22 research outputs found

    Systems Engineering: Availability and Reliability

    Get PDF
    Current trends in Industry 4.0 are largely related to issues of reliability and availability. As a result of these trends and the complexity of engineering systems, research and development in this area needs to focus on new solutions in the integration of intelligent machines or systems, with an emphasis on changes in production processes aimed at increasing production efficiency or equipment reliability. The emergence of innovative technologies and new business models based on innovation, cooperation networks, and the enhancement of endogenous resources is assumed to be a strong contribution to the development of competitive economies all around the world. Innovation and engineering, focused on sustainability, reliability, and availability of resources, have a key role in this context. The scope of this Special Issue is closely associated to that of the ICIE’2020 conference. This conference and journal’s Special Issue is to present current innovations and engineering achievements of top world scientists and industrial practitioners in the thematic areas related to reliability and risk assessment, innovations in maintenance strategies, production process scheduling, management and maintenance or systems analysis, simulation, design and modelling

    Using foresight futures and systems thinking to evaluate digitally enhanced advanced service concepts for a rolling stock company (ROSCO)

    Get PDF
    Purpose: This paper reports on a study in conjunction with a UK-based rolling stock leasing company (ROSCO). The aim was to generate and evaluate future operational concepts for digitally enhanced advanced services from the point of view of a ROSCO – one of many stakeholders (or actors) within a future wider mobility ecosystem.Design/Methodology/Approach: The research design followed the Generic Foresight Process Framework (Voros 2003). Desk-based research and horizon scanning analysis revealed technologies, mobility and transport trends, and other predictions towards 2060. A workshop was developed and participants were presented with a series of future scenarios and design fictions for end-to-end intermodal mobility and passenger carbon quotas. A future Mobility Servitization Systems Architecture was developed.Findings: Five future megatrends were identified; Decarbonisation, changing traveller needs, digitisation, mobility ecosystems and new business models in digital ecosystems. The ‘what-if’ activities revealed insights into alternate futures; revealing system of systems (SoS) actors, the role of a ROSCO, integrations, assumptions and operational constraints.Originality/Value: This research contributes to engineering and design methods for digitally enhanced advanced services, particularly for corporate strategic foresight in a dominant design industry. The Mobility Servitization Systems Architecture was seen to be a powerful model for ecosystem understanding.</div

    Essentials of Business Analytics

    Get PDF

    Technical handbook for dengue surveillance, dengue outbreak prediction/detection and outbreak response (Model contingency plan)

    Get PDF
    This handbook was produced by TDR together with WHO’s Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Department and WHO regional offices in the context of a European Union-financed research programme, the International Research Consortium on Dengue Risk Assessment, Management and Surveillance (IDAMS), to develop an evidence-based handbook for the early outbreak detec-tion and management of dengue fever outbreaks. The handbook targets public health providers, in particular those at national level. It is not an implementation guideline, but a framework for developing a national contingency plan with local adaptations that acknowledge micro-level pro-gramme components. Response planning requires contextual details encompassing the structure of the health and vector control services, the availability of infrastructure and budget, and human resources, and the willingness of staff to cooperate, among others. The aim of this “model contingency plan” is to assist programme managers and planners in devel-oping a national, context-specific, dengue outbreak response plan in order to: (a) detect a dengue outbreak at an early stage through clearly defined and validated alarm signals; (b) precisely define when a dengue outbreak has started; and (c) organize an early response to the alarm signals or an “emergency response” once an outbreak has started. A summary of this document, "Dengue Contingency Planning: From Research to Policy and Practice" (PNTD-D-16-00407R1) has also been published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

    Determining supply chain practices and strategies of light vehicle manufacturers in South Africa

    Get PDF
    This study determined whether local manufacturers of light vehicles in South Africa employ supply chain best practices and strategies. The research design employed was a combination of exploratory and descriptive research design using qualitative and quantitative approaches based on a survey of light vehicle manufacturers in South Africa. A face-to–face, semi-structured interview questionnaire was used, based on purposive sampling. Descriptive statistics using SPSS software were used for the data analysis and interpretation. The findings of the study revealed that across the supply chain, best practices were implemented to a large extent by all manufacturers. Light vehicle manufacturers in South Africa, however face supply chain challenges, which include technological, infrastructural, cost, market/service and production/skills challenges. The most important supply chain performance indicator that contributes to optimisation of performance is quality, followed by final product delivery reliability, and then cost and supplier reliability. All the manufacturers followed a lean strategy for their inbound supply chain and some had a lean supply chain strategy for their outbound supply chain. A number of them also had an agile supply chain strategy in the outbound supply chain which suggests a leagile supply chain strategy. It was also found that in some instances there was a mismatch between strategies and practices in the area of product characteristics, manufacturing characteristics and the decision drivers of supply chain. One of the conclusions of the study was that local manufacturers of light vehicles do not always make decisions and implement practices in line with their chosen supply chain strategies. The study concluded by developing a framework for determining supply chain best practices in line with a chosen strategy that could guide supply chain managers (in locally manufactured light vehicles) in the automotive in South Africa in their decision making.Business ManagementD. Com. (Business Management

    Incidences de RFID dans une chaîne d’approvisionnement : processus, gestion des connaissances et performance

    Get PDF
    RÉSUMÉ : Objectif principal et motivations L’objectif principal de la thèse par article vise à évaluer, dans un contexte de chaîne d’approvisionnement, les impacts de la technologie RFID (“Radio Frequency Identification”) sur les processus, la gestion des connaissances et la performance. Cette recherche se distingue des travaux antérieurs en mettant une emphase particulière sur les incidences de RFID sur l’acquisition, la gestion, le partage et le transfert des connaissances, et ce, autant à l’interne (dans chaque organisation) qu’à l’externe (dans la chaîne d’approvisionnement). Nous proposons également que la gestion des connaissances ainsi améliorée permet l’ajout d’intelligence. Cet objectif est poursuivi dans le contexte spécifique de la construction industrielle. Un tel contexte est intéressant puisque le poids économique de l’industrie de construction est élevé (au Québec, un emploi sur 20 en dépend) et que la construction industrielle connait des investissements substantiels, de l’ordre au Canada de 86,9 milliards de dollars pour 2012. De plus, c’est un secteur à forte intensité de connaissances dans lequel les firmes de génie-conseil jouent un rôle déterminant. Finalement, le fait de s’intéresser à une chaîne d’approvisionnement plutôt qu’à des entreprises individuelles correspond à une tendance lourde. Nous avançons donc que l’objectif général de recherche présente une certaine pertinence pratique. Sur le plan théorique, le projet doctoral est motivé par plusieurs facteurs. Premièrement, le nombre d’articles de recherche qui visent un objectif de recherche similaire est très restreint. Deuxièmement, la gestion des connaissances nous apparait primordiale dans une économie dite basée sur les connaissances, les connaissances étant un facteur de production relativement plus important que les coûts de la main d’œuvre. Troisièmement, les connaissances représentent un actif intangible qui est à base même des avantages concurrentiels durables. Quatrièmement, la technologie RFID soulève des enjeux technologiques et non-technologiques qui ne sont pas entièrement résolus. Stratégie méthodologique privilégiée Cette recherche est exploratoire car elle sert à combler le ‘vide’ théorique et empirique concernant notre problématique spécifique. Elle correspond donc au paradigme qualifié d’empirico-inductif et est fondée sur des propositions de recherche. Plus précisément, elle a été conduite dans cinq entreprises membres de cette chaîne pendant les étapes de la construction et post-construction au sein d’une raffinerie). Le client final est l’entreprise propriétaire de cette raffinerie, le maître d’œuvre est la firme de construction et les fournisseurs et sous-traitants sont respectivement le fournisseur de matières premières, l’entreprise de fabrication de systèmes de tuyauterie et l’entreprise responsable de la préparation de la surface et du revêtement anticorrosif des systèmes de tuyauterie. Ces cinq entreprises correspondent à cinq niveaux de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Au total, 57 participants ont été impliqués. Observations, entrevues semi- structurées et analyse de documents internes et externes représentent pour l’étude de terrain les techniques de collecte de données privilégiées tandis que les groupes de discussion ont permis d’atteindre certains consensus et de valider les données empiriques et résultats obtenus. Un consensus s’est formé pour explorer le potentiel de RFID au niveau de 1) l’approvisionnement des systèmes de tuyauterie, 2) de leur fabrication, peinture et installation sur le site de construction (soit la raffinerie) et, 3) leur inspection et maintenance après que les systèmes de tuyauterie soient installés. Ceci constitue trois applications distinctes de RFID, chacune ayant par exemple leurs propres exigences sur le plan technologique, leurs contraintes sur le plan organisationnel et inter-organisationnel, etc. Ces trois applications sont aussi les trois études de cas. Principaux résultats Les données empiriques confirment que RFID a en effet une influence positive sur les modèles de gestion que ce soit au niveau de l’amélioration des modèles existants ou de l’adoption de nouveaux modèles selon les résultats des trois articles de thèse. Par contre, l’incidence de RFID sur les modèles collaboratifs reçoit un soutien plus faible et mitigé : en effet, nous n’avons obtenu aucune évidence empirique sur la confiance tandis que l’amélioration des relations inter-organisationnelles est surtout démontrée dans le premier article de thèse. L’adoption de la technologie RFID dans une industrie aussi complexe que celle de la construction industrielle est prometteuse. En effet, les résultats empiriques de notre recherche démontent que la technologie RFID a des incidences positives sur l’uniformisation, l’intégration, l’amélioration et l’automatisation des processus. Cette technologie améliore également l’acquisition, la gestion, le partage, le transfert des connaissances et permet d’ajouter de l’intelligence au niveau intra- et inter- organisationnel. Elle réduit certaines inefficacités et plusieurs coûts opérationnels. L’analyse inter-cas a permis de dégager des facteurs déterminants additionnels. En particulier, nous avons pu établir que trois types de pressions isomorphiques, soit mimétiques, coercitives et normatives, s’exercent de façon différencié selon le type d’application RFID et selon la perspective de chacune des cinq entreprises. La compatibilité des scénarios RFID avec les compétences technologiques des entreprises impliquées se révèle un facteur important. Les limites et contraintes ainsi que les principales contributions sont examinées dans le septième chapitre et la thèse conclut avec des avenues de recherche.----------ABSTRACT : Main objective and motivations The main objective of the thesis is to evaluate, in the context of supply chain, the impacts of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology on processes, knowledge management and performance. This research differs from previous work by placing a strong emphasis on the impacts of RFID on the acquisition, management, sharing and transfer of knowledge, that are assessed internally (within the organization) and externally (across the supply chain). We also propose that improved knowledge management allows added-intelligence. The above objective is pursued within the specific context of the industrial construction sector. Such a context is interesting because the economic weight of the construction industry is high (in Quebec, one out of 20 jobs) and because the Canadian industrial construction benefited, in 2012, from substantial investments in the order of 86.9 billion dollars. Moreover, industrial construction represents a knowledge-intensive where engineering firms play a decisive role. Finally, the focus on a supply chain rather than on individual companies corresponds to a heavy trend. We argue that the overall objective of research has some practical relevance. From a theoretical perspective, the thesis is motivated by several factors. First, the number of research articles that target a similar research goal is very limited. Second, knowledge management appears to be critical in the so-called knowledge-based economy where knowledge can be considered as an important production factor. Third, knowledge is an intangible asset that brings sustainable competitive advantages. Fourth, RFID technology raises technological and non-technological issues that are not fully resolved. Methodological strategy This research is exploratory as it serves to fill the existing theoretical and empirical gaps in the literature. It thus corresponds to the empirical-inductive paradigm and is based on research propositions. More specifically, the field study was conducted in five companies in one supply chain during the construction and post-construction stages within one refinery. The end customer is the owner of the refinery, the contractor is the construction firm and the suppliers and subcontractors are respectively the supplier of raw materials, the manufacturing company of the piping systems, and company responsible for surface preparation and coating of the piping systems. These five companies correspond to the five levels of the supply chain. A total of 57 participants were involved. Observations, semi-structured interviews and analysis of internal and external documents were used as data sources while the focus groups allowed to reach some consensus on key decision points and to validate the empirical data and the results. A consensus was formed to explore the potential of RFID for 1) the supply of piping systems, 2) the manufacturing, painting and installation of these systems in the construction site (the refinery), and 3) the inspection and maintenance of the piping systems after their installation. This represents three different RFID applications, each with its own requirements in terms of technological, organizational and inter-organizational constraints. These three applications are also the three case studies. Main results Empirical evidence confirms that RFID has indeed a positive influence on business models, whether at improving existing models or at adopting new models. The impact of RFID on collaborative models receives a weaker and mixed support. The adoption of RFID technology in a sector as complex as the industrial construction industry seems promising. Indeed, the empirical results demonstrate that RFID technology has a positive impact on the standardization, integration, improvement and automation of processes. This technology also enhances the acquisition, management, sharing, and transfer of knowledge and adds intelligence at the intra-and inter-organizational levels. Finally, it reduces several inefficiencies and lowers several operational costs. The cross-case analysis has identified additional factors. In particular, we have established that three types of isomorphic pressures or mimetic, coercive and normative, have a differentiated influence depending on the type of RFID application and on firms’ perspective. The compatibility of RFID scenarios with organizational technology competences also proved to be a significant factor. The research limits as well as the main contributions are discussed in the seventh chapter and the thesis concludes with avenues of research

    Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

    Get PDF
    Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

    Setting optimal inventory policy for mold spare components in a medical device production facility

    Get PDF
    Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-76).Inadequate inventory management policies utilized by the maintenance facility of a manufacturing plant result in the lack of spare components needed to carry out essential repairs on molds used in injection molding operations, thereby reducing the plant's effective production capacity. Thus, molds need to be run for longer periods to produce the same quantities of finished products, exposing them to a higher rate of wear and tear, ultimately incurring higher maintenance costs, utility costs and repair costs. This research creates a framework for properly categorizing the spare components based on their characteristics and applying relevant inventory models to each category to derive the inventory control parameters of reorder quantity, safety stock level and reorder point. Spare component inventory will be categorized by usage rates and their criticality to mold repairs while critical inventory parameters of safety stock, reorder point and reorder quantity are set to ensure a 97.5% service level while reducing total inventory costs by 9.1% or by $38.7K per year.by Lim Yuen Chun Gerard.M.Eng
    corecore