Sustainability management : insights from the viable system model

A review of current literature on sustainability standards reveals a significant gap between their adoption and the implementation of sustainability into every level of the organisation. In this paper, it is argued that in order to overcome this challenge, an appropriate model of an organisation is needed. The Viable System Model (VSM) is proposed as such a model and, in order to illustrate this argument, it is used to interpret the ISO 26000 standard on Social Responsibility (SR). First, the VSM theory is introduced and presented by modelling the hypothetical company Widget Co. Then, the clauses of ISO 26000 are mapped on the Widget Co. model, together with detailed descriptions and examples on the organisational and managerial implications of its adopting the standard's guidelines. The result is the identification of generic SR functions that need to be performed by the various organisational governance systems, as well as their dynamic interrelations, thus clarifying implementation issues. Moreover, by identifying different SR management layers, VSM is suggested as a way forward to develop an integration model for SR issues and respective sustainability tools. Finally, a discussion is given on the implications of using this approach to integrate sustainability standards and the way this research contributes to recent developments in sustainability research

Methodical Implementation Of Digital Data Consistency In Assembly Lines Of A Learning Factory

The possibility of acquiring data in production and manufacturing processes is almost limitless. But especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lack the knowledge to successfully integrate digital tools and use real-time production data for critical decision-making. Numerous initiatives already exist to inform and support SMEs in Germany, funded at various levels by municipal, federal, and state entities. These initiatives offer expertise in digitalisation and provide diverse activities to support SMEs across different industrial sectors. To make abstract concepts such as artificial intelligence (AI) or digitalisation more tangible, demonstrations and practical best practice showcases demonstrate methodological approaches for facilitating independent implementation initiatives within SMEs. However, most of these activities primarily showcase rudimentary and isolated technological implementations, with limited integration into the complex environment of a manufacturing company. This paper focuses on a holistic methodical brownfield implementation of a demonstrator for digital data consistency in an assembly line of a learning factory by applying an extended methodology for implementing demonstrators and its validation by industrial participants. It stresses the complexity of production data acquisition in a practical environment and illustrates a best-practice showcase. Key performance indicators are visualized by acquiring, storing, and cross-linking data points. The demonstrator is implemented and evaluated by SMEs' representatives, to show promising potential for sustainable knowledge transfer into the SMEs

Design and Implementation of Flow Dashboard for Production Planning and Control

Visual management tools of which some have existed for dozens of years are still an important aspect of increasing the performance of production operations. Visual management tools such as dashboards are a vital part of lean production principles which emphasize concepts such as production flow, minimizing waste and maximizing the customer value. Visual management tools provide the factory with tools to increase the efficiency and output of the whole factory. Visual management tools are increasingly becoming more digital and are able to combine many million rows of data from different data sources into one single dashboard to bring better insights for all stakeholders of the value chain. The purpose of this thesis was to design and implement a flow dashboard to improve case com-pany’s operations and production planning & control function. There was a demand to improve the visibility and increase the transparency in the production operations between the functions in a new factory building. The new factory was still partially in a ramp-up phase thus it was still missing many of the performance and visual management tools. The thesis utilized design science research methodology which aims to design and develop solu-tions to real world business problems. At first the problem was studied and requirements to solve the problem were formed based on discussions with the stakeholder groups. Once the requirements were known an iterative development process followed, where a first a prototype dashboard was developed. As the first prototype was ready feedback for further development iteration was requested from the stakeholder groups for total of three development iterations. Once the final version of the dashboard was ready it was demonstrated for the user groups and set on a display at the factory floor. The first research question related to the requirements of the identified user groups. The re-quirement concepts emphasized by the user groups were the importance of understanding the production priorities, targets, performance, and production flow metrics. The second research question provided insights on how the dashboard improved production planning and control of the factory. The key benefits included that the current level of work-in-progress and production lead time trends were able to be visualized, providing a useful tool to track and improve the production flow. Third research question focused on how the dashboard improved efficiency of the production operations. The benefits included a new model for visualizing priorities and vis-ualisation of production performance and targets which help the shop floor workers and pro-duction management alike

The development of factory templates for the integrated virtual factory framework

Páginas numeradas: I-XVI, 17-123Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Major Automação). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

The development of factory templates for the integrated virtual factory framework

Páginas numeradas: I-XVI, 17-123Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Major Automação). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 201

Complexity in manufacturing systems and its measures: a literature review

Complexity in manufacturing systems still remains a challenge and leads to operational issues and increased production cost. In this paper, drivers of complexity and typical symptoms of complex manufacturing systems are identified. A comprehensive review of studies published within the last two decades to assess manufacturing system complexity are presented. The key contributions of this review are: 1) a classification of complexity assessment methods based on perceived complexity symptoms; 2) a comprehensive review of assessment methods with cross-evaluation to identify appropriate use based on available data; 3) recommendations for the wider academic and industrial community, based on research trends identified in the literature, as to how complexity assessment should be addressed in the future. It is concluded that the assessment of complexity is necessary so that it can be controlled effectively, however the industry suffers from a lack of practical tools to support in this endeavour

Enhanced Accessibility for People with Disabilities Living in Urban Areas

[Excerpt] People with disabilities constitute a significant proportion of the poor in developing countries. If internationally agreed targets on reducing poverty are to be reached, it is critical that specific measures be taken to reduce the societal discrimination and isolation that people with disabilities continue to face. Transport is an important enabler of strategies to fight poverty through enhancing access to education, employment, and social services. This project aims to further the understanding of the mobility and access issues experienced by people with disabilities in developing countries, and to identify specific steps that can be taken to start addressing problems. A major objective of the project is to compile a compendium of guidelines that can be used by government authorities, advocacy groups, and donor/loan agencies to improve the access of people with disabilities to transport and other services in urban areas

A Review of the Major School Counseling Policy Studies in the United States: 2000-2014

Jay Carey and Ian Martin conducted a review of the major policy studies concerning school counseling in the United States. The authors located 37 documents disseminated between 2000 and 2014 that were either intentionally written with a focus on policy implications or were frequently used to attempt to influence policy decision-making. Their review is organized by types of policy studies: Literature Reviews, Survey Research, Statewide Evaluations of School Counseling Programs, State Evaluations of School Counseling Practice, Existing Database Investigations of School Counseling, Research Identifying Elements of Exemplary Practice, Studies of Evaluation Capacity and Practices in School Counseling

Adaptive scheduling based on self-organized holonic swarm of schedulers

Scheduling plays an important role in the companies’ competiveness, dealing with complex combinatorial problems subject to uncertainty and emergence. In particular, in the ramp-up phase of small lot-sizes of complex products, scheduling is more demanding, e.g. due to late requests and immature technology products and processes. This paper presents the principles of a distributed scheduling architecture based on holonic and swarm principles and implemented using multi-agent system technology. In particular, it is described the coordination among the network of the swarm of schedulers and analysed the impact of embedded self-organization mechanisms.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7 ARUM project, under grant agreement n° 314056.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio