Int. J.
Production Economics 247 (2022) 108451
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
International Journal of Production Economics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe
In memoriam: Prof. David Clay Whybark 1935–2021
David Clay Whybark peacefully left us on December 23, 2021, of a
heart attack, after a lifelong devotion to academic research and the
teaching of operations and supply chain management (OSCM). He was
married to Neva Jo Richardson, with whom he had two children, Mike
and Suzanne Marie (deceased). On September 18, 1935, he was born in
Tacoma, Washington, son of Clay Alfred and Irene (Stanton) Whybark.
He obtained a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering at the
University of Washington in 1957, a Master of Business Administration
at Cornell University in 1960, and a Doctor of Philosophy at Stanford
University in 1967.
His long and fruitful career reflects his broad vision and diversity of
interests in science and life. He worked for Boeing and Douglas Aircraft
as an engineer before getting his MBA. He was a research associate at
Stanford, 1962–1967, finishing his Ph.D. degree. Clay became an as­
sistant professor at Arizona State University in Tempe, 1965–1966. He
soon moved to an associate professorship at Purdue University, West
Lafayette, Indiana, where he remained from 1967 to 1976. He held the
position of Professor at Indiana University, Bloomington, 1976–1990.
His career culminated with a Macon G. Patton distinguished professor­
ship at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill (1990–2008). He became an emeritus professor in
2008. He was also a Senior Academic advisor to the Institute of Defense
and Business since 2005. In 2010, he received a Doctor Honoris Causa
title from the Corvinus University in Budapest to recognize his lifelong
achievement. He had also been a Member of the Corvinus University
International Advisory Board. He taught at Harvard University, Purdue
University, and Indiana University during his career in the United States.
Internationally, he was associated with the Shanghai Institute of Me­
chanical Engineering (China), Lausanne-IMD (Switzerland), universities
of Victoria and Canterbury (New Zealand), Chinese University of Hong
Kong, and the Corvinus University in Budapest, where he served as a
member of the International Advisory Board (2002–2004). He also
participated in several short-term executive education programs around
the world.
Clay was an enthusiastic teacher who led several students to com­
plete their graduate and postgraduate degrees and into prolific profes­
sional lives. He equally was active in serving the operations and supply
chain management (OSCM) community, creating and leading many
professional organizations, including the Global Manufacturing
Research Group (GMRG). As a founder and intellectual leader of GMRG,
he was instrumental in sensing and anticipating future trends and key
research issues. He actively participated in all five completed GMRG
survey rounds, moving it from exploratory research focus on emerging
manufacturing practices in the early rounds to a theory-driven and
methodologically rigorous cross-cultural endeavour. His endless
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpe.2022.108451
Available online 17 February 2022
curiosity and energy were as contagious as his legendary good sense of
humor. He led and actively participated in the conceptualization and
design of the forthcoming sixth round of the GMRG survey, contributing
research notes and emails until a few days before his death.
Clay participated in the creation and often served in a leadership role
in several international research bodies. Besides GMRG, these include
the American Production and Inventory Control Society, the Interna­
tional Society of Inventory Research, ISIR, (President, 2000–2002), the
Decision Sciences Institutes (President, 1979–1981), the International
Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association, the Euro­
pean Operations Management Association, and the Production and
Operations Management Association.
Between 1986 and 2018, Clay was a very active member of the
Programme Committee of the International Working Seminars on Pro­
duction Economics held biennially in Igls and later in Innsbruck, Austria.
He cast his vote on presentations to accept, he was an enthusiastic
discussant, and his role in the Closing Session was to sum up the high­
lights of papers earlier presented and discussed. The many international
requests for Clay also brought him to Linköping Institute of Technology,
Sweden, where he was Faculty Opponent on a thesis defence in 2002 and
held an important keynote “On Developing Critical Thinking” at the
conference ‘Production Economics: An Evergreen’ in 2009.
Clay was a constant contributor to well-known academic and trade
journals, appearing on the editorial board of first-tier academic journals,
including the International Journal of Production Economics, where he
served as North America Editor 1991–1992. In addition, he was a
founding Associate Editor of the Journal of Business Logistics and the
Journal of Operations Management.
Clay was a great scholar and a great friend. He was one of the most
creative and most loyal supporters of ISIR from the very beginning. He
held offices (he was a member of the Executive Committee for many
years and President between 2000 and 2002) but more than that his
continuous presence was felt always throughout the years and decades.
He was elected a Fellow of ISIR in 2004.
His academic achievements are of fundamental importance. He had a
leading role in triggering and spreading revolutionary changes in
manufacturing management through results in scholarly research and its
applications. He played fundamental roles in originating the coopera­
tion of scholars, he established and supported several international and
interdisciplinary organizations. He was at home in conference centers,
classrooms, shopfloors and executive offices. He always cared about
transferring his vast knowledge to younger and less experienced people,
he has countless direct and indirect students worldwide.
The number of papers, books and teaching cases published by Clay
exceeds 300, and not all are easily reached because most appeared
A. Chikán et al.
before internet-based indexing. A quick search of his publications in
Google Scholar returns over 160 papers and books. Scopus enlisted 53
published documents with an h-index of 21. However, the reach of
Clay’s research goes far beyond these statistics. His seminal book with
Bill Berry and Tom Vollmann was published in 1979, Manufacturing
Planning and Control Systems. In 1984, he published (with Tom Voll­
mann, Bill Berry, and Bob Jacobs) Manufacturing Planning and Control for
Supply Chain Management, which is now in its 6th edition and is exten­
sively used in undergraduate and graduate programs worldwide. His
1972 book (with Bill Berry) Computer Augmented Cases in Operations and
Logistics Management is one of the first of its kind. He also pioneered
teaching cases in international operations management with the publi­
cation of International Operations Management: A Selection of IMEDE
Cases, a collection of 50 cases, including three prize-winners. His
contribution to the field of OSCM touched a large array of early research
on logistics and production management, such as forecasting, vehicle
routing, logistics network design and facility location, inventory man­
agement, and production scheduling. His research in production systems
laid the ground for algorithms largely used for material requirements
planning (MRP) and its extension to distribution requirements planning
(DRP), used in ERP systems and adopted in industries in the United
States and Switzerland.
He contributed 12 papers of far reach and breadth in International
Journal of Production Economics, pioneering contemporary themes such
as resilient supply chains, international operations networks, disaster
relief and humanitarian assistance. His early research dealt with in­
ventory and capacity trade-offs, inventory optimization of safety stocks
and lead time replenishment, manufacturing management theory and
practice. He also pioneered analysing inventory in distribution systems
and marketing, manufacturing and sales coordination in production
systems. The latter is a precursor of sales and operations planning, a
topic to which a full chapter was devoted in late editions of the 1984
book in operations and supply chain management.
The scientific OSCM community benefitted tremendously from his
endless energy and the generous giving of his time to international
research, teaching and organizational development. The students and
colleagues will long remember his constant smile and spirited in­
terventions in meetings and conferences, making difficult tasks and
heated academic debates seem easy and pleasant.
In sum, he has led the academic world with his leadership skills,
academic insights, personal friendships, and optimistic positive attitude.
The air was always vibrant in his presence. When he appeared at any
kind of meeting often accompanied by his wonderful wife, Neva, the
atmosphere was immediately filled with the feeling that life is mean­
ingful and pleasant.
There is no possible way anybody could replace his personal influ­
ence on individuals, friendships, and organizational skills. His academic
influence on the field of operations/production management strategy
and supply chain management has altered the methods and ways
research becomes knowledge. Clay’s innate capability to bring a deeper
understanding of challenges was represented by the influence he has had
in the academic world. Consequentially the loss of Clay is irreplaceable.
His contributions range from personable friendships to the highest level
of academic achievements. There will never be another D. Clay
Whybark.
He helped to advance our scholarly activities in many ways both in
professional and organizational matters. We turned to him many times
for advice even when he did not have an office – and his wise and broad-
minded assistance helped to solve many complicated situations. But his
most important contribution was his presence, real and virtual, which
combined academic seriousness with excellent humor, broad overview
2
International Journal of Production Economics 247 (2022) 108451
of organizational matters and attention on the individuals. Thank you,
Clay! We will always remember you.
Books.
Berry, W.L. and Whybark, D. C. (1972). Computer Augmented Cases
in Operations and Logistics Management. South-Western Publishing
Company.
Berry, W. L., Vollmann, T. E., and Whybark, D. C. (1979). Master
production scheduling: principles and practice. Amer Production and
Inventory.
Jacobs, F. R., and Whybark, D. C. (2000). Why ERP? A primer on SAP
implementation. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Jacobs, F. R., Berry, W.L., Whybark, D.C., and Vollmann, T.E. (2010).
Manufacturing Planning and Control for Supply Chain Management. 6th
edition. New York: Irwin/McGraw-Hill.
Whybark, D. C., and Vastag, G. (Eds.). (1993). Global manufacturing
practices: A worldwide survey of practices in production planning and
control (Vol. 3). Elsevier Science Limited.
Whybark, D. C. (1989). International Operations Management Cases:
A Selection of IMEDE Cases. Richard d Irwin.
Papers published in IJPE.
Boin, A., Kelle, P., & Clay Whybark, D. (2010). Resilient supply
chains for extreme situations: Outlining a new field of study. Interna­
tional Journal of Production Economics, 126(1), 1–6. doi:10.1016/j.
ijpe.2010.01.020.
Boone, T., Johnson, S. P., Sisk, M., & Whybark, D. C. (1996). An
analysis of research on international operations networks. International
Journal of Production Economics, 46–47, 477–488. doi:10.1016/0925-
5273(9500171-9).
Clay Whybark, D. (2007). Issues in managing disaster relief in­
ventories. International Journal of Production Economics, 108(1–2),
228–235. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2006.12.012.
Hurley, S. F., & Clay Whybark, D. (1999). Inventory and capacity
trade-offs in a manufacturing cell. International Journal of Production
Economics, 59(1), 203–212. doi:10.1016/S0925-5273(9800101-7).
McLaughlin, C. P., Vastag, G., & Whybark, D. C. (1994). Statistical
inventory control in theory and practice. International Journal of Pro­
duction Economics, 35(1–3), 161–169. doi:10.1016/0925-5273
(9490077-9).
Vastag, G., & Whybark, D. C. (1993). Global relations between in­
ventory, manufacturing lead time and delivery date promises. Interna­
tional Journal of Production Economics, 30–31(C), 563–569.
doi:10.1016/0925-5273(9390121-Z).
Vastag, G., & Whybark, D. C. (2005). Inventory management: Is
there a knock-on effect? International Journal of Production Economics,
93–94(SPEC.ISS.), 129–138. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2004.06.011.
Vastag, G., & Whybark, D. C. (2003). Is anybody listening? An
investigation into popular advice and actual practices. International
Journal of Production Economics, 81–82, 115–128. doi:10.1016/S0925-
5273(0200350-X).
Vastag, G., & Whybark, D. C. (1991). Manufacturing practices: Dif­
ferences that matter. International Journal of Production Economics, 23
(1–3), 251–259. doi:10.1016/0925-5273(9190067-4).
Whybark, D. C. (1994). Marketing’s influence on manufacturing
practices. International Journal of Production Economics, 37(1), 41–50.
doi:10.1016/0925-5273(9490006-X).
Whybark, D. C., & Wijngaard, J. (1994). Editorial: Manufacturing-
sales coordination. International Journal of Production Economics, 37
(1), 1–4. doi:10.1016/0925-5273(9490002-7).
Whybark, D. C., & Yang, S. (1996). Positioning inventory in distri­
bution systems. International Journal of Production Economics, 45
(1–3), 271–278. doi:10.1016/0925-5273(9500150-6).
A. Chikán et al. International Journal of Production Economics 247 (2022) 108451

Attila Chikán
Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary
Antônio Marcio T. Thomé
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Thomas Kull
Arizona State University, USA
John Wacker
Arizona State University, USA
Robert W. Grubbström
Linköping Institute of Technology, Sweden