A Business Process Management System based on a General Optimium Criterion

Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) provide a broad range of facilities to manage operational business processes. These systems should provide support for the complete Business Process Management (BPM) life-cycle (16): (re)design, configuration, execution, control, and diagnosis of processes. BPMS can be seen as successors of Workflow Management (WFM) systems. However, already in the seventies people were working on office automation systems which are comparable with today’s WFM systems. Recently, WFM vendors started to position their systems as BPMS. Our paper’s goal is a proposal for a Tasks-to-Workstations Assignment Algorithm (TWAA) for assembly lines which is a special implementation of a stochastic descent technique, in the context of BPMS, especially at the control level. Both cases, single and mixed-model, are treated. For a family of product models having the same generic structure, the mixed-model assignment problem can be formulated through an equivalent single-model problem. A general optimum criterion is considered. As the assembly line balancing, this kind of optimisation problem leads to a graph partitioning problem meeting precedence and feasibility constraints. The proposed definition for the "neighbourhood" function involves an efficient way for treating the partition and precedence constraints. Moreover, the Stochastic Descent Technique (SDT) allows an implicit treatment of the feasibility constraint. The proposed algorithm converges with probability 1 to an optimal solution.BPMS, control assembly system, stochastic optimisation techniques, TWAA, SDT

Performance analysis of SWOT suite toolkit on Inter-domain and Intra-domain Web of Things

The Web of Things (WoT) is a term used to describe approaches, software architectural styles and programming patterns that allow real-world objects to be part of the World Wide Web [1]. Similarly to what the Web (Application Layer) is to the Internet (Network Layer), the Web of Things provides an Application Layer that simplifies the creation of Internet of Things applications [2]

Decomposition of Manufacturing Processes: A Review

Manufacturing is a global activity that started during the industrial revolution in the late 19th century to cater for the large-scale production of products. Since then, manufacturing has changed tremendously through the innovations of technology, processes, materials, communication and transportation. The major challenge facing manufacturing is to produce more products using less material, less energy and less involvement of labour. To face these challenges, manufacturing companies must have a strategy and competitive priority in order for them to compete in a dynamic market. A review of the literature on the decomposition of manufacturing processes outlines three main processes, namely: high volume, medium volume and low volume. The decomposition shows that each sub process has its own characteristics and depends on the nature of the firm’s business. Two extreme processes are continuous line production (fast extreme) and project shop (slow extreme). Other processes are in between these two extremes of the manufacturing spectrum. Process flow patterns become less complex with cellular, line and continuous flow compared with jobbing and project. The review also indicates that when the product is high variety and low volume, project or functional production is applied

Tahap penggunaan pembelajaran maya dalam kalangan guru reka bentuk teknologi: satu tinjauan di sekolah rendah luar bandar

Sejajar dengan matlamat anjakan ketujuh dalam Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan Malaysia (2013-2025) iaitu untuk mentransformasikan sistem pendidikan negara, kerajaan telah menyediakan akses internet dan persekitaran pembelajaran maya melalui 1BestariNet di 10,000 sekolah seluruh Malaysia termasuk sekolah-sekolah luar bandar. Pembelajaran Maya (Virtual Learning Environment - VLE) merupakan platform pembelajaran yang menjadi agenda utama terutamanya di sekolah rendah. Secara spesifiknya, platform VLE Frog telah digunakan dalam kalangan guru dan pelajar sekolah rendah. Sehubungan itu, kajian berbentuk tinjauan ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji tahap penggunaan VLE Frog dalam aktiviti Pengajaran dan Pembelajaan (PdP) bagi subjek Reka Bentuk Teknologi (RBT) di sekolah rendah luar bandar. Selain itu, kajian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengkaji masalah utama yang dihadapi oleh guru-guru yang menggunakan VLE Frog di dalam aktiviti PdP. Responden yang terlibat dalam kajian ini adalah seramai 36 guru yang mengajar mata pelajaran RBT di 18 buah sekolah rendah luar bandar di daerah Batu Pahat. Borang soal selidik digunakan sebagai instrumen untuk proses pengumpulan data. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa tahap penggunaan VLE Frog dalam kalang guru yang mengajar mata pelajaran RBT di sekolah luar bandar di Daerah Batu Pahat adalah serdehana. Selain itu, kajian ini juga mengunjukkan bahawa capaian internet merupakan masalah utama yang dihadapi oleh guru RBT semasa menggunakan VLE Frog di sekolah

A Survey on Bottelneck Analysis for Industrial Production

Manufacturing systems have evolved rapidly since their inception and this transformation is expected to continue in a pursuit of optimum utility. A fixed sequence of machine tools connected by an automated material handling system for mass production of a small family of complex parts (several million parts per year). Bottelnecks have several benefits. They require less manpower and space. They ensure low work in progress and lower lead time. Bottelnecks are employed for mass production of a fixed product or a very narrow range of product variants. This paper discuss about different bottleneck balancing problem, process planning and line configuration. For optimize bottleneck is must to be design features of the product are grouped and machining operations are sequenced in an optimal manner. The objective is to find out problem and possible solution on the handling time fraction of the cycle time consisting mainly of orientation change time and tool change time in different bottleneck sequencing, which is used by industrial production

Decomposition of manufacturing processes: a review

YesManufacturing is a global activity that started during the industrial revolution in the late 19th century to cater for the large-scale production of products. Since then, manufacturing has changed tremendously through the innovations of technology, processes, materials, communication and transportation. The major challenge facing manufacturing is to produce more products using less material, less energy and less involvement of labour. To face these challenges, manufacturing companies must have a strategy and competitive priority in order for them to compete in a dynamic market. A review of the literature on the decomposition of manufacturing processes outlines three main processes, namely: high volume, medium volume and low volume. The decomposition shows that each sub process has its own characteristics and depends on the nature of the firm’s business. Two extreme processes are continuous line production (fast extreme) and project shop (slow extreme). Other processes are in between these two extremes of the manufacturing spectrum. Process flow patterns become less complex with cellular, line and continuous flow compared with jobbing and project. The review also indicates that when the product is high variety and low volume, project or functional production is applied.The financial support by the Malaysian Government, Universiti Malaysia Pahang and Bradford University for this research is gratefully acknowledged

Design of a material handling system for the automatic assembly of a shower head

The design of a Material Handling System for the Shower Head assembly is proposed. The working principle of complete automation and individual workstation is presented using I-DEAS software. Alternative equipments and their usage in the automation of the assembly is also proposed. Custom made fixtures, workcarriers, orienters, magazines, part feeders are designed for the assembly. Analysis of design for assembly in terms of cost and efficiency is performed by generating a Coding System Technique

Best matching processes in distributed systems

The growing complexity and dynamic behavior of modern manufacturing and service industries along with competitive and globalized markets have gradually transformed traditional centralized systems into distributed networks of e- (electronic) Systems. Emerging examples include e-Factories, virtual enterprises, smart farms, automated warehouses, and intelligent transportation systems. These (and similar) distributed systems, regardless of context and application, have a property in common: They all involve certain types of interactions (collaborative, competitive, or both) among their distributed individuals—from clusters of passive sensors and machines to complex networks of computers, intelligent robots, humans, and enterprises. Having this common property, such systems may encounter common challenges in terms of suboptimal interactions and thus poor performance, caused by potential mismatch between individuals. For example, mismatched subassembly parts, vehicles—routes, suppliers—retailers, employees—departments, and products—automated guided vehicles—storage locations may lead to low-quality products, congested roads, unstable supply networks, conflicts, and low service level, respectively. This research refers to this problem as best matching, and investigates it as a major design principle of CCT, the Collaborative Control Theory. The original contribution of this research is to elaborate on the fundamentals of best matching in distributed and collaborative systems, by providing general frameworks for (1) Systematic analysis, inclusive taxonomy, analogical and structural comparison between different matching processes; (2) Specification and formulation of problems, and development of algorithms and protocols for best matching; (3) Validation of the models, algorithms, and protocols through extensive numerical experiments and case studies. The first goal is addressed by investigating matching problems in distributed production, manufacturing, supply, and service systems based on a recently developed reference model, the PRISM Taxonomy of Best Matching. Following the second goal, the identified problems are then formulated as mixed-integer programs. Due to the computational complexity of matching problems, various optimization algorithms are developed for solving different problem instances, including modified genetic algorithms, tabu search, and neighbourhood search heuristics. The dynamic and collaborative/competitive behaviors of matching processes in distributed settings are also formulated and examined through various collaboration, best matching, and task administration protocols. In line with the third goal, four case studies are conducted on various manufacturing, supply, and service systems to highlight the impact of best matching on their operational performance, including service level, utilization, stability, and cost-effectiveness, and validate the computational merits of the developed solution methodologies