Applying refined kano model to classify and rank customer requirements, case study: automotive industry in Portugal

Companies aim to increase the quality of products and competitiveness to gain and retain more customers. This study proposes a novel approach to identifying and prioritizing customer requirements (CRs) to improve black uniformity as a characteristic that refers to luminance differences on the surface of a display by evaluating the CRs. The refined Kano model was applied to find the significant CRs to develop the product. Firstly, 112 CRs were identified in 5 main categories (1) technical, (2) quality, (3) delivery, (4) sustainability, and (5) cost. Then, the refined Kano questionnaire was designed to categorize the CRs. An example is performed to validate the method on the automotive display' CRs. The findings showed that mechanical and delivery needs are critical CRs. Today, climate change is a significant challenge and a severe customer concern. Although sustainability's CRs not classed as essential items in the production process, suppliers must be diligent in providing them. The results help to improve the automotive industry and other production systems.This work was supported by National Funds through FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology), and the first author acknowledges the grant PD/BDE/143092/2018 provided by FCT. Also, this work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope: UIDB/00319/202

Accelerating the deployment of Solid State Lighting (SSL) in Europe

Solid State Lighting, in particular the use of LEDs and OLEDs for general lighting, is a promising technology with high growth potential in Europe. The path for the development of SSL in Europe is sketched out in the Green Paper on SSL of the European Commission. The current study supports the direction taken in the green paper towards deployment of SSL. This paper sketches the lighting consumptions and various applications of SSL, from fully-mature applications till the general lighting sector when mass adoption is expected from 2015, first in the retrofit market then in the new lighting fixtures and luminaires. It focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the European market for SSL. Distinction can be made between the outdoor lighting sector, where LEDs are more present, and indoor lighting, where the growth rate is still low. The LED industry is rather fragmented. It is usually divided into five segments: materials, equipment, finished lamps and components, luminaires and systems, and finally lighting services and solutions. One of the vulnerability areas is the fact Europe is dependent from China for a variety of semiconductor materials, including various rare earth elements (REE), that are used in the production of LEDs. The European manufacturing base is strong in the downstream segments of the value chain close to the application (40%) but it is weaker in the upstream segments (LED packaging, chips, wafers). Product design and marketing and sales are managed in Europe whereas product manufacturing takes place in Asia. R&D takes place mainly in Japan, the US and Europe. Through patent cross-licensing however the research base becomes broader, including China, Taiwan and South Korea. Europe is suffering from fragmented funding. Asian countries have a high budget for R&D. LED commercialisation channels might face a reshuffle, in particular when the industry will be moving to lighting services. For LEDs to penetrate the market more, end-user information and training, as well as training for installers, would be necessary. LED is still a costly product, in particular in the general lighting segment where alternatives remain cheaper. The price needed for mass adoption has not yet been reached. It is estimated that a price of $8 would allow a 25% market share for LEDs. In Europe, a price of €10 would allow to reach, after some time, a 50% market share for LEDs versus 50% for CFLs in the residential sector. It is to be noted that the price for LED bulbs differs from one country to another, e.g. LED bulbs are cheaper in Japan than they are in the US or Europe. Despite the potential of SSL for energy efficiency and also better lighting, many obstacles to its development remain. Cost and consequently payback time are not yet in the advantage of LED-based general illumination, compared to conventional lighting technologies. Quality is an issue, particularly in the absence of standards, both for testing and for final products. Luminous efficacy and lifetime can still be improved. Last but not least, educational barriers remain, that could be overcome by training of all players in the market, from the designer to the user. As far as the environment is concerned, LEDs do not contain mercury. Life cycle analysis seems to be quite favourable for SSL but further research into environment and health benefits will be required to confirm this. Some of the obstacles to mass adoption in the general lighting segment will disappear as technology evolves to cheaper products with better light quality. But price and energy efficiency might not be the only selling elements for LEDs. Innovation might be an important asset when designing new lighting products. Further legislation and policy initiatives addressing SSL will need to be designed in such a way to reinforce Europe's strategic strengths in the lighting sector, as proposed in the Green paper on SSL of the European Commission.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Integration of resource efficiency and waste management criteria in European product policies – Second phase. Report n° 2: Application of the project’s methods to three product groups

Analysis of new product groups : The report applies the project’s methodologies to some exemplary products in order to test their applicability, their relevance and usefulness at the product level and to draw some recommendations at the methodological level. The outcomes from the application of the methodologies have been used to identify and assess potentially relevant ecodesign requirements for three case-study product: imaging equipments, washing machines, LCD-TV.JRC.H.8-Sustainability Assessmen

A triage approach to streamline environmental footprinting : a case study for liquid crystal displays

Thesis (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2011.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 64-69).Quantitative environmental performance evaluation methods are desired given the growing certification and labeling landscape for consumer goods. Challenges associated with existing methods, such as life cycle assessment (LCA), may be prohibitive for complex goods such as information technology (IT). Conventional LCA is resource-intensive and lacks harmonized guidance for incorporating uncertainty. Current methods to streamline LCA may amplify uncertainty, undermining robustness. Despite high uncertainty, effective and efficient streamlining approaches may be possible. A methodology is proposed to identify high-impact activities within the life cycle of a specific product class for a streamlined assessment with a high degree of inherent uncertainty. First, a screening assessment is performed using Monte Carlo simulations, applying existing activity (materials and processes), impact, and uncertainty data, to identify elements with the most leverage to reduce overall environmental impact uncertainty. This data triage is informed by sensitivity analysis parameters produced by the simulations. Targeted data collection is carried out for key activities until overall uncertainty is reduced to the point where a product classes' impact probability distribution is distinct from others within a specified error rate. In this thesis, we find that triage and prioritization are possible despite high uncertainty. The methodology was applied to the case study of liquid crystal display (LCD) classes, producing a clear hierarchy of data importance to reduce uncertainty of the overall impact result. Specific data collection was only required for a subset of processes and activities (22 out of about 50) to enable discrimination of LCDs with a low error rate (9%). Most of these priority activities relate to manufacturing and use phases. The number of priority activities targeted may be balanced with the level to which they are able to be specified. It was found that ostensible product attributes alone are insufficient to discriminate with low error, even at high levels of specificity. This quantitative streamlining method is ideal for complex products for which there is great uncertainty in data collection and modeling. This application of this method may inform early product design decisions and enable harmonization of standardization efforts.by Melissa Lee Zgola.S.M.in Technology and Polic

Critical Raw Materials and the Circular Economy – Background report

This report is a background document used by several European Commission services to prepare the EC report on critical raw materials and the circular economy, a commitment of the European Commission made in its Communication ‘EU action plan for the Circular Economy’. It represents a JRC contribution to the Raw Material Initiative and to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. It combines the results of several research programmes and activities of the JRC on critical raw materials in a context of circular economy, for which a large team has contributed in terms of data and knowledge developments. Circular use of critical raw materials in the EU is analysed, also taking a sectorial perspective. The following sectors are analysed in more detail: mining waste, landfills, electric and electronic equipment, batteries, automotive, renewable energy, defence and chemicals and fertilisers. Conclusions and opportunities for further work are also presented.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Integrated Waste Management

This book reports research on policy and legal issues, anaerobic digestion of solid waste under processing aspects, industrial waste, application of GIS and LCA in waste management, and a couple of research papers relating to leachate and odour management

Introduction

This book investigates restructuring in the electronics industry and in particular the impact of a \u2018Chinese\u2019 labour regime on work and employ - ment practices in electronics assembly in Europe.1 Electronics is an extremely dynamic sector, characterized by an ever-changing organi - zational structure, as well as cut-throat competition, particularly in manufacturing. Located primarily in East Asia, electronics assembly has become notorious for poor working conditions, low unionisation and authoritarian labour relations. However, hostile labour relations and topdown HR policies are not unique to East Asia. They have become associated with the way the sector is governed more broadly, with a number of Western companies also coming to rely on such practices

Critical raw materials and the circular economy

This report is a background document used by several European Commission services to prepare the EC report on critical raw materials and the circular economy, a commitment of the European Commission made in its Communication ‘EU action plan for the Circular Economy’. It represents a JRC contribution to the Raw Material Initiative and to the EU Circular Economy Action Plan. It combines the results of several research programmes and activities of the JRC on critical raw materials in a context of circular economy, for which a large team has contributed in terms of data and knowledge developments. Circular use of critical raw materials in the EU is analysed, also taking a sectorial perspective. The following sectors are analysed in more detail: extractive waste, landfills, electric and electronic equipment, batteries, automotive, renewable energy, defence and chemicals and fertilisers. Conclusions and opportunities for further work are also presented

The case of Foxconn in Turkey: benefiting from free labour and anti-union policy

Starting from the 2000s Foxconn invested in Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia and Turkey, implementing a territorial diversification strategy aimed at getting nearer to its end markets. This chapter investigates the development of Foxconn in Turkey where the multinational owns a plant with about 400 workers. A few kilometres from the city of \uc7orlu and close to highways, ports and international airports, the plant enables Foxconn to implement an efficient global supply chain. We illustrate this process by examining the company\u2019s localisation within a special economic zone, underlining the economic advantages derived from such a tax regime, bringing labour costs down to the Chinese level and obtaining proximity to European, North African and Middle East customers, thus lowering logistic costs. We also analyse the roles of labour flexibility and trade unions. In order to impose far-reaching flexibility on its workers Foxconn put in place a range of strategies, including an hours bank system, multitask operators and the recruitment of apprentices thanks a special programme funded by the state. We show how these have been crucial for Foxconn\u2019s just-in-time production contrasting its labour turnover problem. Finally, we highlight how the company has been able to implement a flexible working pattern, weaken the trade unions and undercut workers\u2019 opposition, thanks to favourable labour laws approved by successive governments in the past thirty years