Quality engineering of a traction alternator by robust design

Robust design is an engineering methodology for improving productivity during research and development so that high-quality products can be developed and produced quickly and at low cost. A large electrical company was developing traction alternators for a diesel electrical engine. Customer requirement was to obtain very high efficiency which, in turn, was influenced by several design parameters. The usual approach of the 'design-build-test' cycle was considered time-consuming and costly; it used to take anywhere from 4 months to 1 year before finalizing the product design parameters as it involved physical assembly and also testing. Instead, the authors used Taguchi's parameter design approach. This approach took about 8 weeks to arrive at optimum design parameter values; clearly demonstrating the cutting edge of this methodology over the traditional design-build-test approach. The prototype built and tested accordingly gave satisfactory overall performance, meeting and even exceeding customer requirements

The use of Ethnography to explore Tourist Satisfaction Antecedents

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights concerning the use of ethnographic techniques to explore the antecedents of tourist satisfaction; otherwise referred to as the needs and expectations which precede tourist satisfaction. By revealing the relevance of both needs and expectations in the tourist satisfaction process, the authors proceed in justifying the use of this approach for such exploration. This is based on a thorough review of the global literature as well as on a prolonged ethnographic study undertaken in Cyprus which aimed to investigate holistically the rural tourist satisfaction process. Based on the results of the study, the authors encourage future researchers in the respective tourism field to adopt and make use of the aforementioned approach for similar investigations.Ethnography, tourist satisfaction, antecedents, needs, expectations

Competitive Priorities and Competitive Advantage in Jordanian Manufacturing

The purpose of this research was to explore and predict the relationship between the competitive priorities (quality, cost, flexibility and delivery) and the competitive advantage of firms in the Jordanian Industrial Sector. A population of 88 Jordanian manufacturing firms, registered on the Amman Stock Exchange, was targeted using a cross-sectional survey employing a questionnaire method of data collection. The results of the data analysis indicate a significant relationship between competitive priorities and competitive advantage. The research suggests that recognising and nurturing this relationship provides the master key for a firm to survive in a turbulent environment. Therefore, operational and marketing strategies should place emphasis on competitive priorities such as quality, cost, flexibility and delivery to achieve, develop and maintain competitive advantage. This study is one of the first to examine the relationship between the competitive priorities of Jordanian manufacturing firms and their competitive advantage

The Quality Management Practices, its Implementation and Total Quality Management: A Review of Literature

In the contemporary period of rivalry, it turns out to be hard for an organization to survive. Clients' needs turned out to be progressively hard to meet. They demand for quicker reaction, better esteem for values, substances or administrations, more item assortments, and expect lower costs, dependable conveyance, and item trustworthiness. Numerous commercial enterprises have stirred because of this marvel to wind up mindful of the need to organize quality as the focused promoting methodology in worldwide business sector. Quality management practices have turned into a management logic and a method for an industry's life that causes in overseeing organizations to enhance its general adequacy and execution towards accomplishing world-class status for as long as two decades. Fruitful usage of aggregate quality management conveys wide advantages and commitments to an industry. A definitive commitment incorporates advancing state of mind, getting successful and effective business arrangements, achieving greatness and fulfilling. Keywords: Quality Management Practices, Implementation and Total Quality Managemen

End User Involvement in the Big Data Based Service Development Process

Even though extant research has addressed end user involvement in the process of Information Systems’ Development within a Smart City environment, it has not done it in its early or Fuzzy Front End phase. Therefore, this paper promotes and describes a concrete big data based service process in which end users and other individual stakeholders are involved since the early phases of development. Researchers used this end user data to define which part of the big data would be opened for developers and citizens in future stages of the projectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Manajemen Layanan Pembelajaran Daring Dengan Jenjang Akreditasi Berbeda di SMPN Kota Bandung Dan Implikasinya Terhadap Prestasi Belajar Siswa

Tujuan penelitian ini untuk melihat Manajemen Layanan Pembelajaran Daring (MLPD) pada sekolah dengan jenjang akreditasi yang berbeda dan implikasinya terhadap prestasi belajar siswa. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kuantitatif yang dilaksanakan di 3 sekolah berbeda sesuai dengan jenjang akreditasinya. MLPD yang diukur adalah MLPD diantaranya adalah tangibilty, reliability, responsiveness, assurance dan empathy. Peneliti memilih SMPN 2 Bandung, sementara mutu sekolah sedang, penulis memilih SMPN 53 Bandung. Adapun sekolah dengan mutu rendah yaitu di SMPN 57 Bandung. Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan cara memberikan angket untuk 5 aspek MLPD yang diteliti dan prestasi belajar. Uji statistik menggunakan uji korelasi product moment untuk melihat hubungan MLPD dengan prestasi belajar. Berdasarkan pengeolahan dan analisis data aspek MLPD yang terdiri dari tangibilty, reliability, responsiveness, assurance dan empathy pada sekolah tinggi, sedang dan rendah berkategori sangat tinggi. Hasil uji analisis diperoleh nilai signifikansi 0,000 dengan demikian dapat disimpulkan bahwa MLPD berpengaruh positif terhadap prestasi belajar siswa dengan kategori kuat

Sustainable Management and Total Quality Management in Public Organizations with Outsourcing

The aim of this paper is to explore how Total Quality Management (TQM) can act as a foundation and key catalyst for developing Sustainable Management and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) within Public Organizations. In the public sector we have too often experienced low quality services, which have generated and perpetuated low expectations. The result has been great dissatisfaction and frustration, but not much action (Gaster, 1995). As any other organization, the Public Organization can apply TQM and thereby accomplish some improvements.CSR is an emerging topic within organizational research and praxis. It has parallels to sustainable development, environmental protection, social equity and economic growth.This paper shows specifically how to incorporate sustainability into a quality system by using a model that shows the relation between investment in quality and the variables fame and reputation. The interest in the nature of the relationship between TQM and CSR is long-standing. The aim of the quality movement is to enable organizations to deliver high quality services in the shortest possible time to market, at minimum cost, and in a manner that emphasises human dignity, work satisfaction, and mutual and long-term loyalty between the organization and its stakeholders. As such, TQM has a strong ethical dimension, advocating the importance of considering the interests of stakeholders (Oppenheim & Przasnyski, 1999). In this paper outsourcing in Public Organizations is considered as an instrument for raising the qualitative level of services and thus for developing CSR. First, the definitions of CSR are discussed. Second, the ethics in quality are described, followed by a discussion on existing quality models with regard to CSR. Third, the relationship between TQM and CSR is considered. We have analyzed the strong similarity between TQM and CSR, and outsourcing analysis is used to illustrate the combined CSR/TQM approach in Public Organizations. Finally, we have highlighted the main factors of resistance to externalization in Public Administrations and how these can be overcome by developing a risk management approach.

The meaning of variation to healthcare managers, clinical and health-services researchers, and individual patients

Healthcare managers, clinical researchers and individual patients (and their physicians) manage variation differently to achieve different ends. First, managers are primarily concerned with the performance of care processes over time. Their time horizon is relatively short, and the improvements they are concerned with are pragmatic and 'holistic.' Their goal is to create processes that are stable and effective. The analytical techniques of statistical process control effectively reflect these concerns. Second, clinical and health-services researchers are interested in the effectiveness of care and the generalisability of findings. They seek to control variation by their study design methods. Their primary question is: 'Does A cause B, everything else being equal?' Consequently, randomised controlled trials and regression models are the research methods of choice. The focus of this reductionist approach is on the 'average patient' in the group being observed rather than the individual patient working with the individual care provider. Third, individual patients are primarily concerned with the nature and quality of their own care and clinical outcomes. They and their care providers are not primarily seeking to generalise beyond the unique individual. We propose that the gold standard for helping individual patients with chronic conditions should be longitudinal factorial design of trials with individual patients. Understanding how these three groups deal differently with variation can help appreciate these three approaches