28,836 research outputs found
The Management of Manufacturing-Oriented Informatics Systems Using Efficient and Flexible Architectures
Industry and in particular the manufacturing-oriented sector has always been researched and innovated as a result of technological progress, diversification and differentiation among consumers' demands. A company that provides to its customers products matching perfectly their demands at competitive prices has a great advantage over its competitors. Manufacturing-oriented information systems are becoming more flexible and configurable and they require integration with the entire organization. This can be done using efficient software architectures that will allow the coexistence between commercial solutions and open source components while sharing computing resources organized in grid infrastructures and under the governance of powerful management tools.Manufacturing-Oriented Informatics Systems, Open Source, Software Architectures, Grid Computing, Web-Based Management Systems
New business models for electric cars: A holistic approach
Climate change and global resource shortages lead to a rethinking of classic individual mobility basing on combustion engines. As a result of technological improvements first electric vehicles are introduced and further market penetrations can be expected. But due to a possible wider implementation of battery-powered electrical propulsion systems in future, new challenges arise for both the classic automotive industry and further new players, e.g. battery manufacturers, the power supply industry or other service providers. Due to the various application cases of electric vehicles discussed topically, numerous business models can emerge leading to new shares in the value creation and involving new participating players. Consequently, the individual stakeholders are uncertain as to which business models are really effective with regard to targeting a profitable overall concept. Therefore, the aim of this contribution is to define a holistic approach to developing business models for electric mobility, regarding the holistic system on the one hand and giving decision support for concerning enterprises on the other hand. For this, the basic elements of electric mobility will be observed and topical approaches for business models for various stakeholders will be discussed. The paper closes with a systemic instrument for business models basing on morphological methods. --business models,electric vehicles,morphologic box
Enhancing the Supply Chain Performance by Integrating Simulated and Physical Agents into Organizational Information Systems
As the business environment gets more complicated, organizations must be able to respond to the business changes and adjust themselves quickly to gain their competitive advantages. This study proposes an integrated agent system, called SPA, which coordinates simulated and physical agents to provide an efficient way for organizations to meet the challenges in managing supply chains. In the integrated framework, physical agents coordinate with inter-organizations\' physical agents to form workable business processes and detect the variations occurring in the outside world, whereas simulated agents model and analyze the what-if scenarios to support physical agents in making decisions. This study uses a supply chain that produces digital still cameras as an example to demonstrate how the SPA works. In this example, individual information systems of the involved companies equip with the SPA and the entire supply chain is modeled as a hierarchical object oriented Petri nets. The SPA here applies the modified AGNES data clustering technique and the moving average approach to help each firm generalize customers\' past demand patterns and forecast their future demands. The amplitude of forecasting errors caused by bullwhip effects is used as a metric to evaluate the degree that the SPA affects the supply chain performance. The experimental results show that the SPA benefits the entire supply chain by reducing the bullwhip effects and forecasting errors in a dynamic environment.Supply Chain Performance Enhancement; Bullwhip Effects; Simulated Agents; Physical Agents; Dynamic Customer Demand Pattern Discovery
Challenges and complexities in application of LCA approaches in the case of ICT for a sustainable future
In this work, three of many ICT-specific challenges of LCA are discussed.
First, the inconsistency versus uncertainty is reviewed with regard to the
meta-technological nature of ICT. As an example, the semiconductor technologies
are used to highlight the complexities especially with respect to energy and
water consumption. The need for specific representations and metric to
separately assess products and technologies is discussed. It is highlighted
that applying product-oriented approaches would result in abandoning or
disfavoring of new technologies that could otherwise help toward a better
world. Second, several believed-untouchable hot spots are highlighted to
emphasize on their importance and footprint. The list includes, but not limited
to, i) User Computer-Interfaces (UCIs), especially screens and displays, ii)
Network-Computer Interlaces (NCIs), such as electronic and optical ports, and
iii) electricity power interfaces. In addition, considering cross-regional
social and economic impacts, and also taking into account the marketing nature
of the need for many ICT's product and services in both forms of hardware and
software, the complexity of End of Life (EoL) stage of ICT products,
technologies, and services is explored. Finally, the impact of smart management
and intelligence, and in general software, in ICT solutions and products is
highlighted. In particular, it is observed that, even using the same
technology, the significance of software could be highly variable depending on
the level of intelligence and awareness deployed. With examples from an
interconnected network of data centers managed using Dynamic Voltage and
Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technology and smart cooling systems, it is shown that
the unadjusted assessments could be highly uncertain, and even inconsistent, in
calculating the management component's significance on the ICT impacts.Comment: 10 pages. Preprint/Accepted of a paper submitted to the ICT4S
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Determinants of local responsiveness of FMNCS in mainland China
Recent regulations, associated with China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), specifically Decree 113 and Decree 114, have largely changed the situation for foreign multinational construction companies (FMNCs) operating in mainland China. A field investigation has identified that local responsiveness is critical for FMNCs to survive and develop in the complicated and uncertain Chinese construction industry. Government policy, China-specific construction industrial factors and increasing competition intensity imposed by local competitors are recognized as the major determinants driving local responsiveness of FMNCs. This study has also examined that localisation of internal resources, establishment of local networks and cooperation or strategic alliances with local contractors and design institutes are the key local adaptation strategies for FMNCs operating in mainland China
The Management of Manufacturing-Oriented Informatics Systems Using Efficient and Flexible Architectures
Industry and in particular the manufacturing-oriented sector has always been researched and innovated as a result of technological progress, diversification and differentiation among consumers' demands. A company that provides to its customers products matching perfectly their demands at competitive prices has a great advantage over its competitors. Manufacturing-oriented information systems are becoming more flexible and configurable and they require integration with the entire organization. This can be done using efficient software architectures that will allow the coexistence between commercial solutions and open source components while sharing computing resources organized in grid infrastructures and under the governance of powerful management tools
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