Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to contribute to the existing knowledge about the process of achieving Lean Manufacturing (LM) success. Design/methodology/approach This study uses interpretive structural modeling and captures the opinions of a group of LM experts from a world-class Japanese automobile manufacturer, to map the interrelationships among potential determinants of LM success. This study further uses the data from a survey of 122 leading automobile part manufacturers by performing structural equation modeling to empirically test the research model proposed. Findings Management support and commitment, financial resources availability, information technology competence for LM, human resources management, production process simplicity, supportive culture and supply chain-wide integration are the key determinants that directly or indirectly determine the level of achievement of LM success. Research limitations/implications The determinants of LM success as experienced by Asian automobile manufacturers might be different from determinants of LM success as experienced by Western automobile manufacturers. An interesting direction for future research would be to capture the experts' inputs from Western automobile manufacturers to complement the findings of this study. Practical implications The practical contribution of this study lays in the development of linkages among various LM success determinants. Utility of the proposed interpretive structural modeling and structural equation modeling methodologies imposing order, direction and significance of the relationships among elements of LM success assumes considerable value to the decision-makers and LM practitioners. Originality/value Building on opinions of a group of LM experts and a case study of leading auto part manufacturers, the present study strives to model the success of LM, a topic that has received little attention to date.

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In this work we address the problem of switching the shape of a formation of undistinguishable nonholonomic mobile robots. Each agent moves from the current to its target oriented position using the shortest path. We combine results from previous work on optimal formation switching when the agents are holonomic with results on the structure of the shortest path for nonholonomic agents.

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We study a model of a Cournot duopoly where firms invest in R&D to reduce their production costs. Depending on the parameters, we may find regions with one, two or three Nash equilibria of the investment. Here, we study the effect of the parameters in these regions, in particular, we study the effect of the possible market saturation, the maximum relative cost reduction and the product differentiation, giving special attention to regions with multiple Nash equilibria. We observed that, in general, the competitive region, where both firms invest, is reduced as we increase the possible market saturation and the differentiation of the products and is enlarged when we increase the maximum relative cost reduction. © 2018, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature.

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We study a mathematical model of immune response by T cells where the regulatory T cells (Treg) inhibit interleukin 2 (IL-2) secretion. We model the suppression of the autoimmune line of T cells after a different line of T cells responded to a pathogen infection. In this paper, we show that if the population of the pathogen responding line of T cells becomes large enough, the competition for IL-2 and the increase in the death rates may lead to a depletion in the concentration of autoimmune T cells. Provided this lasts for a sufficiently long time, the concentration of autoimmune T cells can be brought down to values inside the basin of attraction of the controlled state, and autoimmunity can be suppressed.

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