Materials selection for food processing professional appliances

Professional appliances are characterized by an intense use in harsh environments; therefore, they need to communicate, through materials sensorial attributes, robustness and reliability. During their lifetime, professional appliances face specific chemical compatibility problems related to daily contact with food chemicals and detergent compounds compliance, and to misuse practices. These products are developed as tailor-made solutions, designed to satisfy both client needs and usability, even in very specific operative conditions. For this reason, they are developed on one hand through a performance driven technical design process, and on the other through a sensorial oriented materials selection, to improve the user experience with the product. From the Ashby method, the implementation of a flexible materials selection process, able to match sensorial attributes with the real products performances, needs for improvements, due to the highly competitive professional appliances market. The most common design approach in the industrial production of business to business market appliances sees the designer and the engineer as separate figures, which compel respectively to the aesthetical and emotional issues and to the technical and performances requirements. Both these figures operate materials selection with two different perspectives: the lack of communication among the two roles is often due to the different levels of analysis of the process. Electrolux Professional is trying to overcome this limit using an innovative approach, being an appropriate environment to test new solutions. A unique selection method applied to real products, able to couple qualitative and quantitative properties, and to consider both the modification of the technical and chemical properties and the material sensorial perceptions along the products life, can be the driving force of an innovative materials selection approach. The related design process will be then integrated to reach in a unique step a concept that satisfies both the technical performances and the user perception requirements

Developing and applying an integrated modular design methodology within a SME

Modularity within a product can bring advantages to the design process by facilitating enhanced design reuse, reduced lead times, decreased cost and higher levels of quality. While the benefits of modularity are becoming increasingly better known, at present it is usually left to the designers themselves to introduce modularity into products. Studies into modularity have shown that byimplementing 'formal' methods, further benefits can be made in terms of time, cost, quality and performance. Current approaches that have been proposed for the formal development of modular design methodologies fail to accurately represent knowledge that is inherently produced during design projects and fail to consider design from the different viewpoints of the development process. This work, built on previous work on modularity and design for reuse, aims to develop an integrated design methodology that will optimise the modules created through the design process and allow for modularity to be 'built-in' to product development from the initial stages. The methodology andassociated tools have been developed to provide an easy-to-use approach to modularity that has support for design rationales and company knowledge that aid in effective design decision making. The methodology, named GeMoCURE, provides an integrated total solution to modular design based on reuse of proven physical and knowledge modules. Its incremental nature allows for the optimalstructure to be maintained as the design progresses. A special focus has been on the application of this approach for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which are typically challenged by a lack of design human resources and expertise

Physical Properties of Latvian Hemp Fibres

Each year more and more people focus on healthy, ecological and environmental-friendly living. Environmentally friendly lifestyle doesn’t mean that we are using only natural products, but attention is pointed to the manufacturing and production process also. The rapid development of recycled and biodegradable products causes expanding usage of hemp fibers both in household and technical textiles. The analysis of hemp cultivation and usage trends in the world and Europe shows that hemp cultivation and processing in Latvia has good perspectives. Product quality is influenced by raw materials. In this case it is hemp fiber descriptive characteristics. Hemp fibers are natural fibers and their properties varies according to plant growing regional climatic conditions, amount of manure, plant density, harvesting time and pre-treatment technological processes. There are studied the influence of above mentioned factors on chemical composition, geometrical and physical properties of the Latvian hemp fiber both local and foreign cultivars. The work was carried out in cooperation between Riga Technical University, Textile Technology and Design Institute and the Agriculture Science Centre of Latgale

Advancing Alternative Analysis: Integration of Decision Science.

Decision analysis-a systematic approach to solving complex problems-offers tools and frameworks to support decision making that are increasingly being applied to environmental challenges. Alternatives analysis is a method used in regulation and product design to identify, compare, and evaluate the safety and viability of potential substitutes for hazardous chemicals.Assess whether decision science may assist the alternatives analysis decision maker in comparing alternatives across a range of metrics.A workshop was convened that included representatives from government, academia, business, and civil society and included experts in toxicology, decision science, alternatives assessment, engineering, and law and policy. Participants were divided into two groups and prompted with targeted questions. Throughout the workshop, the groups periodically came together in plenary sessions to reflect on other groups' findings.We conclude the further incorporation of decision science into alternatives analysis would advance the ability of companies and regulators to select alternatives to harmful ingredients, and would also advance the science of decision analysis.We advance four recommendations: (1) engaging the systematic development and evaluation of decision approaches and tools; (2) using case studies to advance the integration of decision analysis into alternatives analysis; (3) supporting transdisciplinary research; and (4) supporting education and outreach efforts

Managing in conflict: How actors distribute conflict in an industrial network

IMP researchers have examined conflict as a threat to established business relationships and commercial exchanges, drawing on theories and concepts developed in organization studies. We examine cases of conflict in relationships from the oil and gas industry's service sector, focusing on conflicts of interest and resources, and conflict as experienced by actors. Through a comparative case study design, we propose an explanation of how actors manage conflict and manage in conflict given that they tend to value and maintain relationships beyond episodes of exchange. We consider conflicts in relationships from a network perspective, showing that actors experienced these while adapting to changes in their business setting, modifying their roles in that network. By identifying conflict with the organizing forms of relationship and network, we show how actors formulate conflict through pursuing and combining a number of strategies, distributing the conflict across an enlarged network

Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to the process industry: a review

Purpose : Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is a well-established analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, which has been mainly applied to products. However, recent literature would suggest that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes, and stresses that one of the biggest challenges of this decade in the field of process systems engineering (PSE) is the development of tools for environmental considerations. Method : This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of industrial ecology, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization. Results : The review identifies that LCA is often used as a multi-objective optimization of processes: practitioners use LCA to obtain the inventory and inject the results into the optimization model. It also shows that most of the LCA studies undertaken on process analysis consider the unit processes as black boxes and build the inventory analysis on fixed operating conditions. Conclusions : The article highlights the interest to better assimilate PSE tools with LCA methodology, in order to produce a more detailed analysis. This will allow optimizing the influence of process operating conditions on environmental impacts and including detailed environmental results into process industry

Extrusion-based additive manufacturing of concrete products. Revolutionizing and remodeling the construction industry

Additive manufacturing is one of the main topics of the fourth industrial revolution; defined as Industry 4.0. This technology offers several advantages related to the construction and architectural sectors; such as economic; environmental; social; and engineering benefits. The usage of concrete in additive technologies allows the development of innovative applications and complexity design in the world of construction such as buildings; housing modules; bridges; and urban and domestic furniture elements. The aim of this review was to show in detail a general panoramic of extrusion-based additive processes in the construction sector; the main advantages of using additive manufacturing with the respect to traditional manufacturing; the fundamental requirements of 3D printable material (fresh and hardened properties), and state-of-the-art aesthetic and architectural projects with functional properties