Survey on Additive Manufacturing, Cloud 3D Printing and Services

Cloud Manufacturing (CM) is the concept of using manufacturing resources in a service oriented way over the Internet. Recent developments in Additive Manufacturing (AM) are making it possible to utilise resources ad-hoc as replacement for traditional manufacturing resources in case of spontaneous problems in the established manufacturing processes. In order to be of use in these scenarios the AM resources must adhere to a strict principle of transparency and service composition in adherence to the Cloud Computing (CC) paradigm. With this review we provide an overview over CM, AM and relevant domains as well as present the historical development of scientific research in these fields, starting from 2002. Part of this work is also a meta-review on the domain to further detail its development and structure

In search for classification and selection of spare parts suitable for additive manufacturing: a literature review

This paper reviews the literature on additive manufacturing (AM) technologies and equipment, and spare parts classification criteria to propose a systematic process for selecting spare parts which are suitable for AM. This systematic process identifies criteria that can be used to select spare parts that are suitable for AM. The review found that there is limited research that addresses identifying processes for spare parts selection for AM, even though companies have identified this to be a key challenge in adopting AM. Seven areas for future research are identified relating to the methodology of spare parts selection for AM, processes for cross-functional integration in selecting spare parts for AM, broadening the spare parts portfolio that is suitable for AM (by considering usage of AM in conjunction with conventional technologies), and potential impact of AM on product modularity and integrality

Production Engineering and Management

It is our pleasure to introduce the 8th edition of the International Conference on Production Engineering and anagement (PEM), an event that is the result of the joint effort of the OWL University of Applied Sciences and the University of Trieste. The conference has been established as an annual meeting under the Double Degree Master Program “Production Engineering and Management” by the two partner universities. This year the conference is hosted at the university campus in Lemgo, Germany. The main goal of the conference is to offer students, researchers and professionals in Germany, Italy and abroad, an opportunity to meet and exchange information, discuss experiences, specific practices and technical solutions for planning, design, and management of manufacturing and service systems and processes. As always, the conference is a platform aimed at presenting research projects, introducing young academics to the tradition of symposiums and promoting the exchange of ideas between the industry and the academy. This year’s special focus is on Supply Chain Design and Management in the context of Industry 4.0, which are currently major topics of discussion among experts and professionals. In fact, the features and problems of Industry 4.0 have been widely discussed in the last editions of the PEM conference, in which sustainability and efficiency also emerged as key factors. With the further study and development of Direct Digital Manufacturing technologies in connection with new Management Practices and Supply Chain Designs, the 8th edition of the PEM conference aims to offer new and interesting scientific contributions. The conference program includes 25 speeches organized in seven sessions. Two are specifically dedicated to “Direct Digital Manufacturing in the context of Industry 4.0”. The other sessions are covering areas of great interest and importance to the participants of the conference, which are related to the main focus: “Supply Chai n Design and Management”, “Industrial Engineering and Lean Management”, “Wood Processing Technologies and Furniture Production”, and “Management Practices and Methodologies”. The proceedings of the conference include the articles submitted and accepted after a careful double-blind refereeing process

Pharmaceutical supply chains in Nigeria : a framework for outsourcing outbound value chains

Abstract: Effective patients’ treatment is predicated on availability of high quality medicines access. The outbound segment of pharmaceutical supply chains is critical to achieving this goal. In this study, the pharmaceutical supply chains management in Nigeria with emphasis on the outsourcing of the outbound value chains was investigated. The objectives were to study the extent of outsourcing of outbound value chain activities in the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry, investigate the rationale for outsourcing outbound pharmaceutical value chains in Nigeria, study the critical criteria for a successful selection and outsourcing relationship with 3rd Party Service Providers, identify the desired outcomes of outsourcing outbound pharmaceutical value chains and utilize the study results to develop a framework for outsourcing and improvement of outbound value chain activities in the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry...D.Phil. (Operations Management

Resilience in supplier management in energy industry

Abstract. Currently, there is variation and development need in Finnish companies how prepared and resilient they are against crisis and disruptions. In the energy industry, supply chain resilience (SCRes) is a critical part of strategic management due to its critical role in society and effect on competitiveness. Disruption effects to supply chain (SC) performance are minimized by proactive risk management and ensuring business continuity by different capabilities in buyer company and suppliers. Crisis and disruptions are not completely predictable or preventable and different capabilities ensure fast recovery from disruptions and crisis. The aim of this research is to define how SCRes can be managed and developed by supplier relationship management in the energy industry in Finland. The research consists of a literature review and empirical study implemented as qualitative research using a semi-structured interview. The research target is achieved by research questions defined below: RQ1: How can SCRes be defined in an energy industry context? RQ2: How to manage SCRes? RQ3: What capabilities are critical to be considered to ensure high SCRes in the energy industry in Finland? RQ4: How to improve SCRes in the energy industry in Finland? The key findings indicate that SCRes needs to be continuously assessed and improved by several intra-organizational and inter-organizational collaborative capabilities. Business Continuity Plan needs to be implemented proactively in collaboration with suppliers and other networks. SCRes is managed through the whole SC by systematic and proactive supplier relationship management (SRM). As the research is a wide interview study, the findings of this research can be utilized for other industrial fields by management and improvement of SCRes. It needs to be considered that the findings are subjective as done by one researcher.Alihankkijoiden resilienssiarviointi energiateollisuudessa. Tiivistelmä. Toimitusketjun resilienssi vaihtelee suomalaisissa yrityksissä ja siinä on kehitettävää sen mukaan, miten varautuneita ja kriisinkestäviä yritykset ovat. Energiateollisuudessa toimitusketjun resilienssi on kriittinen osa strategista johtamista yhteiskuntakriittisyyden ja kilpailukyvyn vaikutuksen vuoksi. Häiriöiden vaikutukset toimitusketjuun minimoidaan proaktiivisella riskienhallinnalla ja varmistamalla liiketoiminnan jatkuvuus erilaisilla kyvykkyyksillä. Kriisejä ja häiriöitä ei voida täysin ennustaa tai estää, joten erilaisia kyvykkyydet varmistavat nopean toipumisen kriiseistä. Tämän diplomityön tavoite oli selvittää, miten toimitusketjun resilienssiä voidaan johtaa ja kehittää toimittajasuhteiden hallinnan kautta energiateollisuudessa Suomessa. Tutkimus koostuu kirjallisuuskatsauksesta ja empiirisestä tutkimuksesta, joka on toteutettu laadullisena tutkimuksena puolistrukturoitujen haastatteluiden avulla. Tutkimuksen tavoitteet saavutetaan seuraavilla tutkimuskysymyksillä: TK1: Miten toimitusketjun resilienssi määritellään energiateollisuudessa? TK2: Miten toimitusketjun resilienssiä johdetaan? TK3: Mitkä tekijät ovat kriittisiä toimitusketjun korkean resilienssin varmistamisessa energiateollisuudessa Suomessa? TK4: Miten toimitusketjun resilienssiä voidaan kehittää energiateollisuudessa Suomessa? Keskeisimmät löydökset osoittavat, että toimitusketjun resilienssiä tulee parantaa jatkuvasti yritysten sisäisten kyvykkyyksien ja yritysten välisten, yhteistyöllä vahvistettavien kyvykkyyksien kautta. Liiketoiminnan jatkuvuussuunnitelma otetaan käyttöön proaktiivisesti yhteistyössä toimittajien ja muiden sidosryhmien kanssa. Toimitusketjun resilienssiä johdetaan koko toimitusketjun matkalla systemaattisen ja proaktiivisen toimittajahallinnan kautta. Koska kyseessä on laaja haastattelututkimus, löydöksiä voidaan soveltaa myös muille teollisuuden aloille toimitusketjun resilienssin johtamiseen ja kehittämiseen. On otettava huomioon, että löydökset ovat subjektiivisia yhden tutkijan tekemiä löydöksiä

Network Slicing

Network slicing is emerging as a key enabling technology to support new service needs, business cases, and the evolution of programmable networking. As an end-to-end concept involving network functions in different domains and administrations, network slicing calls for new standardization efforts, design methodologies, and deployment strategies. This chapter aims at addressing the main aspects of network slicing with relevant challenges and practical solutions

Development of an additive manufacturing decision support system (AMDSS)

PhD ThesisAdditive manufacturing (AM) technology describes a set of processes capable of producing 3D physical products from CAD data directly. The rapid development of AM technologies and their wide applications makes the selection of the suitable process chains and materials a difficult task. Some researchers have tackled this problem by developing selectors that should assist users in their selections. The existing selector systems have some drawbacks: (і) often being outdated even before they were completely developed because new processes and materials are evolving continuously, (іі) representing only the point of view of their developers because users were not involved in the development process and (iii) not being holistic and able to help in all AM aspects for example process chains, materials, finishing methods and machines. This work has developed an updatable decision support system that assists users in their selections regarding AM process chains, materials, finishing methods, and machines. First, the study started by analyzing the available additive manufacturing selector systems and identifying their shortcomings. Secondly, the researcher identified target specifications for the new system, investigated different possible architectures for the system, selected knowledge based system (KBS) and database (DB) architecture to work together as a versatile tool that achieves the required target specifications. Next, the first version of the system was developed. Furthermore, verification and validation processes were made to test the developed system. Three case studies were used for the validation purpose: a typical consumer razor blade and two automotive components. These case studies were manufactured using AM technologies and then a comparison between real life decisions and the developed decision support system decisions were made. In addition, a number of interviews were performed in order to obtain users’ feedback about the first developed version. As a result of the feedback and evaluation a second version of the system was developed and evaluated. The results obtained from the second evaluation suggest that the second version is more effective than the first version during the selection process. To conclude, this study has shown that using KBS and DB together is effective to develop an updatable additive manufacturing decision support system. In addition, the user involvement in the development stage of the system enhances the system performance.The Arab Academy for Science & Technology & Maritime Transport

The 1st Advanced Manufacturing Student Conference (AMSC21) Chemnitz, Germany 15–16 July 2021

The Advanced Manufacturing Student Conference (AMSC) represents an educational format designed to foster the acquisition and application of skills related to Research Methods in Engineering Sciences. Participating students are required to write and submit a conference paper and are given the opportunity to present their findings at the conference. The AMSC provides a tremendous opportunity for participants to practice critical skills associated with scientific publication. Conference Proceedings of the conference will benefit readers by providing updates on critical topics and recent progress in the advanced manufacturing engineering and technologies and, at the same time, will aid the transfer of valuable knowledge to the next generation of academics and practitioners. *** The first AMSC Conference Proceeding (AMSC21) addressed the following topics: Advances in “classical” Manufacturing Technologies, Technology and Application of Additive Manufacturing, Digitalization of Industrial Production (Industry 4.0), Advances in the field of Cyber-Physical Systems, Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies throughout the entire product Life Cycle, Human-machine-environment interaction and Management and life cycle assessment.:- Advances in “classical” Manufacturing Technologies - Technology and Application of Additive Manufacturing - Digitalization of Industrial Production (Industry 4.0) - Advances in the field of Cyber-Physical Systems - Virtual and Augmented Reality Technologies throughout the entire product Life Cycle - Human-machine-environment interaction - Management and life cycle assessmen

Generic Methods for Adaptive Management of Service Level Agreements in Cloud Computing

The adoption of cloud computing to build and deliver application services has been nothing less than phenomenal. Service oriented systems are being built using disparate sources composed of web services, replicable datastores, messaging, monitoring and analytics functions and more. Clouds augment these systems with advanced features such as high availability, customer affinity and autoscaling on a fair pay-per-use cost model. The challenge lies in using the utility paradigm of cloud beyond its current exploit. Major trends show that multi-domain synergies are creating added-value service propositions. This raises two questions on autonomic behaviors, which are specifically ad- dressed by this thesis. The first question deals with mechanism design that brings the customer and provider(s) together in the procurement process. The purpose is that considering customer requirements for quality of service and other non functional properties, service dependencies need to be efficiently resolved and legally stipulated. The second question deals with effective management of cloud infrastructures such that commitments to customers are fulfilled and the infrastructure is optimally operated in accordance with provider policies. This thesis finds motivation in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to answer these questions. The role of SLAs is explored as instruments to build and maintain trust in an economy where services are increasingly interdependent. The thesis takes a wholesome approach and develops generic methods to automate SLA lifecycle management, by identifying and solving relevant research problems. The methods afford adaptiveness in changing business landscape and can be localized through policy based controls. A thematic vision that emerges from this work is that business models, services and the delivery technology are in- dependent concepts that can be finely knitted together by SLAs. Experimental evaluations support the message of this thesis, that exploiting SLAs as foundations for market innovation and infrastructure governance indeed holds win-win opportunities for both cloud customers and cloud providers