RESULTS OF EFFICIENT GOODS RECEIVING
2. METHODS 1 Data Collection
Interviews is chosen as data collection method to get an overall picture of the current situation and information of how the process is perceived by the employees. It was also selected due to the method is targeted and focus directly on the research questions and aim of the study (Yin, 2006). The weak spot with interviews as method is that it could acquire lapses in memory, poorly worded questions and distorted answers by the respondents (Yin, 2006).
The authors tool to handle these weak spots is to record the interviews and spend much time with forming the questions. Due to the recording of the interviews the interviewers could put all the focus on dialogue with the respondents and obtain the information needed. The down- fall with recordings is according to Patel & Davidsson (2011) that the recordings needs to be transcribed which is time consuming and also that respondents might feel unsecure to answer some of the questions due to being recorded.
Interviews will be performed both individually with the value stream members and in groups with managers who have good knowledge about the supply chain. The interviews will be semi-structured with wide and open character questions in the beginning and later ending up
Figure 1, Scope & Delimitations
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with more specific and narrow questions about the problem area. The open character structured questions are according to (Yin, 2006) a great way to gather information about the actual situation and gives a possibility for the respondent to become an informant. If the interviewers manage to generate an informant out of a respondent, the possibility to a successful case study increase (Yin, 2006). In Error! Reference source not found. the inter- views that will be performed is presented.
According to (Yin, 2006) good case study’s base their information on more than one information source and due to the great complement to interviews, observations were chosen as a method in this study. In addition, observations were chosen as data collection method given that the method describes events in real time (Yin, 2006). Observation will be carried out before the interviews performed in form of a Gemba walk, this to gather information about the current situation and the factory to base interview questions on. Further on, observation will be conducted after the interviews to verify the data collected and later mapping the value stream. This study will contain structured observations which is motivated by that problem is specified to the content that it is certain which processes and situations that should be included in the observation (Patel & Davidsson, 2011).
The observations make it possible to follow the material flow through the factory and the information gathered by observations makes the value stream mapping achievable. All observations will be conducted with both authors in order to increase the reliability of the study (Yin, 2006).
2.2 Data analysis
To analyze case data, the analyze process has base in the literature review. From the literature review a theoretical framework is composed to form a foundation for the analysis process. The case study collects primary data from interviews and observations which will be analyzed against the theoretical framework to get a result. Error! Reference source not found. shows the case study’s analysis process.
The theoretical framework sets theories that will be investigated in the case study. The empirical data from interviews and observations will be matched against the framework to find joint patterns. This way of analyzing data is according Yin (2006) called pattern matching. To find these patterns the empirical data collected will be matched against the theoretical framework continuously.
2.3 Literature review
Value stream mapping
A company’s value stream is the processes and activities that create the product to the customer. Michael Porter (1985) introduced the concept which later was embraced by many other scientists. The value stream mapping is the mapping of customer value through these activities across the value stream. This study is dependent on the ability to map current value streams within the studied supply chain. By doing a current state analysis and map these value
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streams a full-scale view of the case company’s process activities is gained. When a complete overview is achieved, the locating of value added and non-value added activities will begin.
Just in time (JIT)
Just-In-Time (JIT) is an inventory strategy within Lean philosophy. The fundamental ambition with JIT is to eliminate waste in the supply chain by producing the right products to the right place at the right time (Claycomb, Germain, & Dröge, 1999). The idea with JIT is that item needed for a certain activity is delivered just-in-time through a pull system to satisfy the demand (Claycomb, Germain, & Dröge, 1999) and through this optimizing the inventory.
The concept when optimizing the inventory is to have the stock as low as possible (Bowersox, Carter, & Monczka, 1993), this is why Bowersox, Carter & Monczka (1993) calls the JIT approach for “Zero inventory”
.
Production mix efficiency
The production mix is the number of various products and modifications that is 0ffered to customers. Companies strive to obtain a production mix efficiency in the manufacturing process to handle different customer demands in the best suitable way (Weeks, Gao, Alidaeec,
& Rana, 2008). Bevilacqua, Ciarapica & De Sanctis (2016) interpret the production mix efficiency as operational responsiveness and explains it as the ability to rapidly react to changing market demands and requests. The ability to change the capacity in volume is also seen as a production mix efficiency and have a big impact on inventory levels due being able to raising the capacity when demand increases or lower it when demand decreases (Bevilacqua, Ciarapica, & De Sanctis, 2016).
2.4 Validity & Reliability
Validity is the criteria that shows how well a tool is measuring what it is supposed to be measuring (Erin D, 2009). It is a hard concept to grasp due to even if the validity is high in one case study it is not valid in another (Erin D, 2009). Validity is divided into two different kinds of validity called internal and external validity. Internal validity means that conditions leads to other conditions (Yin, 2006) or as Patel & Davidsson (2011, ss. 102-103) states “to know what we examine is about correspondence between what we say we are examines and what we actually is examining”. This is according to Yin (2006) the causal relationship between events. To ensure this study have high internal validity the authors will apply Yin’s proposition pattern matching. This method relates different kinds of information units from a single case to theory hypotheses and thereby show if a pattern exists. If the pattern matches it shows that the study has high internal validity. Also, the interview questions and the observation objects will be linked to the theoretical background which ensures the internal validity (Patel & Davidsson, 2011).
External validity is the generalizability of the study, which means that the outcome of the study should be applicable on a similar study object (Patel & Davidsson, 2011; Yin, 2006).
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A study’s reliability is its ability for another researcher to receive the same result and conclu- sions by using the exact same approach as the original research did (Yin, 2006). Erin D.
Maughan (2009) also talks about this in the article “Validity and Reliability, what do these terms mean?” where she states that when the reliability of a case study is to be ensured the results you get one day match the results of the second day. To increase a case study’s reliability, the authors’ needs to have an exact documentation on how the study was performed so other researchers can with ease follow the same pattern and achieve same result.
A case study’s reliability is crucial to be able to minimize flaws in the research (Yin, 2006).
Documentation on how this study is performed have been done narrowly which according to Yin (2006) increase the reliability. Yin (2006) also states that in order to increase reliability the case study should be done with as many operational steps as possible. The idea is to perform the study in such detail as if there was someone who regularly checked your work (Yin, 2006). This case study will be controlled by a supervisor which increases the reliability.
3. EMPIRICAL DATA