An End-to-End Big Data Analytics Platform for IoT-enabled Smart Factories: A Case Study of Battery Module Assembly System for Electric Vehicles

Within the concept of factories of the future, big data analytics systems play a critical role in supporting decision-making at various stages across enterprise processes. However, the design and deployment of industry-ready, lightweight, modular, flexible, and low-cost big data analytics solutions remains one of the main challenges towards the Industry 4.0 enabled digital transformation. This paper presents an end-to-end IoT-based big data analytics platform that consists of five interconnected layers and several components for data acquisition, integration, storage, analytics and visualisation purposes. The platform architecture benefits from state-of-the-art technologies and integrates them in a systematic and interoperable way with clear information flows. The developed platform has been deployed in an Electric Vehicle (EV) battery module smart assembly automation system designed by the Automation Systems Group (ASG) at the University of Warwick, UK. The developed proof-of-concept solution demonstrates how a wide variety of tools and methods can be orchestrated to work together aiming to support decision-making and to improve both process and product qualities in smart manufacturing environments

Sporting Good Manufacturing Company: Optimal Manufacturing and Shipping Cost Through Linear Programming Models

Sporting Good Manufacturing Company (SGMC) needs assistance in defining a linear programming model to find out the minimal cost to manufacture and ship their products to their nationwide distributors. These specialty products are cricket bats, cricket stumps and cricket bails, all products manufactured with the finest quality of wood. SGMC currently has distributors located in Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Northern and Azad Kashmir. The company currently has two factories located in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan. Warehouses located in Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi are utilized to store manufactured products. From initial engagement with the company, multiple meetings with company officers were conducted for information gathering. The information provided by these officers mainly focused on the price of manufacturing and shipping of the company’s products. The end goal for the company was to meet their distributor’s demands at a minimal cost. A key understanding was that products could be shipped either from factories to warehouses to distributors or directly from factories to distributors. Currently the company does not have any defined way to find the optimal cost of manufacturing and shipping products. However, the ability to meet distributor’s demands is critical. Other relevant information SGMC provided was the company warehouse storage capacity, product manufacturing cost, shipping cost (factories to warehouses, warehouses to distributors & factories to distributors), and factories total manufacturing capacity. Data regarding the factory workers, machines, warehouse staff, and scheduling were not relevant and, therefore, were not considered in the creation of the linear programming model. All of the basic steps of generating a linear programming model were followed and information was well documented during each step to ensure that the model functioned properly and that enhancements could be easily made for all future requirements. As this project is international, it was difficult and expensive to communicate back and forth. Hurdles due to lack of manufacturing expertise, limited knowledge of supply chain networking, time zone differences from subject matter experts, and geographically dispersed information were all overcome to successfully develop and execute the models. The products analyzed in developing the linear programming model represent 65 percent of SGMC’s annual production volume. The model that was developed indicated that the company did not need to use any of its warehouses and instead needed a simple transportation model from the factories to the distributors. With the initial manufacturing and shipping cost, the total optimal cost indicated by our model for the company was PKR 29,607,400. As the company changed their requirements by adding an additional constraint of manufacturing limit per factory with no change to the shipping cost, the total cost went up to PKR 31,222,500. This change still mimicked our first model outcome indicating the company did not need its warehouses for storage and it is optimal to ship products directly from the factories to distributors. After SGMC negotiated a new fixed-price shipping cost schedule with the new shipping vendor, the new cost structure was used to successfully execute a new model. This model considered the revised shipping cost and included the factories manufacturing capacity constraint. The total optimal cost with this new model came out to be PKR 30,525,600. This model showed that the company needed to use both transportation and transshipment models to meet their distributors demand at the optimal cost. During the process of developing these models, important information was revealed, namely that the company ships products 15 days in advance to their warehouses. This piece of information significantly changed the model. This model appeared to be a simple transshipment model due to the fact that all products were shipped to the warehouses before they were shipped to the distributors, but when the model was executed, a feasible solution could not be found and the investigation through manual verification indicated that the company’s warehouses capacities are less than their distributor’s demands. One option that the company researched was to expand their Karachi and Lahore warehouses to double their capacity. If the company expands these warehouses and includes the revised shipping price in the model, the optimal cost was found to be PKR 30,606,250 and it will be still a transshipment model. From the report it’s clear this project took some time to lock the requirements for the model, but the end result in the form of the model developed will be a very useful and powerful tool for the company. Even with weekly information changes and situation, this project was an excellent opportunity to exercise and polish linear programming modeling skills. It provided the author with the opportunity to apply skills developed in coursework to practical, real world scenarios

Promoting fair globalization in textiles and clothing in a post-MFA environment

The working paper reports on the current trade conditions in the textile clothing industry in the post Multifibre Agreement era. Additionally, the paper advocates for a fairer globalization, promoting better work conditions, labor wages and general social equality in producer countries

Do not forget the strategic architecture of your manufacturing network while offshoring

Offshoring manufacturing to low labor cost countries has become trendy. Nearly everyday one sees an announcement in the business press of companies moving to China or India. Whilst production cost is an important consideration in choosing a location for the factory, we argue that one should not become victim of a herd effect and that other parameters e.g. quality, flexibility, transportation and energy costs, etc. need to be taken into consideration in the determination of the optimal manufacturing network. Relocating a factory is changing the strategic architecture of the company's manufacturing network and requires a long term view and a good model to design the architecture of the manufacturing network. Based on empirical survey research and a set of case studies we provide such a model to think about the roles of factories in the strategic manufacturing network of the firm. But we go beyond a classification and a descriptive model and we provide a set of six managerial issues that require senior management's attention in determining the optimal manufacturing network and its dynamic evolution. We argue for example that senior management needs to build a balanced portfolio of different types of factories, has to have a performance measurement system adapted to the type of factory, as well as the appropriate leadership for each of the different types of factories and needs to actively manage the dynamics and the flows of innovation in the factory network. Key words: international manufacturing, network management, outsourcin

End-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling management: improving performance using an ISM approach

With booming of the automobile industry, China has become the country with increasing car ownership all over the world. However, the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) recycling industry is at infancy, and there is little systematic review on ELV recycling management, as well as low adoption amongst domestic automobile industry. This study presents a literature review and an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach is employed to identify the drivers towards Chinese ELV recycling business from government, recycling organizations and consumer’s perspectives, so as to improve the sustainability of automobile supply chain by providing some strategic insights. The results derived from the ISM analysis manifest that regulations on auto-factory, disassembly technique, and value mining of recycling business are the essential ingredients. It is most effective and efficient to promote ELV recycling business by improving these attributes, also the driving and dependence power analysis are deemed to provide guidance on performance improvement of ELV recycling in the Chinese market

Crisis or Opportunity? The Future of Los Angeles\u27 Garment Workers, the Apparel Industry and the Local Economy

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide. Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.SW_CrisisOrOpportunity_LA.pdf: 1530 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Subsidizing Sweatshops: How our tax dollars fund the race to the bottom, and what cities and states can do

This document is part of a digital collection provided by the Martin P. Catherwood Library, ILR School, Cornell University, pertaining to the effects of globalization on the workplace worldwide. Special emphasis is placed on labor rights, working conditions, labor market changes, and union organizing.ilrf_Subsidizing_Sweatshops_hr_color1.pdf: 646 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020