Integrating IVHM and Asset Design

Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) describes a set of capabilities that enable effective and efficient maintenance and operation of the target vehicle. It accounts for the collection of data, conducting analysis, and supporting the decision-making process for sustainment and operation. The design of IVHM systems endeavours to account for all causes of failure in a disciplined, systems engineering, manner. With industry striving to reduce through-life cost, IVHM is a powerful tool to give forewarning of impending failure and hence control over the outcome. Benefits have been realised from this approach across a number of different sectors but, hindering our ability to realise further benefit from this maturing technology, is the fact that IVHM is still treated as added on to the design of the asset, rather than being a sub-system in its own right, fully integrated with the asset design. The elevation and integration of IVHM in this way will enable architectures to be chosen that accommodate health ready sub-systems from the supply chain and design trade-offs to be made, to name but two major benefits. Barriers to IVHM being integrated with the asset design are examined in this paper. The paper presents progress in overcoming them, and suggests potential solutions for those that remain. It addresses the IVHM system design from a systems engineering perspective and the integration with the asset design will be described within an industrial design process

Integrating IVHM and asset design

Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) describes a set of capabilities that enable effective and efficient maintenance and operation of the target vehicle. It accounts for the collecting of data, conducting analysis, and supporting the decision-making process for sustainment and operation. The design of IVHM systems endeavours to account for all causes of failure in a disciplined, systems engineering, manner. With industry striving to reduce through-life cost, IVHM is a powerful tool to give forewarning of impending failure and hence control over the outcome. Benefits have been realised from this approach across a number of different sectors but, hindering our ability to realise further benefit from this maturing technology, is the fact that IVHM is still treated as added on to the design of the asset, rather than being a sub-system in its own right, fully integrated with the asset design. The elevation and integration of IVHM in this way will enable architectures to be chosen that accommodate health ready sub-systems from the supply chain and design trade-offs to be made, to name but two major benefits. Barriers to IVHM being integrated with the asset design are examined in this paper. The paper presents progress in overcoming them, and suggests potential solutions for those that remain. It addresses the IVHM system design from a systems engineering perspective and the integration with the asset design will be described within an industrial design process

Ecosystem-inspired enterprise modelling framework for collaborative and networked manufacturing systems

Rapid changes in the open manufacturing environment are imminent due to the increase of customer demand, global competition, and digital fusion. This has exponentially increased both complexity and uncertainty in the manufacturing landscape, creating serious challenges for competitive enterprises. For enterprises to remain competitive, analysing manufacturing activities and designing systems to address emergent needs, in a timely and efficient manner, is understood to be crucial. However, existing analysis and design approaches adopt a narrow diagnostic focus on either managerial or engineering aspects and neglect to consider the holistic complex behaviour of enterprises in a collaborative manufacturing network (CMN). It has been suggested that reflecting upon ecosystem theory may bring a better understanding of how to analyse the CMN. The research presented in this paper draws on a theoretical discussion with aim to demonstrate a facilitating approach to those analysis and design tasks. This approach was later operationalised using enterprise modelling (EM) techniques in a novel, developed framework that enhanced systematic analysis, design, and business-IT alignment. It is expected that this research view is opening a new field of investigation

Change & Transition Methods and Tools, Best Practices, Case Studies, Reference and Guidance Material Available in the Safety Related and High Reliability Organisation Environment

This document contains the description of relevant material for a compendium of methods & tools, best practices, case studies, reference and guidance material for change & transition available in the safety related industry. The findings from this study cover about 40 different methods, tools, case studies, etc. from the nuclear, petroleum, chemical/technical and maritime domains. The collected material include change management models and guidelines; rules and regulations; review checklists and guidelines; Human Factors in design considerations; transition guidelines for union representatives; verification and validation techniques; workshop findings; in addition to various case studies

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Participation in Public Procurement

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the Single Market contributing to local employment generation and innovative supplies and services development. Yet, SMEs are continuously disproportionately underrepresented in public markets. On average EU member states spend approximately 14% of their gross domestic product (GDP) concluding public supplies, services and works contracts. EU rules aim to promote cross-border trade in the Single Market by removing the barriers faced by suppliers when tendering for public contracts. This research questions whether the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures facilitates SME participation in public contracts. The research questions what impact “the division of large contracts into small ‘lots’; the use of community benefit clauses; the use of subcontractor considerations; and the use of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) procedures” has on SME participation. A cross-border comparative case-study approach is adopted to examine the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures in four case studies. The case studies scrutinise the inclusion of social criteria in; a €1.7 billion works contract for the construction of a New Children’s Hospital in Ireland, a £27 million catering, cleaning and ancillary services contract conducted by Northern Ireland’s Central Procurement Directorate, and two PCP competitions conducted by Smart Dublin and Smart Belfast. The findings show how; the use of community benefit clauses and the use of lots facilitated a social enterprise in winning a proportion of a £27 million services and supplies contract; the use of subcontractor considerations resulted in the awarding of €500,000 of subcontracts to SMEs on a €1.7 billion contract within six months of contract commencement, and the use of PCP facilitated the participation of nine SMEs in public contracts. The thesis argues that public procurers should not to treat SMEs as a homogenised group and should design appropriate and proportionate policies for different forms of businesses, including social enterprises and innovative start-ups

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Participation in Public Procurement

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the Single Market contributing to local employment generation and innovative supplies and services development. Yet, SMEs are continuously disproportionately underrepresented in public markets. On average EU member states spend approximately 14% of their gross domestic product (GDP) concluding public supplies, services and works contracts. EU rules aim to promote cross-border trade in the Single Market by removing the barriers faced by suppliers when tendering for public contracts. This research questions whether the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures facilitates SME participation in public contracts. The research questions what impact “the division of large contracts into small ‘lots’; the use of community benefit clauses; the use of subcontractor considerations; and the use of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) procedures” has on SME participation. A cross-border comparative case-study approach is adopted to examine the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures in four case studies. The case studies scrutinise the inclusion of social criteria in; a €1.7 billion works contract for the construction of a New Children’s Hospital in Ireland, a £27 million catering, cleaning and ancillary services contract conducted by Northern Ireland’s Central Procurement Directorate, and two PCP competitions conducted by Smart Dublin and Smart Belfast. The findings show how; the use of community benefit clauses and the use of lots facilitated a social enterprise in winning a proportion of a £27 million services and supplies contract; the use of subcontractor considerations resulted in the awarding of €500,000 of subcontracts to SMEs on a €1.7 billion contract within six months of contract commencement, and the use of PCP facilitated the participation of nine SMEs in public contracts. The thesis argues that public procurers should not to treat SMEs as a homogenised group and should design appropriate and proportionate policies for different forms of businesses, including social enterprises and innovative start-ups

Contractual Stakeholderism

In 2019, the Business Roundtable announced its commitment to all corporate stakeholders—consumers, employees, suppliers, and communities—and not just shareholders. This announcement has reawakened an old debate over corporate social responsibility. Stakeholderism advocates argue that corporate leaders must consider the interests of the various stakeholders impacted by corporate decision-making. Stakeholderism critics challenge this view, expressing concerns that stakeholderism will magnify managerial agency costs, chill regulation, risk inauthenticity, and lead to impractical solutions. This Article proposes “contractual stakeholderism” to operationalize stakeholderism in accordance with the views of its advocates but in a way that is attentive to the concerns of its critics. Normatively, it advocates for a shift from a benefits-based approach to stakeholderism to one focused on harms prevention. The former often justifies stakeholderism by highlighting benefits that stakeholder protection can offer the corporation, including advancing shareholder value. But this basis for stakeholderism will fall short because what is good for the stakeholder is not always good for the shareholder; instead, sometimes their interests conflict. In these situations, the benefits-based approach will inevitably lead to the prioritization of the shareholder over the stakeholder. To address this shortcoming, this Article advocates for a harms- based approach that focuses on the risks that a corporation’s activities create for stakeholders. This approach applies to a wider range of corporate activity and protects a broader range of stakeholders than does the benefits-based approach. This Article justifies the normative shift to a harms-based approach by identifying five dimensions of inequality that place stakeholders at unique risk of harm from corporate conduct: notice, choice, risk management, legal remedies, and the fruits of exchange. Practically, this Article explains that many stakeholder harms arise from the contracting choices that corporate actors negotiate, draft, and bind their companies to perform. A harms-based approach would require corporate actors to design these contracts differently to mitigate or eliminate risks to stakeholders. To incentivize such contract design, this Article concludes by proposing the following tort duty: Corporations, as contracting parties, must take into account stakeholders’ interests when performance of the contract creates a risk of harm to them

On the Appropriateness of Contractor-Led Procurement: an investigation of circumstances and consequences

Major clients of the construction industry have been found to organise construction work into fewer, but larger, contracts with more transfer of risk and responsibilities in response to a change from a sellers market to a buyers market, and facing a greater choice of procurement methods than ever before. Main contractors and consultants alike are moving towards multidisciplinary teams offering design and management services, challenging single service consultants or contractors and are in competition with each other over who is leading the process. A consolidation of firms at the upper end of the industry can be witnessed in order to access a wider market and new clients, and at the lower end a specialisation into specific skills or locations takes place, while medium sized firms are increasingly struggling to survive. A general procurement model serves to identify the appropriate procurement approach for construction needs, as neither clients or construction service suppliers represent a homogenous market. Clients demands for a ready purchase of design, procurement and management of construction from a single source have been found to be met most appropriately by contractor-led procurement under most, but not all, circumstances, particularly in respect of higher levels of efficiency, cost certainty and punctuality among other benefits. The consequences faced by a contractor in the leading role of the procurement process are significant, especially in terms of integrating and co-ordinating the entire supply chain to the satisfaction of the client and for anticipated repeat business. This is the chief factor of competitive strength for the struggle of long term survival. A classification model of procurement strategies in respect to parameters of supply risk, strategic importance and frequency of spend offers a tool for the appropriate choice of business relationship with different suppliers. It is to be anticipated that the future will see an intensification of the changes in the processes of construction procurement described and analysed, which may vary in extent from one market to another, but not in direction