Revisiting port performance measurement: A hybrid multi-stakeholder framework for the modelling of port performance indicators

This study develops a new port performance measurement model by taking the perspectives from different port stakeholders. The novelty lies in the modelling of interdependencies among port performance measures, and the combination of weights of interdependent measures with both qualitative and quantitative evaluations of the measures from multiple stakeholders for quantitative port performance measurement. It represents an effective performance measurement tool and offers a diagnostic instrument for performance evaluation and/or monitoring of ports and terminals so as to satisfy different requirements of various port stakeholders in a flexible manner. © 201

OPTIMAL MAINTENANCE PROGRAM OF A WASTE-TO-ENERGY PLANT : Case Study: wasteWOIMA®

Waste-to-energy (WtE) plant is a complex system which requires different maintenances to be reliable and available in its full functionalities. Maintenance has a crucial impact on the performance, availability and reliability of the WTE plant. The inadequacies of WTE plant lifetime maintenance may increase the production costs, and more it negatively affects the competitiveness, makes the downtime longer and the Mean-Time-Failure is bigger. The thesis focuses on the maintenance of WtE plant and it reviews the existing literature about Waste-to-Energy maintenance program and then find the best combination that better suits a Waste-to-Energy plant. This thesis has into two parts: the first part identifies the critical factors that enable high availability of Waste-to-Energy plant and the second addresses the identification of the right criteria for spare part selection. Both parts are aimed at enhancing the availability of Waste-to-Energy plant. A survey was sent to Waste-to-Energy professionals to collect data and compare that data to the findings in literature. DEMATEL method is chosen over the other methods for the pragmatic methodology used to construct and analyze the structural model involving causal relationship between multiple factors. It also integrates different expert knowledge that helps to investigate internal relationship and significance degrees of all the chosen factors. One advantage is that it can present a derived relationship through a cause-effect diagram. Critical factors through a visual structural model can be found, as well as the interdependent relationship amount factors are identified and evaluated while using DEMTEL. Key findings of the study revealed that human, economic, equipment and tools, management and environment factors have important impact of the effectiveness of the maintenance and the availability of the WtE plant, whatever the maintenance strategies from preventive to corrective maintenance through the condition maintenance. Quality, Lead time, Price and severity of spare part failure are keys criteria to consider while selecting spare part for WtE plant. The main limitation is that, the sample was a bit small since only few responds to the survey. Limitation of the thesis is related to the amount of the data collected. The findings cannot be generalized as it is affected by the limitation. The survey encounters probably the lack of cooperation from respondents as the study was not directly requested and done from their companies. It would be interesting to do further research of the topic by using data from different plants operated by the case company, to make the research more objective. This will help the case company knowing real issues their plants face. It could be interesting to do further research by focusing for instance on different locations and population because different climatic and environment factors may influence the failure rate of the plants items; dust, humidity, cultural factors

Multi-criteria decision methods to support the maintenance management of complex systems

[ES] Esta tesis doctoral propone el uso de métodos de toma de decisiones multi-criterio (MCDM, por sus iniciales en inglés) como herramienta estratégica para apoyar la gestión del mantenimiento de sistemas complejos. El desarrollo de esta tesis doctoral se enmarca dentro de un acuerdo de cotutela entre la Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) y la Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), dentro de sus respectivos programas de doctorado en 'Ingeniería de Innovación Tecnológica' y 'Matemáticas'. Estos programas están estrechamente vinculados a través del tópico MCDM, ya que proporciona herramientas cruciales para gestionar el mantenimiento de sistemas complejos reales utilizando análisis matemáticos serios. El propósito de esta sinergia es tener en cuenta de forma sólida la incertidumbre al atribuir evaluaciones subjetivas, recopilar y sintetizar juicios atribuidos por varios responsables de la toma de decisiones, y tratar con conjuntos grandes de esos elementos. El tema principal del presente trabajo de doctorado es el gestionamiento de las actividades de mantenimiento para aumentar los niveles de innovación tecnológica y el rendimiento de los sistemas complejos. Cualquier sistema puede ser considerado objeto de estudio, incluidos los sistemas de producción y los de prestación de servicios, entre otros, mediante la evaluación de sus contextos reales. Esta tesis doctoral propone afrontar la gestión del mantenimiento a través del desarrollo de tres líneas principales de investigación estrechamente vinculadas. ¿ La primera es el núcleo, e ilustra la mayoría de los aspectos metodológicos de la tesis. Se refiere al uso de métodos MCDM para apoyar decisiones estratégicas de mantenimiento, y para hacer frente a la incertidumbre que afecta a los datos/evaluaciones, incluso cuando están involucrados varios responsables (expertos en mantenimiento) en la toma de decisiones. ¿ La segunda línea desarrolla análisis de fiabilidad para sistemas complejos reales (también en términos de fiabilidad humana) sobre cuya base se debe implementar cualquier actividad de mantenimiento. Estos análisis consideran la configuración de fiabilidad de los componentes del sistema en estudio y las características específicas del entorno operativo. ¿ La tercera línea de investigación aborda aspectos metodológicos importantes de la gestión de mantenimiento y enfatiza la necesidad de monitorizar el funcionamiento de las actividades de mantenimiento y de evaluar su efectividad utilizando indicadores adecuados. Se ha elaborado una amplia gama de casos de estudio del mundo real para evaluar la eficacia de los métodos MCDM en el mantenimiento y así probar la utilidad del enfoque propuesto.[CA] Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa l'ús de mètodes de presa de decisions multi-criteri (MCDM, per les seves inicials en anglès) com a eina estratègica per donar suport a la gestió del manteniment de sistemes complexos. El desenvolupament d'aquesta tesi doctoral s'emmarca dins d'un acord de cotutela entre la Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) i la Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), dins dels seus respectius programes de doctorat en 'Enginyeria d'Innovació Tecnològica' i ' Matemàtiques '. Aquests programes estan estretament vinculats a través del tòpic MCDM, ja que proporciona eines crucials per gestionar el manteniment de sistemes complexos reals utilitzant anàlisis matemàtics profunds. El propòsit d'aquesta sinergia és tenir en compte de forma sòlida la incertesa en atribuir avaluacions subjectius, recopilar i sintetitzar judicis atribuïts per diversos responsables de la presa de decisions, i tractar amb conjunts grans d'aquests elements en els problemes plantejats. El tema principal del present treball de doctorat es la gestió de les activitats de manteniment per augmentar els nivells d'innovació tecnològica i el rendiment dels sistemes complexos. Qualsevol sistema pot ser considerat objecte d'estudi, inclosos els sistemes de producció i els de prestació de serveis, entre d'altres, mitjançant l'avaluació dels seus contextos reals. Aquesta tesi doctoral proposa afrontar la gestió del manteniment mitjançant el desenvolupament de tres línies principals d'investigació estretament vinculades. ¿ La primera és el nucli, i il·lustra la majoria dels aspectes metodològics de la tesi. Es refereix a l'ús de mètodes MCDM per donar suport a decisions estratègiques de manteniment, i per fer front a la incertesa que afecta les dades/avaluacions, fins i tot quan estan involucrats diversos responsables (experts en manteniment) en la presa de decisions. ¿ La segona línia desenvolupa anàlisis de fiabilitat per a sistemes complexos reals (també en termes de fiabilitat humana) sobre la qual base s'ha d'implementar qualsevol activitat de manteniment. Aquestes anàlisis consideren la configuració de fiabilitat dels components del sistema en estudi i les característiques específiques de l'entorn operatiu. ¿ La tercera línia d'investigació aborda aspectes metodològics importants de la gestió de manteniment i emfatitza la necessitat de monitoritzar el funcionament de les activitats de manteniment i d'avaluar la seva efectivitat utilitzant indicadors adequats. S'ha elaborat una àmplia gamma de casos d'estudi del món real per avaluar l'eficàcia dels mètodes MCDM en el manteniment i així provar la utilitat de l'enfocament proposat.[EN] This doctoral thesis proposes using multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods as a strategic tool to support maintenance management of complex systems. The development of this doctoral thesis is framed within a cotutelle (co-tutoring) agreement between the Università degli Studi di Palermo (UNIPA) and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV), within their respective programmes of doctorates in 'Technological Innovation Engineering' and 'Mathematics'. Regarding this thesis, these programmes are closely linked through the topic of MCDM, providing crucial tools to manage maintenance of real complex systems by applying in-depth mathematical analyses. The purpose of this connection is to robustly take into account uncertainty in attributing subjective evaluations, collecting and synthetizing judgments attributed by various decision makers, and dealing with large sets of elements characterising the faced issue. The main topic of the present doctoral work is the management of maintenance activities to increase the levels of technological innovation and performance of the analysed complex systems. All kinds of systems can be considered as objects of study, including production systems and service delivery systems, among others, by evaluating their real contexts. Thus, this doctoral thesis proposes facing maintenance management through the development of three tightly linked main research lines. ¿ The first is the core and illustrates most of the methodological aspects of the thesis. It refers to the use of MCDM methods for supporting strategic maintenance decisions, and dealing with uncertainty affecting data/evaluations even when several decision makers are involved (experts in maintenance). ¿ The second line develops reliability analyses for real complex systems (also in terms of human reliability analysis) on the basis of which any maintenance activity must be implemented. These analyses are approached by considering the reliability configuration of both the components belonging to the system under study and the specific features of the operational environment. ¿ The third research line focuses on important methodological aspects to support maintenance management, and emphasises the need to monitor the performance of maintenance activities and evaluate their effectiveness using suitable indicators. A wide range of real real-world case studies has been faced to evaluate the effectiveness of MCDM methods in maintenance and then prove the usefulness of the proposed approach.Carpitella, S. (2019). Multi-criteria decision methods to support the maintenance management of complex systems [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/11911

Development of Conceptual Constructs for Organisational BIM Adoption and their Systematic Application within the UK Architecture Sector

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an innovation that is transforming practices within the Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operation (AECO) sectors. The investigation of the process of BIM adoption and diffusion has attracted significant interest from industry and academia. Drivers and factors influencing BIM adoption were examined at different levels, ranging from individual and group through organisations and supply chains to whole market level. However, there is still a dearth of studies that extensively integrate drivers and factors affecting the decision to adopt BIM by organisations. Existing studies often seek to develop approaches for forecasting BIM diffusion, and are generally focused on the diffusion phase, after BIM has been adopted. Therefore, this study aims to improve the understanding of the BIM adoption process within organisations and across markets by developing the necessary conceptual constructs (e.g., BIM adoption taxonomy, adoption process model, adoption two-dimensional characterisation model, and systems thinking models) and providing the supporting empirical evidence. This study provided an in-depth analysis of the BIM adoption process within organisations. It developed a unified BIM adoption taxonomy that contains an extensive array of adoption factors. Following the validation of the taxonomy, its factors were used within a proposed conceptual model, which combined the Innovation Diffusion Theory with the Institutional Theory, to perform a multifaceted analysis of the BIM adoption process. A set of 11 most influencing factors on BIM adoption process was identified and included: Willingness to adopt BIM, Communication behaviour of an organisation, Observability of BIM benefits, Compatibility of BIM, Social motivations among organisation's members, Relative advantage of BIM, Organisational culture, Top management support, Organisational readiness, Coercive pressures (Governmental mandate, informal mandate), and Organisation size. Focussing on these 11 most influencing factors, several analyses were performed to understand the interplays between these factors - while considering specific instances of certain factors (i.e. organisation size, and external isomorphic pressure) over time (i.e., Pre-2011, 2011-2016, and Post-2016 exemplifying three key time periods in the UK national BIM strategy). The results showed that the Relative advantage of BIM is the most important and influencing factor across all the three stages of the adoption process (i.e., Awareness stage, Intention stage, and Decision stage) of the BIM adoption process. Coercive pressures (e.g. Governmental mandate, informal mandate) had a direct influence on both formulating the intention and the decision to adopt BIM across the three-time horizons (i.e., Pre-2011, 2011-2016, and Post-2016). For the Pre-2011 period, the coercive pressures were mostly informal mandate/pressures by the parent companies and partners, while during 2011-2016 and Post-2016 periods, it is predominantly the UK Government mandate which was announced in 2011 and entered into effect in 2016. Several Systems Thinking models were developed to show the interdependencies among the factors that affect the BIM adoption process at different time periods and stages of the BIM adoption process. Such models infer patterns of behaviour of BIM adoption as complex systems and can be used to guide the development and implementation of BIM strategies. For example, by relating each factor within the system thinking model to the player group(s) who can exert influence upon it, the complementary role of the player groups can be planned to facilitate the BIM adoption process according to the patterns identified in the corresponding systems thinking model. The different patterns developed through the specialised systems thinking models can be used to develop tailored BIM adoption strategies for the different scenarios involved. At a global level (overall aim), this study provided an understanding of how intra-organisational BIM adoption and inter-organisational BIM diffusion occurs. At a local level (individual objectives), the key knowledge deliverables in this study (i.e., the taxonomy, conceptual model for BIM adoption process, two-dimensional characterisation model of BIM adoption, and systems thinking models) and the empirical investigation represent a new contribution to knowledge with each contributing from a specific standpoint. The Unified BIM Adoption Taxonomy is the first – if not the sole – statistically validated BIM adoption taxonomy that includes an extensive array of adoption drivers and factors and combines constructs from both the Institutional and the Innovation Diffusion theories. The conceptual model for analysing BIM adoption and its use for the empirical investigation of BIM adoption within the UK Architecture sector explored and identified relationships that were not known before (i.e., triggering the BIM Awareness and formulating an Intention about BIM adoption is not limited to Internal Environment Characteristics and the Innovation Characteristics respectively - as suggested by Rogers’ theory, but occurs by a combination of both characteristics). The two-dimensional characterisation model of BIM adoption clarified new interplays between adoption factors, the organisation size, and time (i.e., pairs of positively and negatively correlated factors vary based on time horizon). The classification of factors into cause and effect groups using the F-DEMATEL provided a new understanding of the independencies between factors which can be used to tailor and prioritise implementation actions and investments. The developed Systems Thinking Models enabled an attentive analysis of mutual interactions between adoption factors as part of a causal relationship networks. The developed instances of such models for different temporal scenarios and stages of the BIM adoption stage can be exploited by the industry player groups (i.e., Policy-makers, decision-makers, change agents, etc.) to promote BIM adoption process within the organisations and BIM diffusion across a market. The key knowledgeable deliverables can be used to perform various analyses of the BIM adoption process, providing evidence and insights for decision-makers within organisations and across a whole market when formulating BIM adoption and diffusion strategies. In particular, they can assist researchers, decision-makers, and policy-makers with a better understanding of the BIM adoption process and can guide the development of BIM strategies and plan for BIM adoption and diffusion. Ultimately, they contribute to promote BIM adoption within the architectural sector through the suggested adoption patterns

DEMATEL Technique: A Systematic Review of the State-of-the-Art Literature on Methodologies and Applications

Decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) is considered as an effective method for the identification of cause-effect chain components of a complex system. It deals with evaluating interdependent relationships among factors and finding the critical ones through a visual structural model. Over the recent decade, a large number of studies have been done on the application of DEMATEL and many different variants have been put forward in the literature. The objective of this study is to review systematically the methodologies and applications of the DEMATEL technique. We reviewed a total of 346 papers published from 2006 to 2016 in the international journals. According to the approaches used, these publications are grouped into five categories: classical DEMATEL, fuzzy DEMATEL, grey DEMATEL, analytical network process- (ANP-) DEMATEL, and other DEMATEL. All papers with respect to each category are summarized and analyzed, pointing out their implementing procedures, real applications, and crucial findings. This systematic and comprehensive review holds valuable insights for researchers and practitioners into using the DEMATEL in terms of indicating current research trends and potential directions for further research.Peer Reviewe

Sustainable Assessment in Supply Chain and Infrastructure Management

In the competitive business environment or public domain, the sustainability assessment in supply chain and infrastructure management are important for any organization. Organizations are currently striving to improve their sustainable strategies through preparedness, response, and recovery because of increasing competitiveness, community, and regulatory pressure. Thus, it is necessary to develop a meaningful and more focused understanding of sustainability in supply chain management and infrastructure management practices. In the context of a supply chain, sustainability implies that companies identify, assess, and manage impacts and risks in all the echelons of the supply chain, considering downstream and upstream activities. Similarly, the sustainable infrastructure management indicates the ability of infrastructure to meet the requirements of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to address their needs. The complexities regarding sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management have driven managers and professionals to seek different solutions. This Special Issue aims to provide readers with the most recent research results on the aforementioned subjects. In addition, it offers some solutions and also raises some questions for further research and development toward sustainable supply chain and infrastructure management

Redesigning the Barranquilla's public emergency care network to improve the patient waiting time

Tesis por compendio[ES] La oportunidad en la atención es uno de los críticos de mayor relevancia en la satisfacción de los pacientes que acuden a los servicios de Urgencias. Por tal motivo, las instituciones prestadoras de servicio y las organizaciones gubernamentales deben propender conjuntamente por una atención cada vez más oportuna a costos operacionales razonables. En el caso de la Red Pública en Servicios de Urgencias de Barrannquilla, compuesta por 8 puntos de atención y 2 hospitales, la tendencia marca un continuo crecimiento de la oportunidad en la atención con una tasa de 3,08 minutos/semestre y una probabilidad del 93,13% de atender a los pacientes después de una espera mayor a 30 minutos. Lo anterior se constituye en un síntoma inequívoco de la incapacidad de la Red para satisfacer los estándares de oportunidad establecidos por el Ministerio de Salud, hecho que podría desencadenar el desarrollo de sintomatologías de mayor complejidad, el incremento de la probabilidad de mortalidad, el requerimiento de servicios clínicos más complejos (hospitalización y cuidados intensivos) y el aumento de los costos asociados al servicio. En consecuencia, la presente tesis doctoral presenta el rediseño de la Red Pública en Servicios de Urgencias anteriormente mencionada a fin de otorgar a la población diana un servicio eficiente y altamente oportuno donde tanto las instituciones prestadoras del servicio como los organismos gubernamentales converjan efectivamente. Para ello, fue necesaria la ejecución de 4 grandes fases a través de las cuales se consolidó una propuesta orientada al desarrollo efectivo y sostenible de las operaciones de la Red. Primero, se caracterizó la Red Pública de Servicios de Urgencias en Salud considerando su comportamiento actual en términos de demanda y oportunidad de la atención. Luego, a través de una revisión sistemática de la literatura, se identificaron los enfoques metodológicos que se han implementado para la mejora de la oportunidad y otros indicadores de rendimiento asociados al servicio de Urgencias. Posteriormente, se diseñó una metodología para la creación de redes de Urgencias eficientes y sostenibles la cual luego se validó en la Red Pública sudamericana a fin de disminuir la oportunidad de atención promedio en Urgencias y garantizar la distribución equitativa de los beneficios financieros derivados de la colaboración. Finalmente, se construyó un modelo multicriterio que permitió evaluar el rendimiento de los departamentos de Urgencia e impulsó la creación de estrategias de mejora focalizadas en incrementar su respuesta ante la demanda cambiante, los críticos de satisfacción y las condiciones de operación estipuladas en la ley. Los resultados de esta aplicación evidenciaron que los pacientes que acceden a la Red tienden a esperar en promedio 201,6 min con desviación de estándar de 81,6 min antes de ser atendidos por urgencia. Por otro lado, de acuerdo con la revisión de literatura, la combinación de técnicas de investigación de operaciones, ingeniería de la calidad y analítica de datos es ampliamente recomendada para abordar este problema. En ese sentido, una metodología basada en modelos colaterales de pago, simulación de procesos y lean seis sigma fue propuesta y validada generando un rediseño de Red cuya oportunidad de atención promedio podría disminuir entre 6,71 min y 9,08 min con beneficios financieros promedio de US$29,980/nodo. En último lugar, un modelo compuesto por 8 criterios y 35 sub-criterios fue diseñado para evaluar el rendimiento general de los departamentos de Urgencias. Los resultados del modelo evidenciaron el rol crítico de la infraestructura (Peso global = 21,5i garantir la distribució equitativa dels beneficis financers derivats de la col´laboració. Finalment, es va construir un model multicriteri que va permetre avaluar el rendiment dels departaments d'Urgència i va impulsar la creació d'estratègies de millora focalitzades en incrementar la seva resposta davant la demanda canviant, els crítics de satisfacció i les condicions d'operació estipulades en la llei. Els resultats d'aquesta aplicació van evidenciar que els pacients que accedeixen a la Xarxa tendeixen a esperar de mitjana 201,6 min amb desviació d'estàndard de 81,6 min abans de ser atesos per urgència. D'altra banda, d'acord amb la revisió de literatura, la combinació de tècniques d'investigació d'operacions, enginyeria de la qualitat i analítica de dades és àmpliament recomanada per abordar aquest problema. En aquest sentit, una metodologia basada en models col´laterals de pagament, simulació de processos i llegeixin 6 sigma va ser proposada i validada generant un redisseny de Xarxa la oportunitat d'atenció mitjana podria disminuir entre 6,71 min i 9,08 min amb beneficis financers mitjana d'US$ 29,980 / node. En darrer lloc, un model compost per 8 criteris i 35 sub-criteris va ser dissenyat per avaluar el rendiment general dels departaments d'Urgències. Els resultats de el model evidenciar el paper crític de la infraestructura (Pes global = 21,5%) en el rendiment dels departaments d'Urgència i la naturalesa interactiva de la Seguretat de l'Pacient (C + R = 12,771).[EN] Waiting time is one of the most critical measures in the satisfaction of patients admitted within emergency departments. Therefore, hospitals and governmental organizations should jointly aim to provide timely attention at reasonable costs. In the case of Barranquilla's Pubic Emergency Service Network, composed by 8 Points of care (POCs) and 2 hospitals, the trend evidences a continuous growing of the waiting time with a rate of 3,08 min/semester and a 93,13% likelihood of serving patients after waiting for more than 30 minutes. This is an unmistakable symptom of the network inability for satisfying the standards established by the Ministry of Health, which may trigger the development of more complex symptoms, increase in the death rate, requirement for more complex clinical services (hospitalization and intensive care unit) and increased service costs. This doctoral dissertation then illustrates the redesign of the aforementioned Public Emergency Service Network aiming at providing the target population with an efficient and highly timely service where both hospitals and governmental institutions effectively converge. It was then necessary to implement a 4-phase methodology consolidating a proposal oriented to the effective and sustainable development of network operations. First, the Public Emergency Service Network was characterized considering its current behavior in terms of demand and waiting time. A systematic literature review was then undertaken for identifying the methodological approaches that have been implementing for improving the waiting time and other performance indicators associated with the emergency care service. Following this, a methodology for the creation of efficient and sustainable emergency care networks was designed and later validated in the Southamerican Public network for lessening the average waiting time and ensuring the equitable distribution of profits derived from the collaboration. Ultimately, a multicriteria decision-making model was created for assessing the performance of the emergency departments and propelling the design of improvement strategies focused on bettering the response against the changing demand conditions, critical to satisfaction and operational conditions. The results evidenced that the patients accessing to the network tend to wait 201,6 min on average with a standard deviation of 81,6 min before being served by the emergency care unit. On the other hand, based on the reported literature, it is highly suggested to combine Operations Research (OR) methods, quality-based techniques, and data-driven approaches for addressing this problem. In this sense, a methodology based on collateral payment models, Discrete-event simulation, and Lean Six Sigma was proposed and validated resulting in a redesigned network whose average waiting time may diminish between 6,71 min and 9,08 min with an average profit US$29,980/node. Lately, a model comprising of 8 criteria and 35 sub-criteria was designed for evaluating the overall performance of emergency departments. The model outcomes revealed the critical role of Infrastructure (Global weight = 21,5%) in ED performance and the interactive nature of Patient Safety (C + R = 12,771).Ortíz Barrios, MÁ. (2020). Redesigning the Barranquilla's public emergency care network to improve the patient waiting time [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/156215TESISCompendi

MEASUREMENT, MODELLING AND ANALYSIS OF CONTAINER PORT PERFORMANCE

This thesis aims to develop a new framework of container port/terminal performance measurement, modelling and analysis. There is a need for a new performance measurement framework not only to meet the need of port stakeholders, but also to develop diagnostic tools capable of supporting decision-making in complex port/terminal operations in an uncertain environment. This study follows the related questions of ‘what to measure’, ‘how to measure’ and ‘how to control and improve’ container port performance. In this regard, this study proposes the development of a systematic approach to address the multi-stakeholder dimension in port performance measurement. This was achieved by integrating a multi-stakeholder dimension in a port performance measurement framework which takes into account the corresponding port performance indicators (PPIs). To this end, this study identified six dimensions of crucial interests in major (container) ports investigating stakeholders’ goals and objectives, and discussed them with port stakeholders. The six dimensions defined in this study cover the range of port activities to cope with new evolutionary changes, to measure and communicate their impacts on society, economy and environment and to be consistent with their goals. Then, through a literature review and an analysis of industrial practices the associated PPIs were selected. The semi-structured interviews were applied to assess the suitability of the potential indicators and to test the feasibility of the selected indicators. The multi-stakeholder dimension involves both quantitative and qualitative PPIs in order to reflect complexity of port/terminal business environments. This study develops two hybrid port performance measurement models: PPIs independency model and PPIs interdependency model. In the first port performance measurement model, a hybrid approach of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Logic based Evidential Reasoning (FER) for solving multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problems is applied to address the challenges in port performance measurement. AHP is applied for a part of the FER to evaluate the relative importance of the selected PPIs. FER is applied for dealing with uncertainties presented in the evaluations of the selected PPIs as well as aggregation of the evaluations of PPIs and their importance. An analysis of 12 container terminals in South Korea is conducted to validate the proposed method. The second approach, a new conceptual PPI interdependency model, is developed using a hybrid approach of a Fuzzy Logic based Evidential Reasoning (FER), a Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and an Analytic Network Process (ANP). These methods are combined to deal with the inherent data uncertainties and the interdependencies among the port performance indicators (PPIs). Its novelty lies in its capability of dealing with interdependency among the performance measures as well as accommodating both qualitative and quantitative evaluations on the measures simultaneously. An analysis of 4 major container ports in South Korea is conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method. The empirical investigations are conducted by taking the perspectives from different port stakeholders. For instance, the quantitative data (i.e. cargo and vessel operations and financial data) are collected directly from terminal operating companies and information systems/databases managed by port authorities, government and credit rating agencies. The qualitative PPIs are collected using questionnaires from three groups of terminal operators, users (i.e. shipping lines, shippers, logistics service providers and freight forwarders) and administrators (i.e. port authority and government) to assess their own associated PPIs to measure each container port/terminal performance. The empirical results indicate that the hybrid approach attempting to use quantitative modelling for dealing with the uncertainties and interdependency problems can be successfully fulfilled. The framework and its supporting method suggest an effective performance measurement tool and offer a diagnostic instrument to ports/terminals to satisfy the port stakeholders in a flexible manner. Finally, this thesis proposes a decision making framework for prioritising and selecting port performance improvement strategies. It can be achieved by the concepts of benchmarking-best practices using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) incorporating a fuzzy order preference by similarity to ideal solution (FTOPSIS) method. Based on the results obtained from the two performance approaches, the leading performer (i.e. Busan New Port) and the poor performer (i.e. Busan North Port) are analysed as real cases to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed methodology. The results yielded by the framework present the ranking of strategy options in terms of their preference to different terminal operating companies (TOCs), which enables decision makers to find optimal solutions to improving performance under their own dynamic business environments

A Framework for Prioritizing Opportunities of Improvement in the Context of Business Excellence Model in Healthcare Organization

In today\u27s world, the healthcare sector is facing challenges to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations. More and more improvement projects are being adopted to enhance healthcare services, making it more patient-centric, and enabling better cost control. Healthcare organizations strive to identify and carry out such improvement initiatives to sustain their businesses and gain competitive advantage. Seeking to reach a higher operational level of excellence, healthcare organizations utilize business excellence criteria to conduct assessment and identify organizational strengths and weaknesses. However, while such assessments routinely identify numerous areas for potential improvement, it is not feasible to conduct all improvement projects simultaneously due to limitations in time, capital, and personnel, as well as conflict with other organization\u27s projects or strategic objectives. An effective prioritization and selection approach is valuable in that it can assist the organization to optimize its available resources and outcomes. This study attempts to enable such an approach by developing a framework to prioritize improvement opportunities in healthcare in the context of the business excellence model through the integration of the Fuzzy Delphi Method and Fuzzy Interface System. To carry out the evaluation process, the framework consists of two phases. The first phase utilizes Fuzzy Delphi Method to identify the most significant factors that should be considered in healthcare for electing the improvement projects. The FDM is employed to handle the subjectivity of human assessment. The research identifies potential factors for evaluating projects, then utilizes FDM to capture expertise knowledge. The first round in FDM is intended to validate the identified list of factors from experts; which includes collecting additional factors from experts that the literature might have overlooked. When an acceptable level of consensus has been reached, a second round is conducted to obtain experts\u27 and other related stakeholders\u27 opinions on the appropriate weight of each factor\u27s importance. Finally, FDM analyses eliminate or retain the criteria to produce a final list of critical factors to select improvement projects. The second phase in the framework attempts to prioritize improvement initiatives using the Hierarchical Fuzzy Interface System. The Fuzzy Interface System combines the experts\u27 ratings for each improvement opportunity with respect to the factors deemed critical to compute the priority index. In the process of calculating the priority index, the framework allows the estimation of other intermediate indices including: social, financial impact, strategical, operational feasibility, and managerial indices. These indices bring an insight into the improvement opportunities with respect to each framework\u27s dimensions. The framework allows for a reduction of the bias in the assessment by developing a knowledge based on the perspectives of multiple experts