Workforce planning and facility utilization using a two-stage stochastic recourse approach

Hi-tech manufacturing uses sophisticated and capital intensive processes that require a highly skilled workforce. Fluctuating demand leads to either a shortage of skilled workers that causes unmet demand or an excess of skilled labor that causes worker idleness. This mismatch in the available and required skillsets is a source of potential loss for the organization. This thesis formulates an industry-motivated workforce planning and facility utilization problem as a two-stage stochastic recourse program that considers fluctuating demand over a long planning horizon and includes business and labor rules, e.g., hiring, firing, overtime, cross-training, and shift swapping, that govern the structure of the workforce. Solutions to this problem are computed using a scenario-based approach and indicate that the cost of workforce formation can be significantly reduced by using the recourse problem

More effective social services

In June 2014, the Productivity Commission was asked to look at ways to improve how government agencies commission and purchase social services. The final report was released in mid-September 2015. It makes several recommendations about how to make social services more responsive, client-focused, accountable and innovative. The final inquiry report has two key messages. First, system-wide improvement can be achieved and should be pursued. Second, New Zealand needs better ways to join up services for those with multiple, complex needs. Capable clients should be empowered with more control over the services they receive. Those less capable need close support and a response tailored to their needs, without arbitrary distinctions between services and funds divided into “health”, “education”, etc. These are significant, but extremely worthwhile, changes for New Zealand

Ensuring American Manufacturing Leadership Through Next-Generation Supply Chains

Suppliers now account for 50-70 percent of a typical manufacturer’s final production value. How U.S. manufacturers manage their supply chains has been the key to offshoring production and will be the key to rebuilding a robust manufacturing sector. Traditional purchasing practices, in which buying decisions are based on the lowest unit cost with acceptable quality and delivery, drove much of the shift to Asian suppliers. As Asian capabilities progressed, a more diverse range of products were imported from Asia, mostly China. Some U.S. suppliers responded by building production facilities or contracting production in China, while others, unable to compete, failed. The number of U.S. manufacturing establishments, 292,825 in 2015, has declined by more than 41,000 since 2005. A growing number of U.S. manufacturers, however, have recognized that this model of supply chain management does not provide a sustainable competitive advantage. If their products are made in the same factories as those of their competitors, product differentiation too often has become superficial. Regaining a competitive edge requires a different approach to managing suppliers, one in which the total supply chain is managed to maximize value. Suppliers are treated as partners, contributing design and engineering ideas. Manufacturing capacity, production planning, and delivery schedules are closely coordinated. Rather than a strict focus on low unit price, broader considerations of cost, flexibility, consistency, and risk minimization—collectively known as Total Cost of Ownership—drives purchasing decisions, at least for high-value parts and components. Many specific tools and techniques for building strong supplier partnerships have been created, and could be more widely used with appropriate training and information sharing.National Science Foundation, Grant No. 1552534https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145153/1/SupplyChainReport_Digital_FINAL_reduced.pdfDescription of SupplyChainReport_Digital_FINAL_reduced.pdf : Repor

Achieving accountability through decentralization : lessons for integrated river basin management

While decentralization holds out the promise of increased flexibility and efficiency, the preconditions for realizing it are daunting. To draw lessons for productive decentralization in integrated river basin management, this paper surveys the decentralization experience in education, health care, roads, irrigation, and public infrastructure services. Case studies reveal that the prime focus in the design of a decentralized structure must be accountability, based on principles of subsidiarity, transparency, and allocation of property rights. While some debates are sector-specific, others, such as the need for political and financial accountability, the related data requirements, educating stakeholders and potential beneficiaries of the new system, and ensuring effective participation are true of decentralization wherever it is to unfold. Inturn, initial conditions and the adaptation of political leadership to suit the historical context determine the success of decentralization. Four issues demand high priority in integrated river basin management. These are (1) overcoming financial inadequacy at the local level; (2) commitment to upgrading skills, particularly management skills, while also ensuring that the expertise accumulated in central bureaucracies is not dissipated; (3) assuring pre-reform beneficiaries that their rights would be protected; and (4) sustaining a long-term commitment to an inevitably slow and drawn out decentralization process. The main conclusions of the literature survey caution those who believe that decentralization is, in itself, a solution to problems of inefficiency and inequity in developing countries. Tradeoffs and tensions need to be reconciled (such as economies of scale versus local monitoring and integrated management or interregional equity versus local control).Municipal Financial Management,Decentralization,Water Conservation,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,National Governance,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Banks&Banking Reform

An ethnographic study of the enactment of service level agreements in complex IT-intensive business-to-business services.

Service level agreements (SLAs) for complex IT-intensive business-to-business (CITI-B2B) services are high-level representations of services to be enacted, with predominantly quantifiable performance targets. Inevitably, there is a gap between this representation and the nuanced practices of enactment adapting to emergent conditions over time. Overarching terms in the master agreement anticipate this gap; however, the nature of the practices that manage that gap is not well understood. This study aims to develop a deeper understanding of these everyday practices to identify potential areas for improving value realisation in SLA enactment. We conducted a long-term ethnographic study of the enactment of an SLA by a global IT provider and global financial services company, framed by relational theory of contract. Our analysis showed the gap was bridged by a cycle of enactment in which emergent conditions triggered relational interactions among participants, culminating in decisions to adapt the terms of the SLA in pursuit of value realisation. Further, our analysis showed that this cycle is enabled by informal mechanisms of learning, negotiating, and adapting that we conceptualise as relational capability, which is amenable to representation, refinement, innovation, and capability development. Exploiting this capability and as well as the information produced during the cycle of enactment could inform SLA design and enable the transformation of SLAs as evolving learning instruments

A decision support system and a mathematical model for strategic workforce planning in consultancies

Strategic staff planning in consultancies is a major problem that directly affects the firm’s performance and capacity for dealing with projects appropriately. Furthermore, the decisions taken now will have long term consequences, because consultants are highly qualified workers who need very long learning periods to achieve enough expertise. In other words, the size and composition of the future workforce depends on the decisions taken today. It is important to underline that the system anticipates future capacity adjustment in response to forecasted demand requirements; therefore, it is flexible to plan the workforce in different scenarios and time horizons. This paper proposes a decision support system based on a mathematical optimization model for solving strategic staff planning, taking the company’s strategies, policies and objectives into account and optimizing both the costs and the staff composition. The tool is tested by applying it in an office belonging to a multinational consulting firm.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

DOC 2020-07 Master of Construction Engineering and Management

Legislative AuthorityREFERENCE: DOC 2019-03 Actions Pertaining to Degree Programs and Academic Departments (Revised

Architecture System Framework for a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Information Management, specialization in Information Systems and Technologies ManagementInternational Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) main goal is to increase safety of global aviation. To pursue such goal, a Global Aviation Safety Plan was issued. This document highlights the importance of Safety Management System (SMS) requirements compliance by aviation stakeholders. At regional level, European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued the European Plan for Aviation Safety which identifies the strategy and the enablers for the near future. This includes the implementation of SMS on aviation industry, but also identifies the importance of digitalization and technology to improve safety level. In industry, having an enterprise architecture helps Organizations to have a systematic approach to ensure Processes, Information and Technology architectures alignment. Technology shall be used to improve the processes to a higher level of effectiveness and efficiency, producing the information effectively needed by different organizational levels. So, the question that arises is how can Continuing Airworthiness Management Organizations (CAMO) leverage its business, promoting safety and bringing value to stakeholder’s expectations? The goal of this dissertation was to promote the development of a high-level CAMO architecture system framework which complies with applicable SMS and airworthiness regulations. To meet this goal, three data vectors will be analyzed: the organizational architectures, the airworthiness CAMO requirements and the data provided by studies on how technology is leveraging industrial aviation. This will allow the identification of which business processes and compliance information are required and enable the discussion of which applicable architecture model should be more effective. The study led to the Architecture System Framework components proposal within the Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization, namely the Business Process architecture, the Information architecture and the Technological enablers guidance proposals. The Business Process architecture proposal is divided trough 3 processes levels that includes 8 level 1 processes, 31 level 2 processes and a third level where each of the level 2 process was designed using BPMN detail approach. To design Information Architecture was used DFD notation where 11 high level data entities repository were identified, evaluated and proposed. In the end of this work and using the identified technological enablers applied to aviation industry at the moment, it was discussed how these technologies could leverage the identified processes. Then it was developed a technological guidance scheme where was integrated the identified processes with the possible technologies to be used