247 research outputs found

    Concurrent Product and Supply Chain Architecture Design Considering Modularity and Sustainability

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    Since sustainability is a growing concern, businesses aim to integrate sustainability principles and practices into product and supply chain (SC) architecture (SCA) design. Modular product architecture (MPA) is essential for meeting sustainability demands, as it defines detachable modules by selecting appropriate components from various potential combinations. However, the prevailing practice of MPA emphasizes architectural aspects over interface complexity and design production processes for the structural dimension, potentially impending manufacturing, assembly/disassembly, and recovery efficiency. Most MPA has been developed assuming equal and/or fixed relations among modules rather than configuring for SC effectiveness. Therefore, such methods cannot offer guidance on modular granularity and its impact on product and SCA sustainability. Additionally, there is no comparative assessment of MPA to determine whether the components within the configured modules could share multiple facilities to achieve economic benefits and be effective for modular manufacture and upgrade. Therefore, existing modular configuration fails to link modularization drivers and metrics with SCA, hampering economic design, modular recycling, and efficient assembly/disassembly for enhancing sustainability. This study focuses on the study of design fundamentals and implementation of sustainable modular drivers in coordination with SCA by developing a mathematical model. Here, the architectural and interface relations between components are quantified and captured in a decision structure matrix which acts as the foundation of modular clustering for MPA. Again, unlike previous design approaches focused only on cost, the proposed work considers facility sharing through a competitive analysis of commonality and cost. It also evaluates MPA's ease of disassembly and upgradeability by a comparative assessment of different MPA to enhance SCA sustainability. The primary focus is concurrently managing the interdependency between MPA and SCA by developing mathematical models. Consistent with the mathematical model, this thesis also proposes better solution approaches. In summary, the proposed methods provide a foundation for modeling the link between product design and SC to 1) demonstrate how sustainable modular drivers affect the sustainability performance, 2) evaluate the contribution of modularity to the reduction of assembly/disassembly complexity and cost, 3) develop MPA in coordination with SC modularity by trading off modular granularity, commonality, and cost, and 4) identify a sustainable product family for combined modularity considering the similarity of operations, ease of disassembly and upgradability in SCA. Using metaheuristic algorithms, case studies on refrigerators showed that MPA and its methodology profoundly impact SCA sustainability. It reveals that interactions between components with levels based on sustainable modular drivers should be linked with modular granularity for SCA sustainability. Another key takeaway is that instead of solely focusing on cost, facility sharing and ensuring ease of disassembly and upgradeability can help to reap sustainability benefits

    Towards a Digital Capability Maturity Framework for Tertiary Institutions

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    Background: The Digital Capability (DC) of an Institution is the extent to which the institution's culture, policies, and infrastructure enable and support digital practices (Killen et al., 2017), and maturity is the continuous improvement of those capabilities. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely to give rise to constant changes in teaching and learning, potentially disrupting Tertiary Education Institutions (TEIs) and making existing organisational models less effective. An institution’s ability to adapt to continuously changing technology depends on the change in culture and leadership decisions within the individual institutions. Change without structure leads to inefficiencies, evident across the Nigerian TEI landscape. These inefficiencies can be attributed mainly to a lack of clarity and agreement on a development structure. Objectives: This research aims to design a structure with a pathway to maturity, to support the continuous improvement of DC in TEIs in Nigeria and consequently improve the success of digital education programmes. Methods: I started by conducting a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) investigating the body of knowledge on DC, its composition, the relationship between its elements and their respective impact on the Maturity of TEIs. Findings from the review led me to investigate further the key roles instrumental in developing Digital Capability Maturity in Tertiary Institutions (DCMiTI). The results of these investigations formed the initial ideas and constructs upon which the proposed structure was built. I then explored a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to substantiate the initial constructs and gain a deeper understanding of the relationships between elements/sub-elements. Next, I used triangulation as a vehicle to expand the validity of the findings by replicating the methods in a case study of TEIs in Nigeria. Finally, after using the validated constructs and knowledge base to propose a structure based on CMMI concepts, I conducted an expert panel workshop to test the model’s validity. Results: I consolidated the body of knowledge from the SLR into a universal classification of 10 elements, each comprising sub-elements. I also went on to propose a classification for DCMiTI. The elements/sub-elements in the classification indicate the success factors for digital maturity, which were also found to positively impact the ability to design, deploy and sustain digital education. These findings were confirmed in a UK University and triangulated in a case study of Northwest Nigeria. The case study confirmed the literature findings on the status of DCMiTI in Nigeria and provided sufficient evidence to suggest that a maturity structure would be a well-suited solution to supporting DCM in the region. I thus scoped, designed, and populated a domain-specific framework for DCMiTI, configured to support the educational landscape in Northwest Nigeria. Conclusion: The proposed DCMiTI framework enables TEIs to assess their maturity level across the various capability elements and reports on DCM as a whole. It provides guidance on the criteria that must be satisfied to achieve higher levels of digital maturity. The framework received expert validation, as domain experts agreed that the proposed Framework was well applicable to developing DCMiTI and would be a valuable tool to support TEIs in delivering successful digital education. Recommendations were made to engage in further iterations of testing by deploying the proposed framework for use in TEI to confirm the extent of its generalisability and acceptability

    Managing the Influence of Stakeholders on the Scope of Major Construction Projects to Prevent Scope Creep in the BIM Era

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    The present PhD thesis is centred on investigating the challenge of scope creep within construction projects, denoting the phenomenon of an uncontrolled enlargement of project scope without essential adaptations. Stakeholders are identified as a major source of uncertainty and requests for changes in scope, which can result in risky events. Therefore, an overarching framework is needed to effectively resolve the problem of scope creep caused by stakeholder influence. The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is suggested as an effective methodology for the streamlined management of information in construction projects, thus enabling project managers to develop an appropriate solution for the identified problem. To develop this framework, a meta-analysis approach and case study strategy is employed to analyse and synthesise secondary data collected from the PMBOK GUIDE’S (PMI, 2017) project management processes, BIM-related standards, and six case study projects. The objective is to identify essential processes and activities, their sequence and interdependencies, problematic issues, and best practices. The outcome of the research is the creation of a Process Framework designed to address the problem of scope creep triggered by stakeholder influence. The elements and concepts of this framework are verified by undertaking semi-structured interviews with five practitioners from the construction and infrastructure industry. The Process Framework functions as a unifying mechanism that combines project management and BIM processes, thereby ensuring coordination and integration towards the overarching objective of managing stakeholder influence on project scope and mitigating scope creep. Additionally, this research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between BIM documents and project management processes. The study explores how BIM fits within project management processes and identifies the benefits of BIM for the resolution of issues in construction projects, including end product visualization, clash detection, and efficient information sharing. This study provides an extensive and meticulous analysis of scope creep within construction projects and presents a pragmatic framework for dealing with this issue

    The influence of project management maturity on organizational business excellence

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    Osnovni cilj doktorske disertacije je da se utvrdi uticaj različitih nivoa zrelosti u upravljanju projektima na ostvarivanje poslovne izvrsnosti organizacija u kontekstu Industrije 4.0. Istraživanje je sprovedeno na osnovu uzorka od 124 organizacije, različitih veličina i delatnosti, koje su osvojile priznanja ili nagrade dodeljene od strane Evropske fondacije za upravljanje kvalitetom. Upotrebom ProMMM modela za procenu zrelosti u upravljanju projektima utvrđena je značajna povezanost između zrelosti organizacija u upravljanju projektima i ostvarivanja poslovne izvrsnosti, što doprinosi razvoju teorije u ovoj oblasti. U praktičnom smislu, dobijena saznanja mogu pomoći organizacijama da definišu strategije za efikasniju primenu pristupa upravljanja projektima za postizanje i/ili održavanje poslovne izvrsnosti u okviru nove industrijske revolucije.The main goal of the doctoral dissertation is to determine the impact of different levels of project management maturity on business excellence in the context of Industry 4.0. The research was made on a sample of 124 organizations, differing in industry and size, and recognized through the business excellence awards or recognitions given by European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM). Using the ProMMM model, a significant connection was found between project management maturity and business excellence which contributes to theory development in this field. In a practical manner, the findings can help organizations to define strategies for more effective implementation of project management approaches to achieve and/or maintain business excellence within the new industrial paradigm

    Use of Quality Management Methods and Tools - a Systematic Review of the Literature

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    Bakalářská práce se skládá ze dvou částí: teoretické a praktické. V teoretické části práce popisujeme a charakterizujeme metody a nástroje managementu kvality. V praktické části jsme se zaměřili na shromáždění a analýzu publikací zabývajících se možnostmi využívání metod a nástrojů managementu kvality v různých ekonomických a sociálních oblastech. Pro rychlejší vyhledávání sledovaných publikací jsme využili dvě databáze: (www.webofscience.com) a IEE Xplore (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org).The Bachelor thesis consists of two parts: theoretical and practical. In the theoretical part of the work, we describe and characterize the methods and tools of quality management. In the practical part, we focused on gathering and analysing publications dealing with the possibilities of using quality management methods and tools in various economic and social areas. We used two databases for faster searches of monitored publications: (www.webofscience.com) and IEE Xplore(https://ieeexplore.ieee.org).639 - Katedra managementu kvalitydobř

    Information systems project maturity framework for level 2 compliance

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    Chapter 1 unpacked the problem identified by the Standish Chaos Reports (2014), where it appears that projects across the globe are often not managed successfully for earned value. A general overview placed software project management in context while proposing that a focus on process management using the PMIS emplacement may alleviate many of the challenges faced. Chapter 1 also explained the problems and resultant inability to unlock capability maturity requirements needed to move out of CM L1 behaviourSchool of Computin
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