Procceedings / 4th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2009, December 10-11, 2009., Belgrade

editors Dragan D. Milanović, Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misit

Procceedings / 4th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2009, December 10-11, 2009., Belgrade

editors Dragan D. Milanović, Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misit

7th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - SIE 2018, PROCEEDINGS

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

7th INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING - SIE 2018, PROCEEDINGS

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

Incorporating human factors into the AMT selection : a framework and a process

This thesis is concerned with the assessment of human factors relevant to the selection of AMT (Advanced Manufacturing Technologies). Human factors such as employee morale, labour flexibility and workers skills should be evaluated during the pre-installation planning, since they greatly influence the implementation outcome. For newly industrialised countries, in particular, incorporating human factors into the selection seems paramount. These economies are in the critical early stages of AMT adoption. Selection practices are often incompatible with the complexity of these technologies. Moreover, low rates of secondary education, scarcity of technicians, and problems with workforce flexibility reinforce the importance of assessing human factors before the actual technology installation. Although some methods have been proposed to evaluate intangible aspects such as the human factors, the lack of a structured approach to identify and quantify these items still constitutes a major obstacle. Furthermore, this approach should be easy to use and establish a common measure for the comparison of options. It should involve key stakeholders and seek consensus on the decision. Aiming to address this gap, the research was undertaken in three phases: theory building, refinement and testing. A preliminary framework was devised from the review of literature, interviews with experts, and a pilot case study. A process was developed to operationalise the framework. The approach was applied using action research in nine case studies in Brazil: a pilot case study in the theory building phase, four cases for refinement, and four firms constituted the final testing. Three main categories of human factors were proposed: labour flexibility, individual capabilities, and employee relations. Grouping these items was crucial to create a definition for these factors and facilitate their identification.Taguchi's Loss Function was used as evaluation method for the human factors and available AMT. The strategies developed for identification and evaluation represented an important theoretical contribution. The in-company applications corresponded to the main practical contribution of the research. Very positive feedback was obtained on the appropriateness of the approach to address identification and quantification issues

An Integrated Retail Supply Chain Risk Management Framework: A System Thinking Approach

It is often taken for granted that the right products will be available to buy in retail outlets seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. Consumer perception is that of a simple service requirement, but the reality is a complex, time sensitive system - the retail supply chain (RSC). Due to short product life-cycles with uncertain supply and demand behaviour, the RSC faces many challenges and is very vulnerable to disruptions. In addition, external risk events such as BREXIT, extreme weather, the financial crisis, and terror attacks mean there is a need for effective RSC risk management (RSCRM) processes within organisations. Literature shows that although there is an increasing amount of research in RSCRM, it is highly theoretical with limited empirical evidence or applied methodologies. With an active enthusiasm coming from industry practitioners for RSCRM methodologies and support solutions, the RSCRM research community have acknowledged that the main issue for future research is not tools and techniques, but collaborative RSC system wide implementation. The implementation of a cross-organisational initiative such as RSCRM is a very complex task that requires real-world frameworks for real-world practitioners. Therefore, this research study attempts to explore the business requirements for developing a three-stage integrated RSCRM framework that will encourage extended RSC collaboration. While focusing on the practitioner requirements of RSCRM projects and inspired by the laws of Thermodynamics and the philosophy of System Thinking, in stage one a conceptual reference model, The �6 Coefficient, was developed building on the formative work of supply chain excellence and business process management. The �6 Coefficient reference model has been intricately designed to bridge the theoretical gap between practitioner and researcher with the aim of ensuring practitioner confidence in partaking in a complex business process project. Stage two focused on a need for a standardised vocabulary, and through the SCOR11 reference guide, acts as a calibration point for the integrated framework, ensuring easy transfer and application within supply chain industries. In their design, stages one and two are perfect complements to the final stage of the integrated framework, a risk assessment toolbox based on a Hybrid Simulation Study capable of monitoring the disruptive behaviour of a multi-echelon RSC from both a macro and micro level using the techniques of System Dynamics (SD) and Discrete Event Simulation (DES) modelling respectively. Empirically validated through an embedded mixed methods case study, results of the integrated framework application are very encouraging. The first phase, the secondary exploratory study, gained valuable empirical evidence of the barriers to successfully implementing a complex business project and also validated using simulation as an effective risk assessment tool. Results showed certain high-risk order policy decisions could potentially reduce total costs (TC) by over 55% and reduce delivery times by 3 days. The use of the �6 Coefficient as the communication/consultation phase of the primary RSCRM case study was hugely influential on the success of the overall hybrid simulation study development and application, with significant increase in both practitioner and researcher confidence in running an RSCRM project. This was evident in the results of the hybrid model’s macro and micro assessment of the RSC. SD results effectively monitored the behaviour of the RSC under important disruptive risks, showing delayed effects to promotions and knowledge loss resulted in a bullwhip effect pattern upstream with the FMCG manufacturer’s TC increasing by as much as €50m. The DES analysis, focusing on the NDC function of the RSC also showed results of TC sensitivity to order behaviour from retailers, although an optimisation based risk treatment has reduced TC by 30%. Future research includes a global empirical validation of the �6 Coefficient and enhancement of the application of thermodynamic laws in business process management. The industry calibration capabilities of the integrated framework application of the integrated framework will also be extensively tested

Incorporating human factors into the AMT selection : a framework and a process

This thesis is concerned with the assessment of human factors relevant to the selection of AMT (Advanced Manufacturing Technologies). Human factors such as employee morale, labour flexibility and workers skills should be evaluated during the pre-installation planning, since they greatly influence the implementation outcome. For newly industrialised countries, in particular, incorporating human factors into the selection seems paramount. These economies are in the critical early stages of AMT adoption. Selection practices are often incompatible with the complexity of these technologies. Moreover, low rates of secondary education, scarcity of technicians, and problems with workforce flexibility reinforce the importance of assessing human factors before the actual technology installation. Although some methods have been proposed to evaluate intangible aspects such as the human factors, the lack of a structured approach to identify and quantify these items still constitutes a major obstacle. Furthermore, this approach should be easy to use and establish a common measure for the comparison of options. It should involve key stakeholders and seek consensus on the decision. Aiming to address this gap, the research was undertaken in three phases: theory building, refinement and testing. A preliminary framework was devised from the review of literature, interviews with experts, and a pilot case study. A process was developed to operationalise the framework. The approach was applied using action research in nine case studies in Brazil: a pilot case study in the theory building phase, four cases for refinement, and four firms constituted the final testing. Three main categories of human factors were proposed: labour flexibility, individual capabilities, and employee relations. Grouping these items was crucial to create a definition for these factors and facilitate their identification.Taguchi's Loss Function was used as evaluation method for the human factors and available AMT. The strategies developed for identification and evaluation represented an important theoretical contribution. The in-company applications corresponded to the main practical contribution of the research. Very positive feedback was obtained on the appropriateness of the approach to address identification and quantification issues

Proceedings / 6th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2015, 24th-25th September, 2015, Belgrade

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

Proceedings / 6th International Symposium of Industrial Engineering - SIE 2015, 24th-25th September, 2015, Belgrade

editors Vesna Spasojević-Brkić, Mirjana Misita, Dragan D. Milanovi

Spirit of change : a quest for the heart of quality

Why do quality initiatives work in some organisations but not in others? In a quest to discover the heart of quality, this thesis sets change programmes within the context of a turbulent global environment, where learning to adapt is the key to survival. The research explores how individuals, organisations and government use learning to promote change, as well as respond to it. Two case studies demonstrate how management style can influence learning, and hence the changes needed to achieve 'real' quality.Seeking to achieve quality through systems and procedures provides only nominal quality. This research suggests that, for some people at least, work is used for self-fulfilment, and in the quest for 'real' quality, aspirations for self-fulfilment within the workplace must be addressed. By using the metaphor of 'work as part of the heroic quest' for self-fulfilment, links are made between Maslow's concept of self-actualisation and the new literature on organizational 'soul' and spiritual intelligence.The conclusion is that if 'real' quality is the goal, self-fulfilment is the path. By establishing a community of learners in the workplace, tremendous energy - the spirit of change - is released and that energy leads straight to the heart of quality