Book Reviews

Just-in-Time Logistics
Kee-hung Lai and T.C.E Cheng
The enduring repercussions of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the worsening global economy following the burst of dotcom bubbles in 2001, the financial tsunami in 2008, and the incessant rise in customer demand for better services have all contributed to shrinking profit margins for businesses around the world. To cope with the challenges, firms are discovering logistics as a competitive weapon when looking for ways to strengthen and preserve their market positions. One successful solution has been the adoption of Just-in-Time manufacturing systems, which involve many functional areas of a firm such as manufacturing, engineering, marketing, and purchasing, among others.

Globalisation Laid Bare
Introduction by Sir Richard Branson (2009)
In the past decade we reaped the benefits of unprecedented globalisation without much thought. In Autumn 2008, this changed when the easy flow of money around the world ceased. For the first time, globalisation turned into a phenomenon whose characteristics all of us have to understand.

How are lives and businesses influenced through international trade when ideas, goods and funding are adopted by other cultures?

Introduced by Sir Rchard Branson, Globalisation Laid Bare asks for much-needed illumination from world experts in the West and Asia - from former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan to Ecofeminist Dr Vandana Shiva. They identify the core insights that drive globalisation, and where we should look for answers.

ERP from the front line
Henderson, Ian (2009)
One of the basic facts of 21st Century Enterprise Resource Planning is that the success rate of the implementation of such systems is worryingly poor. Poor in what sense? Well, quite simply, poor in terms of failing to deliver genuine business benefit. How else can we really define a success rate? If the adoption of a new business system fails to deliver improved processes, reflected in reduced costs, better service to customers and bottom-line profit, then quite simply, the effort and disruption has not been justified. Of course, we also hear many stories of implementations that have undoubtedly failed – in the sense that the company’s performance with the new system is worse than it was before.

This book is written to provide guidance for companies embarking upon the implementation of ERP or recovering from the effects of ERP implemented badly. It is designed to strip out some of the myths surrounding the subject – myths such as the implementation of a particular package requiring management by a package specialist, when in fact the exercise in hand is one of managing business change. The system is merely a supporting tool. Other common failings include management seeing the implementation as an IT project and abdicating their own responsibilities for defining best practice processes (combining ERP techniques, Lean, BPR and other tools) which then act as the model for the system.

With due deference to Dr Eliyahu Goldratt for his creation of The Goal (the novel in which his, then, revolutionary ideas were introduced), the potential problems are combined in one story. Because no one business can suffer all the failings that the author and his colleagues have observed over many years, the fictional IME Corporation was created so that the implementation within one business unit could include comprehensive evaluation of events elsewhere. IME’s Drive Systems unit is leading the way in Lean – extensive use of cells with visual signals, self-directed work teams, 5S, vendor-managed inventories and all the other tools for success. It also has its existing ERP system working well for the business. When this unit’s management team hear that the corporate hierarchy is imposing the (also fictional) SCX package throughout all units they approach their own implementation in a state of dread. The story follows this implementation through one problem, and solution, after another. Every one of the issues raised in the book is something that MLG has encountered at some point in utilising the world’s leading ERP packages – working on the front line. (In fact there are a couple of romantic complications, but a little fictional licence can’t be a bad thing in what is still, essentially, a textbook.) Like all good tales, of course, there is a happy ending!

Lawsuit! - Reducing the Risk of Product Liability for Manufacturers
Goodden, Randall L (2009), Wiley-Blackwell)
Protect your company against the possibility of a costly product liability lawsuit. Lawsuit! takes you through all the procedures and processes that manufacturers need to have in place to limit their exposure to product liability claims. These procedures and processes also ensure that you’ll have the best defense ready in the event that your organisation is faced with a lawsuit.

Author Randall Goodden is one of the world’s leading experts on product liability prevention. His advice is based on more than twenty-five years of hands-on experience as a manufacturing executive. Everything you need to know to reduce your firm’s exposure to product liability claims is clearly set forth in non-technical language, including:

• Step-by-step instructions, along with accompanying examples, for implementing risk-reduction
   procedures
• Compliance guidelines for meeting the requirements of government product safety organisations
• Examples of lawsuits that underscore the need for a rigorous risk-reduction program
• Thorough explanations of the law and legal processes

Lawsuit! covers both U.S. and international law, making it appropriate for manufacturing companies around the world. In addition to avoiding product liability lawsuits, this book helps manufacturers maximise profits by being less wasteful and, at the same time, more effective in launching new products.

Following the book’s easy-to-follow and easy-to-implement procedures is your best defense against product liability suits that could potentially ruin your company’s reputation and bottom line.

Picture Your Business: the way to extraordinary performance and quality
Clark, Alan C (2007), Word4Word, Evesham
This book introduces the Flow & Feedback Diagram as a new and more effective way of describing any size of business or organisation. The diagram can be used at all levels of an enterprise right down to an individual process. The value-adding flow from suppliers to customers is clearly identified. It then lays out the essential learning feedback path that integrates understanding customers, leadership, design and redesign of the whole organisation, and change management. Picture Your Business helps you to achieve both higher performance and better quality products and services, which in turn leads to happier customers.

Making the Brazilian Connection: Managing Risk in the International Food Supply Chain
Morgan, Andrew and Lima, Juliana (2008), Supply Chain Europe, Cheltenham
This report is all about Brazil, Europe, food, and the international supply chain. It is also about supply chain risk, how to minimise it, and how to manage risk effectively when it does exist. It describes how to create a responsive supply chain and shows that relationships are the key to safety and progress.


* Reviews published at the Editor’s discretion