Innovative teaching methods in Engineering

[EN] Engineering and innovation are inseparable concepts [1]. This symbiotic relationship is shown in engineers’ workplaces, in engineering research and development processes but also is present in engineers’ education methods

Measuring and Querying Process Performance in Supply Chains: An Approach for Mining Big-Data Cloud Storages

AbstractSurvival in today's global environment means continuously improving processes, identifying and eliminating inefficiencies wherever they occur. With so many companies operating as part or all of complex distributed supply chain, gathering, collating and analyzing the necessary data to identify such improvement opportunities is extremely complex and costly. Although few solutions exist to correlate the data, it continues to be generated in vast quantities, rendering the use of highly scalable, cloud-based solutions for process analysis a necessity. In this paper we present an overview of an analytical framework for business activity monitoring and analysis, which has been realized using extremely scalable, cloud-based technologies. It provides a low-latency solution for entire supply chains or individual nodes in such chains to query process data stores in order to deliver business insight. A custom query language has been implemented which allows business analysts to design custom queries on processes and activities based on a standard set of process metrics. Ongoing developments are focused on testing and improving the scalability and latency of the system, as well as extending the query engine to increase its flexibility and performance

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is finally a common sense term. Nowadays almost everyone knows that using energy more efficiently saves money, reduces the emissions of greenhouse gasses and lowers dependence on imported fossil fuels. We are living in a fossil age at the peak of its strength. Competition for securing resources for fuelling economic development is increasing, price of fuels will increase while availability of would gradually decline. Small nations will be first to suffer if caught unprepared in the midst of the struggle for resources among the large players. Here it is where energy efficiency has a potential to lead toward the natural next step - transition away from imported fossil fuels! Someone said that the only thing more harmful then fossil fuel is fossilized thinking. It is our sincere hope that some of chapters in this book will influence you to take a fresh look at the transition to low carbon economy and the role that energy efficiency can play in that process

Methods and Models for Industrial Internet of Things-based Business Process Improvement

Over the last three decades, the Internet of Things (IoT) has gained significant importance and has been implemented in many private, public, and business contexts. Leveraging and combining the IoT's capabilities enables far-reaching transformations and disruptive innovations that are increasingly recognized, especially by industrial organizations. In this regard, the Industrial IoT (IIoT) paradigm has emerged, describing the use of IIoT technology in the industrial domain. One key use of the IIoT is the incremental or radical improvement of business processes. This goal-oriented change of business processes with IIoT technology to accomplish organizational goals more effectively is called IIoT-based Business Process Improvement (BPI). Many use cases demonstrate the benefits of IIoT-based BPI for all types of industrial organizations. However, the interconnection between IIoT and BPI lacks theoretical knowledge and applicable artifacts that support practitioners. Moreover, a significant number of related projects fail or do not achieve the anticipated benefits. This issue has drawn attention in recent scholarly literature, which calls for further research. The dissertation at hand approaches this research gap by extending and advancing existing knowledge and providing valuable contributions to managerial practice. Three critical challenges for conducting IIoT-based BPI projects are addressed in particular: First, the essential characteristics of IIoT-based BPI applications are explored. This enables their classification and a foundational comprehension of the research field. Second, the required capabilities to leverage IIoT for BPI are identified. On this basis, industrial organizations can assess their maturity and readiness for implementing corresponding applications. Third, the identification, specification, and selection of appropriate applications are addressed. These activities enable the successful practical execution of IIoT projects with BPI potential