Contribution to the Logistic Evaluation System in the Transportation Process in Santo Domingo, Ecuador

Peer Reviewe

Smart lighting systems : state-of-the-art and potential applications in warehouse order picking

Artificial lighting is a constant companion in everyday private and working life, influencing visibility in interior spaces as well as outdoors. In recent years, new technical solutions have extended traditional lighting systems to become ‘smart’. Different types of smart lighting systems are available on the market today, and researchers have concentrated on analysing their usability and efficiency, especially for private households, office buildings and public streets. This paper presents a systematic literature review to analyse the state-of-knowledge of technologies and applications for smart lighting systems. The results of the review show that smart lighting systems have been frequently discussed in the literature, but that their potentials in industrial environments, such as production and logistics, has rarely been addressed in the literature so far. Lighting systems for industrial environments often have very different requirements depending on the working environment and operating conditions. Based on the results of the literature review, this paper contributes to closing this research gap by discussing the usage potential of smart lighting systems to improve the efficiency of warehouse order picking, which is an application that may benefit from various functions smart lighting systems provide. Several propositions are developed that emphasise research opportunities and managerial implications in this context

Ono: an open platform for social robotics

In recent times, the focal point of research in robotics has shifted from industrial ro- bots toward robots that interact with humans in an intuitive and safe manner. This evolution has resulted in the subfield of social robotics, which pertains to robots that function in a human environment and that can communicate with humans in an int- uitive way, e.g. with facial expressions. Social robots have the potential to impact many different aspects of our lives, but one particularly promising application is the use of robots in therapy, such as the treatment of children with autism. Unfortunately, many of the existing social robots are neither suited for practical use in therapy nor for large scale studies, mainly because they are expensive, one-of-a-kind robots that are hard to modify to suit a specific need. We created Ono, a social robotics platform, to tackle these issues. Ono is composed entirely from off-the-shelf components and cheap materials, and can be built at a local FabLab at the fraction of the cost of other robots. Ono is also entirely open source and the modular design further encourages modification and reuse of parts of the platform

Intralogistics and industry 4.0: designing a novel shuttle with picking system

Intralogistics is increasingly a matter of research and development as a form of optimization, automation, integration and management of the flow of materials and information that circulate within a business unit. With a strong connection to material handling equipment and automation solutions, intralogistics has proved to be one of the main factors responsible for something that is already happening: a fourth industrial revolution where it is possible to convert warehouses and manufacturing units into smart environments where the entire process can be controlled and supervised through a single system. It became necessary to develop more innovative and efficient solutions to the constant diversity of challenges proposed by the market. In this sense, it was proposed to develop something innovative within the area of Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS), a technology increasingly sought after by today's manufacturing plants. As such, the goal was to improve the most emergent AS/RS in recent years: the Pallet/Box Shuttle AS/RS. In order to achieve the proposed objective, it was necessary to analyze all the existing solutions in the market and, mainly, to find the main systems to be improved and the direction to follow in order to create a novel solution based on the existing advanced solutions. Moreover, regarding the recent needs required by the smart factories and Industry 4.0, it was intended that the new system would be able to make an optimized selection of products, forming sets or sub-sets of different products picking them from different places of the rack, a situation that is quite frequent in companies that produce and assemble equipment. The solution obtained shows that it is possible to increase the automation of the operations in the storage systems and improve the responsiveness of the system, taking this solution to a new level. Different products can be picked-up and put in a same box, providing a set of products/components able to be used in a production line or to be provided to a customer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IoT system for the validation of conditions in shipping couriers

The growth in online activity these days has caused an increase in the number of online shopping businesses. As the shopping experience becomes less personal, some people try to abuse online businesses with return fraud. The number of IoT devices has also experienced growth due to the fourth industrial revolution, or Industry 4.0, which consists of process automation and data exchange in the industry through IoT and machine learning. This dissertation includes research questions, hypotheses, objectives, and a methodology for the development of a system that integrates IoT to solve the problem of fraudulent returns. The prototype developed monitors when packages leave the facilities and when they are delivered, in addition to allowing to check upon the packages’ integrity at these same moments. This is achieved by using a Raspberry Pi with a camera attached and an ESP32 with a motion sensor, connected via the MQTT and Node-RED protocol. To evaluate the system, several tests were created to simulate a scenario of real-world application. With the results obtained, it is possible to conclude that the development was a success and that the prototype can be used in logistics business to prevent return fraud.O aumento da atividade online nos dias de hoje tem causado um aumento no número de lojas de comércio online. À medida que a experiência de compra se torna menos pessoal, algumas pessoas tentam abusar negócios online com fraudes de devolução. O número de dispositivos IoT também tem crescido devido à quarta revolução industrial, ou Indústria 4.0, que consiste na automação de processos e troca de dados na indústria através de IoT e machine learning. Esta dissertação inclui questões de investigação, hipóteses, objetivos e uma metodologia para o desenvolvimento de um sistema que integra IoT para resolver o problema de devoluções fraudulentas. O protótipo desenvolvido monitoriza quando encomendas saem das instalações e quando são entregues, para além de permitir a verificação da integridade física das encomendas nestes mesmos momentos. Isto é alcançado com o uso de um Raspberry Pi com uma câmara associada e um ESP32 com um sensor de movimento, conectados entre si através do protocolo MQTT e Node-RED. Para avaliar o sistema, vários testes foram criados de forma a simular um cenário de aplicação no mundo real. Os resultados obtidos permitem concluir que o desenvolvimento foi um sucesso e que o protótipo pode ser usado em empresas de logística, distribuição e transporte para evitar fraudes de devolução

Orchestration of External Resources

The way economic value is created is fundamentally changing. As a result of increased utilization of resources of suppliers and partners, the cost of purchased goods and services can be even 70-80% of revenue. These suppliers and partners producing the majority of the costs, value and innovation of a company can be considered as the external resources of a company. Management of external resources is problematic for companies, as rules which apply for internal management do not apply as such. At the same time relying on pure market approaches is neither a sufficient approach. From a governance model theory perspective new, network and hybrid forms have emerged.  In the research reported here, the practices for management of upstream external resources are investigated from a focal company perspective. The research is scoped around practices of a manufacturing company. The research question is: How a focal company can manage its supplier base in different managerial situations?  Findings of this research demonstrate that the concept of orchestration is relevant from the external resource management point of view, and it can be identified empirically. The concept of orchestration is characterized as an activity, where a company is intentionally leading and influencing its external resources beyond the set of operative activities it conducts itself.  In order to develop a strategy for external resource management, a firm must identify and define its business objectives. This should be done both from the overall company perspective, and also for each of the buyer-supplier relationships, choosing between innovation focus and cost competitiveness focus. Additionally, the business objectives must be combined with an intended governance approach in order to develop an appropriate strategy for external resource management. As a part of this research, a categorization model for management situations is developed. The buyer-supplier relationships can be arranged according to the dimensions of relationship focus – between cost and innovation, and governance approach – between bilateral and unilateral governance. For each of the situations it is necessary to adapt a suitable managerial practice. Findings from the research suggest, that the practices related to orchestration of external resources can be divided to four broader clusters: value positioning, product and network architecture, relationship governance practices, and operative management practices.Taloudellista arvon luomisen tavat ovat muutoksessa perustavaa laatua olevalla tavalla. Toimittajien ja kumppanien osuus arvontuotannosta kasvaa niin, että yrityksen ulkopuolelta hankittujen tavaroiden ja palveluiden osuus voi olla jopa 70-80% liikevaihdosta. Näitä toimittajia ja kumppaneita, jotka tuottavat suurimman osan sekä kustannuksista että monesti myös innovaatioista, voidaan pitää yrityksen ulkoisina resursseina. Ulkoisten resurssien hallinta on ongelmallista pääosalle yrityksistä, sillä sisäisiä toimintatapoja ei voida hyödyntää sellaisenaan ulkoisten kumppanien kanssa. Samalla kuitenkin myöskään puhtaasti markkinaehtoiset toimintamallit eivät ole riittäväviä ulkoisten resurssien johtamiseen. Johtamisen näkökulmasta on syntynyt uusia teoreettisia malleja, mm verkostoon perustuvia hallintamalleja sekä hybridimalleja. Tässä tutkimuksessa on selvitetty käytäntöjä ulkoisten resurssien hallintaan, keskittyen valmistavan yrityksen arvoketjun alkupäähän. Tutkimus on tehty ydinyrityksen näkökulmasta. Tutkimuskysymys on: Miten ydinyritys voi johtaa ulkoisia resurssejaan erilaisissa liiketoimintatilanteissa?  Tämän tutkimuksen löydökset keskittyvät neljän teeman ympärille. Tulokset osoittavat, että orkesteroinnin käsitteellä on merkitystä ulkoisesta resurssien hallinnan kannalta, ja että käsitteen mukaista toimintaa voidaan tunnistaa empiirisesti. Käsite orkesterointi luonnehtii toimintaa, jossa yritys tarkoituksellisesti johtaa ja vaikuttaa toimittajiinsa ja partnereihinsa tavoilla, jotka menevät perinteistä operatiivisen toimintaa pidemmälle ja laajentavat perinteistä toimittajaverkoston johtamisen sisältöä.  Jotta voitaisiin kehittää asianmukainen strategia ulkoisten resurssien hallintaan, yrityksen on tunnistettava ja määriteltävä sen liiketoiminnan kokonaistavoitteet. Erityisesti tulee määritellä painottuminen innovaatioiden ja kustannuskilpailukykyyn keskittymisen välillä. Lisäksi liiketoiminnan tavoitteet on yhdistettävä tavoiteltuun johtamisotteeseen. Osana tätä tutkimusta kehitettiin luokittelumalli johtamistilanteiden tunnistamiseksi. Ostaja-toimittajasuhteet voidaan järjestää tämän mallin dimensioiden mukaan. Vastaavasti orkesterointikäytännöt voidaan mukauttaa tilanteeseen sopiviksi johtamisprofiileiksi. Tutkimus osoittaa, että ulkoisten resurssien orkesterointikäytännöt voidaan jakaa neljään laajempaan ryhmään: arvon tuottamisen strategiaan, tuotteen ja verkon arkkitehtuurin johtamiseen, suhteen hallinnointiin, sekä operatiivisen rajapinnan käytäntöihin. Nämä neljä ryhmää käytäntöjä muodostavat perustan ulkoisten resurssien orkestroinnille

Big Data and the Internet of Things

Advances in sensing and computing capabilities are making it possible to embed increasing computing power in small devices. This has enabled the sensing devices not just to passively capture data at very high resolution but also to take sophisticated actions in response. Combined with advances in communication, this is resulting in an ecosystem of highly interconnected devices referred to as the Internet of Things - IoT. In conjunction, the advances in machine learning have allowed building models on this ever increasing amounts of data. Consequently, devices all the way from heavy assets such as aircraft engines to wearables such as health monitors can all now not only generate massive amounts of data but can draw back on aggregate analytics to "improve" their performance over time. Big data analytics has been identified as a key enabler for the IoT. In this chapter, we discuss various avenues of the IoT where big data analytics either is already making a significant impact or is on the cusp of doing so. We also discuss social implications and areas of concern.Comment: 33 pages. draft of upcoming book chapter in Japkowicz and Stefanowski (eds.) Big Data Analysis: New algorithms for a new society, Springer Series on Studies in Big Data, to appea

A Survey of Positioning Systems Using Visible LED Lights

© 2018 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.As Global Positioning System (GPS) cannot provide satisfying performance in indoor environments, indoor positioning technology, which utilizes indoor wireless signals instead of GPS signals, has grown rapidly in recent years. Meanwhile, visible light communication (VLC) using light devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) has been deemed to be a promising candidate in the heterogeneous wireless networks that may collaborate with radio frequencies (RF) wireless networks. In particular, light-fidelity has a great potential for deployment in future indoor environments because of its high throughput and security advantages. This paper provides a comprehensive study of a novel positioning technology based on visible white LED lights, which has attracted much attention from both academia and industry. The essential characteristics and principles of this system are deeply discussed, and relevant positioning algorithms and designs are classified and elaborated. This paper undertakes a thorough investigation into current LED-based indoor positioning systems and compares their performance through many aspects, such as test environment, accuracy, and cost. It presents indoor hybrid positioning systems among VLC and other systems (e.g., inertial sensors and RF systems). We also review and classify outdoor VLC positioning applications for the first time. Finally, this paper surveys major advances as well as open issues, challenges, and future research directions in VLC positioning systems.Peer reviewe

Collaborative problem solving within supply chains: general framework, process and methodology

The Problem Solving Process is a central element of the firms' continuous improvement strategies. In this framework, a number of approaches have succeeded to demonstrate their effectiveness to tackle industrial problems. The list includes, but is not limited to PDCA, DMAICS, 7Steps and 8D/9S. However, the emergence and increasing emphasis in the supply chains have impacted the effectiveness of those methods to solve problems that go beyond the boundaries of a single firm and, in consequence, their ability to provide solutions when the contexts on which firms operate are distributed. This can be explained because not only the problems, but also the products, partners, skills, resources and pieces of evidence required to solve those problems are distributed, fragmented and decentralized across the network. This PhD thesis deals with the solving of industrial problems in supply chains based in collaboration. It develops a general framework for studying this paradigm, as well as both a generic process and a collaborative methodology able to deal with the process in practice. The proposal considers all the technical aspects (e.g. products modeling and network structure) and the collaborative aspects (e.g. the trust decisions and/or the power gaps between partners) that simultaneously impact the supply chain operation and the jointly solving of problems. Finally, this research work positions the experiential knowledge as a central lever of the problem solving process to contribute to the continuous improvement strategies at a more global level