. The progress of reform in Chinese Railways to date, and in particular the Economic Contract Responsibility System instituted in the late 1980's and the development of joint venture companies to build new lines, are then described. In the following section the key reform models found in other countries - deregulation and privatisation of vertically integrated regional companies; separation of infrastructure from operations with open access andlor franchising competitors; or reorganisation on the basis of business sectors - are then described. None is fully suitable for China, but it is suggested that a combination of sectorisation, more commercial independence, further development of joint public/private partnerships and more contracting out, is the most likely way forward

Benefits and Costs of vertical Separation in Network Industries. The Case of Railway Transport in the European Environment

The article is devoted to a phenomenon called vertical separation in the area of network industries. Vertical separation is understood as de-merging of infrastructure and delegating control over it to independent manager banned from operating on downstream markets which are subject to liberalisation. Arguments for and against these tendencies have been examined using the example of the European railway transport. The complete analysis presents vertical separation as a promising solution for the railway industry. One of the conditions for the success of this reform is forming of a close cooperative relationship, based on loyalty and trust, between the infrastructure manager and its clients – rail operators. Building such a relationship should be supported by the implemented regulatory policy.network industries, public utilities, railway transport, economic regulation, liberalisation, vertical separation

Progress in rail reform

On 5 August 1998 the Treasurer referred progress in rail reform for inquiry and report within 12 months. The Commission is to identify progress made in rail reform, as well as areas which could be subject to further reforms and the benefits of pursuing further reforms, and is to differentiate interstate rail operations from intrastate and urban rail operations.rail reform - railways - train - transport - access - road transport - roads - land transport - infrastructure - competitive neutrality - safety