An integrated model for green partner selection and supply chain construction

Stricter governmental regulations and rising public awareness of environmental issues are pressurising firms to make their supply chains greener. Partner selection is a critical activity in constructing a green supply chain because the environmental performance of the whole supply chain is significantly affected by all its constituents. The paper presents a model for green partner selection and supply chain construction by combining analytic network process (ANP) and multi-objective programming (MOP) methodologies. The model offers a new way of solving the green partner selection and supply chain construction problem both effectively and efficiently as it enables decision-makers to simultaneously minimize the negative environmental impact of the supply chain whilst maximizing its business performance. The paper also develops an additional decision-making tool in the form of the environmental difference, the business difference and the eco-efficiency ratio which quantify the trade-offs between environmental and business performance. The applicability and practicability of the model is demonstrated in an illustration of its use in the Chinese electrical appliance and equipment manufacturing industry

Sustainable energy solutions for stand-alone IoT devices : Technical, environmental and economic assessment to find alternative tecnologies to power RecySmart and Single Sensor IoT devices

This work is intended to provide a high-level assessment of energy solutions to power Internet of Things (IoT) devices. The criteria for the evaluation are technical, environmental, and economic. Different technologies will be covered with support from published scientific research and the market existing solutions. The analysis will be done for a particular case study but the followed steps should serve for others looking to tackle the same issue. The intended outcome is a preselection of one or more alternatives to improve the power supply of the case study devices according to the mentioned criteria. The selection of alternatives will also include a guideline on which developments to follow and the main reasons to do so. The work is done from a business and practical perspective, meaning that after taking a first decision thanks to this work or the steps followed on it, the R&D departments of the ICT (Information and communications technologies) companies applying the methodology should then study the selected alternatives in a deeper technical analysis. In the conclusions, general next steps to carry out the development will be established. Throughout the work, it is demonstrated that there is not one single combination of technologies that is the best in all aspects, for all weathers and locations, and all applications. On the contrary, the assessment reveals how different devices and conditions affect the decision on which is the most suitable decision. In addition, there is not any alternative that has the best ranking in all aspects, as there are always technical, environmental and economical compromises. As for the specific assessment for the current status of RecySmart device (the first device of the case study), it is recommendable to follow the development towards solar photovoltaic panels in combination with Li-ion or LiPo rechargeable batteries to remove the current primary cells. The selected alternative will involve some developments but has the capability of reducing the cost of the device’s power supply by 48.9% in a 5 years period, while reducing the overall environmental impact. Thanks to the use of a solar panel and secondary cells, it is possible to eliminate 92.1% of the lithium batteries used (moving from primary to secondary cells) and ensuring the autonomy of the device. Finally, for the Single Sensor studied (the second device of the case study), the recommendation is different to the one of RecySmart, as it is more suitable to use secondary cells but without energy harvesting unit

Review layouts, flows, and movements of raw materials in the warehouse and production

Treball desenvolupat en el marc del programa "European Project Semester".Incorporation of new raw materials in the existing warehouse and elimination of intermediate buffers for production storage, to locate new machinery. By eliminating Kanban’s factory of raw materials of large consumption or use, ensure the efficiency of the factory during 3 production shifts and 2 warehouse shifts (ensure raw material for production during the night shift). AkzoNobel, a Dutch multinational with 30 manufacturing plants and 125 warehouses located across Europe, is the subject of this project. The focus will be on the Vilafranca del Pendès warehouse, which currently employs manual tools in certain manufacturing processes. The company has encountered limitations in its production line and requires significant changes to enhance its capacity. The project aims to improve the company through four fundamental concepts: efficiency, sustainability, competitiveness, and effectiveness. These concepts are closely associated with the main objective of this project, which can also be defined as: Increasing efficiency by automating production. Implementing automation can be a crucial step toward achieving better outcomes. By using automated multi-stations instead of relying on human resources only, labor costs and risks can be minimized and at the same time achieve much higher production outputs. This reduction in costs and human resource requirements also opens up new opportunities for future development within the company. To remain competitive in the industry, it is essential to make changes that will benefit the future of the company. As this famous naval saying by John Paul Jones, “Those Who Do Not Risk Cannot Win”. The purpose of this report is to showcase the AkzoNobel team’s work during the first part of the EPS on automating production. The report starts with an overview of the company’s background, their state of the art to see what they have achieved, benchmarking with other companies, the EPS program, our team, and the project roadmap. Followed by the project’s scope, including details on the company’s current situation, ongoing projects, their drawbacks, project objectives, and potential challenges. Additionally, the report provides a concise description of the paintfilling process and the characteristics of the barrels used. The report then presents four solutions, outlining their pros and cons, and compares one of our proposed solutions with AkzoNobel’s. After presenting these four solutions, the focus will be put on the chosen solution by AkzoNobel by presenting the final layout, detailing some safety protocols, environmental impact, and the forecasted budget. Finally, the report concludes with a summary of our future plans for the final report, conclusions, and appendices detailing the tools that were used to carry out this project.Incomin

Insights from the Inventory of Smart Grid Projects in Europe: 2012 Update

By the end of 2010 the Joint Research Centre, the European Commission’s in-house science service, launched the first comprehensive inventory of smart grid projects in Europe1. The final catalogue was published in July 2011 and included 219 smart grid and smart metering projects from the EU-28 member states, Switzerland and Norway. The participation of the project coordinators and the reception of the report by the smart grid community were extremely positive. Due to its success, the European Commission decided that the project inventory would be carried out on a regular basis so as to constantly update the picture of smart grid developments in Europe and keep track of lessons learnt and of challenges and opportunities. For this, a new on-line questionnaire was launched in March 2012 and information on projects collected up to September 2012. At the same time an extensive search of project information on the internet and through cooperation links with other European research organizations was conducted. The resulting final database is the most up to date and comprehensive inventory of smart grids and smart metering projects in Europe, including a total of 281 smart grid projects and 90 smart metering pilot projects and rollouts from the same 30 countries that were included in the 2011 inventory database. Projects surveyed were classified into three categories: R&D, demonstration or pre-deployment) and deployment, and for the first time a distinction between smart grid and smart metering projects was made. The following is an insight into the 2012 report.JRC.F.3-Energy securit

The duality of innovation : implications for the role of the university in economic development

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-269).The university is increasingly seen as an engine of regional economic development. Since the 1980s the university's role has been framed in terms of its contribution to industrial innovation. The conventional wisdom views this contribution as occurring primarily through the technology transfer model. The university, in this way of thinking, must move closer to industry and the marketplace by translating research into deliverables for commercialization. This dissertation challenges the empirical validity of this view. Two case studies of industrial upgrading form the empirical core of this research: the machinery industry in Tampere, Finland and the NASCAR motorsports industry in Charlotte, North Carolina. In each case I analyze the university's role from the ground up using a conceptual framework that views the innovation as a social process that has a dual nature: analytic and interpretive. From an analytic perspective innovation is a problem-solving activity. From an interpretive perspective innovation is an ongoing conversation. I find that in neither case is the university's most important contribution to each industry's upgrading made through the technology transfer model. In Tampere, whose core innovation process is interpretive, the local university creates spaces for interaction and conversation that enable knowledge integration, provides interlocutors for exploratory conversations, and educates engineers.(cont.) In Charlotte, whose innovation process is analytic, the local university plays essentially no role. NASCAR teams rely on business partners for technology transfer and attempts to make the university active in technology transfer for the industry have yet to succeed. The duality of innovation helps to explain the university's role in the Tampere case and its absence in the Charlotte case. I argue that the technology transfer model implicitly assumes that innovation is analytic and thus misses the interpretive side of innovation. The case study findings suggest three things. First, the university has a distinctive ability to make interpretive contributions to industrial innovation. Second, practices emphasized by the technology transfer model, such as patenting and technology commercialization, do not account for the university's interpretive role. Third and finally, too much emphasis on the technology transfer model may put at risk the university's interpretive capabilities and hence its most distinctive contribution to industrial innovation.by Carlos Andrés Martínez Vela.Ph.D

ReSCon '12, Research Student Conference: Book of Abstracts

The fifth SED Research Student Conference (ReSCon2012) was hosted over three days, 18-20 June 2012, in the Hamilton Centre at Brunel University. The conference consisted of 130 oral and 70 poster presentations, based on the high quality and diverse research being conducted within the School of Engineering and Design by postgraduate research students. The conference is held annually, and ReSCon plays a key role in contributing to research and innovations within the School