Scale and Process Innovation: The Adoption of the Basic Oxygen Process by Canadian Steel Firms

At the workshop on "Size and Productive Efficiency -- The Wider Implications" held by the Management and Technology Area at IIASA in June 1979, one of the major topics of discussion was the relationship between scale and innovation, in particular the way in which the development and adoption of innovations are influenced by the size of the organization. It was, for example, suggested that for major process innovations there was an optimum organization size: not too small that there is an insufficient diversity of managerial experience, and not too large that there is bureaucratic rigidity and lack of common purpose. However, rather than seeking an explanation in terms of organization behavioral characteristics it seems reasonable to first look for explanations which focus on the technical and economic characteristics of the competing processes. In this paper a specific major process innovation -- the adoption of the basic oxygen process in steel making -- is examined within the context of the decisions on timing, size and choice of process made by Canadian steel firms. A model of "rational" investment planning is used to evaluate the actual decisions and gain insight into the technical, economic and market factors which appear to support the proposition that there is an optimum "niche" for the introduction of major process innovations

"Problems of Scale" -- Issues in an Applied Systems Analysis Project

The evolution of the research task "problems of scale" is described. The emphasis is on the key decisions involved in the conduct of the research and the way in which perceptions of the research topic changed. The paper concludes with a discussion of the features of the style of applied systems analysis used in the task

The Dynamics of Scale, Technological Substitution and Process Mix

At the workshop on "Size and Productive Efficiency -- The Wider Implications" held at IIASA in June 1979 there was a great deal of discussion on the dynamics of scale, with particular focus on scale, technology and the learning curve, scale and innovation and the effect of uncertainty about the future on scale decisions. This paper reports the results of research on using formal models of the decision on process and scale in order to understand the dynamics of change in scale and process mix

C3 or Garbage Can - Alternative Models of Organizational Performance

Two alternative approaches for modeling the performance of organizations are discussed -- C^3 (command-control-communication) systems and the garbage can approach. Existing formal models using each approach are reviewed and some extensions and alternative models are proposed. The implications of the models are discussed, with particular emphasis on the impact of information technology developments on organizations

Scale in Production Systems; Based on an IIASA Workshop, June 26-29, 1979

When a new enterprise is planned or the scope of an organization is changed, a decision on scale has to be made. At a certain stage in the development of a technology, the economies of scale that have been established are overtaken by factors that had hitherto been considered secondary. Mistakes of scale have been made, from hospitals to electricity-generating boards. The mistakes of being too large are the most eye-catching, but the mistakes of being too small are probably just as frequent, and just as important. Twelve chapters of this book are based on reports of a workshop on scale and productive efficiency held at IIASA. The other eight chapters describe work done at the Institute; they also include discussion of the key issues relevant to scale that arose at the workshop, thus broadening the survey of this topic. This book treats problems of scale at various levels: at the unit (the equipment) and plant levels; and at industrial and national levels, and includes practical case descriptions that will be of value to managers and decision makers, as well as material of value to research workers

Manufacturing flow line systems: a review of models and analytical results

The most important models and results of the manufacturing flow line literature are described. These include the major classes of models (asynchronous, synchronous, and continuous); the major features (blocking, processing times, failures and repairs); the major properties (conservation of flow, flow rate-idle time, reversibility, and others); and the relationships among different models. Exact and approximate methods for obtaining quantitative measures of performance are also reviewed. The exact methods are appropriate for small systems. The approximate methods, which are the only means available for large systems, are generally based on decomposition, and make use of the exact methods for small systems. Extensions are briefly discussed. Directions for future research are suggested.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant DDM-8914277

Stochastic programming approaches to stochastic scheduling

Practical scheduling problems typically require decisions without full information about the outcomes of those decisions. Yields, resource availability, performance, demand, costs, and revenues may all vary. Incorporating these quantities into stochastic scheduling models often produces diffculties in analysis that may be addressed in a variety of ways. In this paper, we present results based on stochastic programming approaches to the hierarchy of decisions in typical stochastic scheduling situations. Our unifying framework allows us to treat all aspects of a decision in a similar framework. We show how views from different levels enable approximations that can overcome nonconvexities and duality gaps that appear in deterministic formulations. In particular, we show that the stochastic program structure leads to a vanishing Lagrangian duality gap in stochastic integer programs as the number of scenarios increases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44935/1/10898_2004_Article_BF00121682.pd