Manufacturing mobility in global operations

The globalization trend inevitably affects the organization of manufacturing by enterprises. It offers opportunities to examine manufacturing from a global perspective and consequently to produce where it is most appropriate. However, globalization has also led to an increase in competitive pressures, as companies have to look wider for opportunities to increase their competitive advantages. One source of competitive advantage arises from manufacturing mobility, which is the timely transfer of technology among manufacturing sites. This paper elaborates on the important determinants of manufacturing mobility, and provides a basis for additional research in this area

International transfer of kaizen: an empirical study of Japanese manufacturers in the Netherlands

In the past few decades, a number of studies have been published that have identified specific Japanese approaches to management as being superior to other types of approaches (e.g. Toyota Production System). Recently, one of the specific issues that received attention is the concept of kaizen. Kaizen is generally defined as continuous improvement. It has been viewed as a key element in Japanese management and has been presented as one of the sources of the competitiveness of Japanese manufacturers (Imai, 1986: xxix). The transfer of kaizen overseas has been studied as part of studies on international transfer of Japanese management practices as well as in studies on best practices

Common factors in the withdrawal of European aircraft manufacturers from the regional aircraft market

We investigate whether there were common causes for the withdrawal from the regional aircraft market of three established manufacturers (BAE Systems, Fokker and Saab), while competitors thrived. We focus on the markets for 50- and 100-seat aircraft. One cause concerning the 50-seat market was the introduction of a new class of aircraft, the regional jet, which pushed the less successful turboprop aircraft from the market. Turboprop aircraft that had been relatively successful before the introduction of regional jets survived. A probable reason for the withdrawal of BAE Systems and Fokker from the 100-seat market (in which Saab was not present) was that their products were ‘standalone’ aircraft, while those of their successful competitors were members of aircraft families, the larger members being far more successful. It was not the availability of technology that determined the success of regional aircraft manufacturers, but the application of (suppliers’) technology in new products

New entrants and overcapacity: lessons from regional aircraft manufacturing

The commercial aircraft manufacturing industry has been largely dominated by the advanced economies in North America and Western Europe. During recent decades, several emerging economies have invested heavily in the commercial aircraft industry, notably in regional aircraft manufacturing. This paper describes the global regional aircraft industry by comparing the demand and available production capacity. A small number of companies are currently active in this industry and able to satisfy demand. Yet, a larger number of companies are starting or planning to start production. Under these conditions and forecasted demands, overcapacity is a likely result. Four propositions are developed to explain the behaviour of new entrants

High titers and low fucosylation of early human anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG promote inflammation by alveolar macrophages

Patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) become critically ill primarily around the time of activation of the adaptive immune response. Here, we provide evidence that antibodies play a role in the worsening of disease at the time of seroconversion. We show that early-phase severe acute respiratory distress syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) in serum of critically ill COVID-19 patients induces excessive inflammatory responses by human alveolar macrophages. We identified that this excessive inflammatory response is dependent on two antibody features that are specific for patients with severe COVID-19. First, inflammation is driven by high titers of anti-spike IgG, a hallmark of severe disease. Second, we found that anti-spike IgG from patients with severe COVID-19 is intrinsically more proinflammatory because of different glycosylation, particularly low fucosylation, of the antibody Fc tail. Low fucosylation of anti-spike IgG was normalized in a few weeks after initial infection with SARS-CoV-2, indicating that the increased antibody-dependent inflammation mainly occurs at the time of seroconversion. We identified Fc gamma receptor (Fc gamma R) Ila and FeyRIII as the two primary IgG receptors that are responsible for the induction of key COVID-19-associated cytokines such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor. In addition, we show that anti-spike IgG-activated human macrophages can subsequently break pulmonary endothelial barrier integrity and induce microvascular thrombosis in vitro. Last, we demonstrate that the inflammatory response induced by anti-spike IgG can be specifically counteracted by fostamatinib, an FDA- and EMA-approved therapeutic small-molecule inhibitor of Syk kinase.Proteomic