Assessing the IT training and development climate: an application of the Q-methodology
Proceedings of the 2005 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on Computer personnel research
Optimal control of flexible servers in two tandem queues with operating costs
Probability in the Engineering and Informational Sciences
Cooperation in a distributed dual resource-constrained manufacturing system
International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology
Determining numbers of workstations and operators for a linear walking-worker assembly line
International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing
SimMan-A simulation model for workforce capacity planning
Computers and Operations Research
A changeable, reconfigurable and agile assembly system using walking workers
AsiaMS '07 Proceedings of the IASTED Asian Conference on Modelling and Simulation
Modelling worker fatigue and recovery in dual-resource constrained systems
Computers and Industrial Engineering
On flexibility investment in manufacturing system: A multi-objective decision making method
Expert Systems with Applications: An International Journal
Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing
Process Flexibility Revisited: The Graph Expander and Its Applications
Operations Research
Scenario based robust line balancing: Computational complexity
Discrete Applied Mathematics
Characterizing the performance of process flexibility structures
Operations Research Letters
Computers and Operations Research
Workforce Management in Periodic Delivery Operations
Transportation Science
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To gain insight into the potential logistical benefits of worker cross-training and agile workforce policies, we study simple models of serial production systems with flexible servers operating under a constant work-in-process (CONWIP) release policy. Two important and interrelated issues are: (a) how to decide which skill(s) are strategically most desirable for workers to gain, and (b) how to coordinate these workers to respond dynamically to congestion. We address these by considering two cross-training strategies: a straightforward capacity-balancing approach, which we call cherry picking (CP), and an innovative overlapping zone strategy that we call skill chaining . Our comparison shows that skill-chaining strategies have the potential to be robust and efficient methods for implementing workforce agility in serial production lines.