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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2016 (Revised July 2018)

  United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?

  Ryan W. Buell, Willy Shih and Mike Toffel

  This case looks at United Airlines when it is facing a decision on whether to shift its aircraft routing to more "out-and-back" routing in order to try to improve its on-time performance. As one of the world's largest airlines, United had a very large fleet and hub-and-spoke network that provided passengers with a wide range of destination choices, but as with any complex system unless everything ran perfectly all the time, it inevitably faced cascading delays and missed passenger connection problems. While out-and-back routing tended to isolate operational issues, more traditional linear routings tended to offer high equipment utilization. The case offers students an opportunity to examine the effects of variability on different routing strategies.

  Keywords: service excellence; service delivery; service management; service quality; service quality competition; services; service operations; airline industry; airlines; operational complexity; operational disruptions; operational effectiveness; operations; operations improvement; operations management; operations strategy; Air Transportation; Operations; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Improvement; Complexity; Air Transportation Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Buell, Ryan W., Willy Shih, and Mike Toffel. "United Airlines: More Out-and-Back Flying?" Harvard Business School Case 617-010, September 2016. (Revised July 2018.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2017 (Revised June 2018)

  Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)

  Willy Shih

  This case examines design choices in the construction of flow lines. Flow lines are a popular way of arranging production because they are simple and inherently efficient. Equipment or workstations are arranged according to the sequence of steps in which a product is made. Each step consists of a set of tasks that individually are minimum rational work elements. These are combined to form the work assignment associated with the step. The work follows the same sequence of operations as it moves down the line, and the sequence is fixed from batch to batch. The case setting is a production site in Hungary that is starting up the production of a personal beverage maker. Should the team implement a conveyor-paced line in preference to a manual pull system? An analysis of process steps and times gives students an opportunity to debate this question.

  Keywords: manufacturing; manufacturing industry; line-balancing; flow line; conveyor-paced line; consumer goods; consumer products; Production management; Production Planning; Production scheduling; Operations; Production; Supply Chain; Design; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; European Union;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy. "Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)." Harvard Business School Case 618-002, August 2017. (Revised June 2018.)  View Details

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• Article | MIT Sloan Management Review | Summer 2018

  Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating

  Willy C. Shih

  Knowledge embedded within state-of-the-art production and design tools is a powerful force that is leveling the global technology playing field. It democratizes innovation and makes future competition more challenging. This paper describes the knowledge flows through production and design tools, and it suggests that the increasing level of abstraction is enabling new players to innovate without understanding how the technology building blocks they are using actually work inside. This suggests that there are new rules of competition, where firms should move beyond commoditized parts and focus their differentiation strategies.

  Keywords: Product design; product commercialization; product development; product development strategy; production; manufacturing tools; manufacturing; manufacturing industry; Engineering; Globalization; Goods and Commodities; Knowledge; Commercialization; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Hardware; Technology Adoption; Consumer Products Industry; Auto Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Electronics Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Information Technology Industry; North America; Asia;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy C. "Why High-Tech Commoditization Is Accelerating." Art. 59420. MIT Sloan Management Review 59, no. 4 (Summer 2018): 53–58.  View Details

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