241 research outputs found

    Knowledge management solutions and selection tool for engineering organisations

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    It is widely accepted that engineering research, design, development and manufacturing processes are highly reliant upon the valuable knowledge, experiences and skills stored within the company's systems, processes, documents and employees. If these key knowledge resources can be identified, maintained and efficiently controlled, prior successes and failures can be capitalised upon, best practices can be captured and transferred and new solutions can be developed with minimal duplication of efforts and without unnecessary replication of prior work. Away from manufacturing and engineering organisations, in the broader business world, exists an array of solutions, tools and techniques developed specifically to facilitate the management of knowledge and experience these are collectively labelled as Knowledge Management (KM) tools and solutions. Such solutions, tools and techniques have achieved widespread recognition for their capabilities and consequent importance in enhancing processes across a variety of business applications and contexts. However their relevancy, applicability and relative merits in particular manufacturing and mechanical engineering (MME) contexts have generally not been identified or investigated. This thesis reviews and presents a large number of diverse KM solutions and implementations across industries and organisations and creates a new and unique single KM solutions space in which these solutions are characterised. The KM solution space is subsequently utilised by a new KM methodology and support tool that facilitates and demonstrates the enhancement of mechanical and manufacturing engineering processes through analysis followed by selection and implementation of the most appropriate existing KM solutions. The KM Tool is demonstrated via three industrial case studies detailing the process concerns and associated improvements identified and implemented. The KM Solution Space developed during this research has shown that there is significant opportunity to improve mechanical and manufacturing engineering processes through the adoption of appropriate KM solutions from the broader business world. The KM Tool developed via this research facilitates this identification and adoption of the most appropriate KM solution. In addition to the MME processes covered by the scope of this research there is additional scope to extend the use of the KM Tool and KM Solution Space to other business areas that have not yet had extensive exposure to KM

    System simulation and modeling of electronics demanufacturing facilities

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    Over the last decade, pressure on the electronic industry has been increasing as concerns for product take-back, product stewardship and global warming have continued to grow. Various end-of-life management options are being expanded including recycling to recapture values from basic materials through reengineering and recovery of subassemblies and individual components for remanufacturing. While progress has been reported on life cycle assessment (LCA), disassembly planning, design for disassembly, and design for environment (DFE), very little research has been focused on demanufacturing from a systems perspective. The objective of this thesis is to build an interface between the user who knows the demanufacturing operation and a software engine, which performs the simulation, collects detailed operational data, and displays results. This thesis bridges the gap between the requirement of hard core simulation knowledge and demanufacturing terminology to present a computerized software tool. Arena, a commercially available discrete event simulation software, acts as an engine for performing these simulations. The developed software tool for demanufacturing contains objects necessary for facility layout, systematic workflow and simulation of the facility. Each object refers to a specific demanufacturing activity and uses detailed simulation logic behind its design to perform that activity. The user selects and locates these objects to layout the facility for a graphical representation of the demanufacturing operation. Objects provide a user screen to input necessary data for the complete description of the activity and its operational characteristics. By simulating the facility for various scenarios, the demanufacturer can compare different options for improving operations, resource utilization, equipment and layout changes. To examine improvement options from an economic perspective a first-order model of demanufacturing costs has been developed and integrated with the simulation software. An activity based unit cost model is used to identify fixed and variable costs associated with each product demanufactured. A small electronics demanufacturing facility was observed and evaluated to validate the simulation modeling and operational logic. The application illustrates the usefulness of demanufacturing system simulation tool to manage and improve the overall efficiency of facilities for economical operation. In summary, a computer-base tool for simulating demanufacturing facility from a systems perspective has been developed and validated. An activity based cost model has been integrated with the simulation to give demanufacturers the ability to examine the full operational and economic trade-offs associated with the business

    Urban Transportation Institutional Grant. Research and Training Proposal.

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    Center for Urban and Regional Affairs, University of Minnesota

    Is empathy the missing link in teaching business ethics? A course-based educational intervention with undergraduate business students

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    Past approaches to teaching ethics have been rooted primarily within the cognitive developmental tradition, with the focus on developing moral reasoning. Recent studies in cognitive neuroscience and social psychology have challenged this emphasis, highlighting the primacy of the emotion in driving moral decision-making. This study proposed that empathy may be an appropriate construct for integrating both processes, and that an moral education intervention that focused on empathetic perspective-taking based on Martin Hoffman\u27s work may prove effective in both advancing moral reasoning and empathy. This approach was applied using a quasi-experimental design with undergraduate business students (N = 181) within a semester-long business ethics course. It was predicted that the class section receiving the empathetic perspective-taking intervention would show more growth on both perspective-taking (Interpersonal Reactivity Index, PT subscale) and moral reasoning (Defining Issues Test-2) measures than the comparison groups receiving the principled moral reasoning approach. Results from repeated measures ANOVAs by group indicated statistically significant differences for the comparison group increases on moral reasoning (DIT-2 N2 score); no difference was seen in the intervention group on either moral reasoning or perspective-taking. The results, however, did indicated a significant difference by gender for the intervention group on one of the subscales, Empathetic Concern, with women increasing and men decreasing in empathetic concern. A discussion of the results offers specific suggestions for integrating empathy into business ethics courses, balancing moral reasoning with emotional engagement and addressing issues related to gender. Also, this study suggests the need for skill-based, context specific measures of empathy

    An investigation of transitional management problems for the NSTS

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    Analysis and recommendations were provided to the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) on managing the transition from a research and development (R/D) structure to an operational structure. Summaries of published literature on the theory and applications of transition, or change management, and the results of interviews with additional industry personnel whose organizations either have gone through or are now going through change are contained. The issues of flight rates and the flight decision are addressed. The use of a computer simulation model to analyze the effect of varying different parameters on the flight rate was also discussed. The issue of NASA's changing demographics was examined and why this may be a cause for concern. The impact of the whole shuttle system structure on the Challenger accident was presented along with the highlights of the Rogers Commission Report. The proposed reorganization of the NSTS management structure is discussed and how this transition from R/D to operations can be performed

    Soma Series: Somatic Metaphors Evidenced in a series of medical transactions?

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    Aspects of the orthodox medical-gaze have long been the concern of artists, theorists and Complementary Medical Practitioners. This research explored an aspect of the pre-surgical transactional-interview related to the 'quest for prosthesis', as a specific paradigm of the way the medicalgaze implicitly disciplines its 'subjects'. A pragmatic feminist standpoint approach was engaged in conjunction with an Ayurvedic/holistic perspective, from which to observe and critique fieldwork and create visual outcomes from it, as it was observed to somatically affect both patients and medical team in an Orthopaedics Department of an NHS hospital. Soma-Series: Somatic Metaphors Evidenced as a Series of Medical Transactions? parodically explored aspects of role-play and behavioural patterns that were seen to manifest through body-language that rendered the interaction as a simulation of events that were in themselves already 'artificial' as a result of the orthodox disciplines that engaged it. Threedimensional images as interpretations of this 'evidence' were subsequently transformed into a 'scripto-visual' interactive hypertext. Through visual experimentation, new research was developed as www.soma-series.org.uk in conjunction with an exhibition of selected images as Soma-Series: Ten Constructs at the Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, U.K. [May 2002], for its Ethics Committee; fieldwork participants and members of the public. The thesis compared this 'evidenced-based' approach to art making with the work by two contemporary women artists whose visual work also juxtaposed socio-medical discourse with art-practice [Jane Prophet and Christine Borland]. The outcomes as website 'artwork' anticipated opening up links between aspects of socio-medical discourse, cyberspace and feminism. Inviting audience response to the site was a central part of the research paradigm, with a view to expanding the debate relating to quest for prosthesis and its implications for notions of a 'bionic' body

    Design and discrete event simulation of power and free handling systems

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    Effective manufacturing systems design and implementation has become increasingly critical, with the reduction in manufacturing product lead times, and the subsequent influence on engineering projects. Tools and methodologies that can assist the design team must be both manageable and efficient to be successful. Modelling, using analytical and mathematical models, or using computer assisted simulations, are used to accomplish design objectives. This thesis will review the use of analytical and discrete event computer simulation models, applied to the design of automated power and free handling systems, using actual case studies to create and support a practical approach to design and implementation of these types of systems. The IDEF process mapping approach is used to encompass these design tools and system requirements, to recommend a generic process methodology for power and free systems design. The case studies consisted of three actual installations within the Philips Components Ltd facility in Durham, a manufacturer of television tubes. Power and free conveyor systems at PCL have assumed increased functions from the standard conveyor systems, ranging from stock handling and buffering, to type sorting and flexible product routing. In order to meet the demands of this flexible manufacturing strategy, designing a system that can meet the production objectives is critical. Design process activities and engineering considerations for the three projects were reviewed and evaluated, to capture the generic methodologies necessary for future design success. Further, the studies were intended to identify both general and specific criteria for simulating power and free conveyor handling systems, and the ingredients necessary for successful discrete event simulation. The automated handling systems were used to prove certain aspects of building, using and analysing simulation models, in relation to their anticipated benefits, including an evaluation of the factors necessary to ensure their realisation. While there exists a multitude of designs for power and free conveyor systems based on user requirements and proprietary equipment technology, the principles of designing and implementing a system can remain generic. Although specific technology can influence detailed design, a common, consistent approach to design activities was a proven requirement In all cases. Additionally, it was observed that no one design tool was sufficient to ensure maximum system success. A combination of both analytical and simulation methods was necessary to adequately optimise the systems studied, given unique and varying project constraints. It followed that the level of application of the two approaches was directly dependent on the initial engineering project objectives, and the ability to accurately identify system requirements
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