Prioritization of hazards by means of a QFD-based procedure

Despite the evolution of regulations in the field of occupational health and safety promoted in EU countries, the number of accidents and victims has not significantly decreased in recent years, especially in constructions and agriculture sectors, as underlined by official reports of the Italian Workers' Compensation Authority. Main reasons of such a situation are due to the characteristics of working activities in these sectors. The variety of operations, the frequent exchange of tasks among workers within the same company, the continuous change of workplaces, the frequent exchange of workers for the same activity (e.g. seasonal workers), and the workers’ stress caused by seasonal jobs. For these reasons both risk assessment and safety management activities result in being more difficult than in other working sectors. Thus, it is important to provide methodologies and tools that allow companies to carry out these tasks more effectively. In such a context, the study proposed by Esra Bas in 2014 certainly represents an attempt to provide a supporting methodology for engineers engaged in risk assessment activities. This approach consists in the use of the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method, and it is aimed at evaluating how specific tasks can be in relationship with specific hazards, which in turn are related to specific events, and finally at defining what preventive/protective measures can be introduced against those events. Based on this, we tried to further investigate such an approach, with the goal of providing an easier-to-use tool, which can be used in risk assessment activities of critical contexts as the agriculture one. With this aim in mind, a case study concerning the risk assessment of an agricultural machinery was carried out

Future Digital Workplace - Developing a Tool for the Hardware Selection of Knowledge Workers

In the recent past, researchers have conducted investigations with different implications for the design of the future digital workplace. Several researchers advocate user autonomy regarding the selection of the workplace hardware. Other scholars advise enterprises to keep governance in terms of knowledge workers hardware selection. Because of that, companies are in a conflict: On the one hand they want to allow their knowledge workers more independence and autonomy regarding the selection and deployment of hardware. On the other hand they want to keep a minimum of governance within the hardware selection process. In our ongoing research project we are following the Design Science Research Methodology in order to develop and design a need-based configurator prototype for the selection of knowledge worker’s workplace hardware. The configurator shall serve as a solution for the conflict described above and consider the interests of employees and employers

A state-of-art survey on TQM applications using MCDM techniques

In today’s competitive economy, quality plays an essential role for the success business units and there are considerable efforts made to control and to improve quality characteristics in order to satisfy customers’ requirements. However, improving quality is normally involved with various criteria and we need to use Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) to handle such cases. In this state-of the-art literature survey, 45 articles focused on solving quality problems by MCDM methods are investigated. These articles were published between 1994 and 2013.Seven areas were selected for categorization: (1) AHP, Fuzzy AHP, ANP and Fuzzy ANP, (2) DEMATEL and Fuzzy DEMATEL, (3) GRA, (4) Vikor and Fuzzy Vikor, (5) TOPSIS, Fuzzy TOPSIS and combination of TOPSIS and AHP, (6) Fuzzy and (7) Less frequent and hybrid procedures. According to our survey, Fuzzy based methods were the most popular technique with about 40% usage among procedures. Also AHP and ANP were almost 20% of functional methods. This survey ends with giving recommendation for future researches

Rancang Bangun Pengering Buah Pinang Otomatis Menggunakan Pendekatan Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

The processing of dried betel nut by the people of West Kalimantan consists of 2 stages, namely drying and stripping the betel nut. The drying process usually carried out by farmers is drying directly in the sun, and the smoking process uses fire to heat. The method of drying the areca nuts takes about 14-15 days. This study will examine the problems faced by farmers in the process of drying areca nuts. Based on the issue of drying areca nuts, it is necessary to have an alternative method of drying that is more efficient. Areca nut drying machine is an alternative to obtain dried betel nut relatively quickly with well-maintained fruit quality. The design of the areca nut drying machine is made based on the identification of farmers' needs. Identifying farmers' needs or desires will be an attribute of product development, and technical parameters are determined to meet these product attributes. The method that will be used is the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. The study results that priority attributes must be completed based on calculations in the planning matrix using QFD. The design of the areca nut has dimensions of 260 mm x 490 mm, with the specifications of the tool consisting of two main parts, namely an inner filter (a place for betel nuts) and a betel nut dryer.Proses pengolahan buah pinang kering yang dilakukan masyarakat Kalimantan Barat terdiri dari 2 tahap yakni pengeringan dan pengupasan biji pinang. Proses pengeringan yang biasa dilakukan oleh petani adalah dengan cara penjemuran langsung di bawah sinar matahari dan proses pengasapan menggunakan panas api. Proses penjemuran buah pinang membutuhkan waku sekitar 14-15 hari. Penelitian ini akan mengkaji permasalahan yang dihadapi oleh petani pada proses pengeringan buah pinang. Berdasarkan permasalahan pengeringan buah pinang, maka perlu adanya alternatif cara pengeringan yang lebih efisien. Mesin pengering buah pinang merupakan salah satu alternatif pengeringan buah pinang untuk memperoleh buah pinang kering dalam waktu yang relatif singkat dengan kualitas buah yang terjaga dengan baik. Rancang bangun mesin pengering pinang dibuat berdasarkan identifikasi kebutuhan petani. Identifikasi kebutuhan atau keinginan petani akan menjadi atribut pengembangan produk dan ditentukan parameter teknis untuk memenuhi atribut produk tersebut. Metode yang akan digunakan adalah dengan metode quality function deployment (QFD). Hasil penelitian diperoleh urutan atribut prioritas yang harus dipenuhi berdasarkan perhitungan pada matriks perencanaan dengan menggunakan QFD. Rancang bangun alat pinang yang dihasilkan memiliki dimensi  260 mm x 490 mm dengan spesifikasi alat yang terdiri dari dua bagian utama yakni saringan dalam (tempat biji pinang)  dan pengering buah pinang.

Design of Automatic Areca Fruit Dryer Using Quality Function Deployment (QFD) Approach

The processing of dried betel nut by the people of West Kalimantan consists of 2 stages, namely drying and stripping the betel nut. The drying process usually carried out by farmers is drying directly in the sun, and the smoking process uses fire to heat. The method of drying the areca nuts takes about 14-15 days. This study will examine the problems faced by farmers in the process of drying areca nuts. Based on the issue of drying areca nuts, it is necessary to have an alternative method of drying that is more efficient. Areca nut drying machine is an alternative to obtain dried betel nut relatively quickly with well-maintained fruit quality. The design of the areca nut drying machine is made based on the identification of farmers' needs. Identifying farmers' needs or desires will be an attribute of product development, and technical parameters are determined to meet these product attributes. The method that will be used is the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method. The study results that priority attributes must be completed based on calculations in the planning matrix using QFD. The design of the areca nut has dimensions of 260 mm x 490 mm, with the specifications of the tool consisting of two main parts, namely an inner filter (a place for betel nuts) and a betel nut dryer

Proposal of a systemic and integrated framework to support new product

New product development (NPD) is crucial for the existence of firms, as a source of competitive advantage and a determinant factor of business success. Several factors, both operational and corporate or even strategic, contribute to the process of innovation that supports the NPD. The holistic assessment of all these factors, taken together, has not been subject of research leading to the proposal of an integrated and systemic framework. Thus, this paper aims to propose a comprehensive framework, which integrates the strategic, organizational and procedural levels, as well as the set of factos to take into account in NPD projects problems to be solved with innovative solutions. Based on literature review, a comprehensive and integrated conceptual framework is obtained through a deductive-inductive pathway. The framework was referred as “Systemic and Integrated Framework of NPD” - SIFNPD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of Methodological Presumptions for Optimisation of Marketing Programmes

The analysis focuses on researches on optimisation of marketing programmes conducted over the last decade. On one hand, methods and models suggested by the researchers as well as results obtained by experimental modelling do not comply with contemporary marketing needs and therefore can hardly be used in practice. On the other hand, they are treated as a significant basis for the development of methodological research. Given the results of the analysis, the systemic guidelines were designed. The guidelines were concretised according to specifications based on three models required for marketing programme optimisation. The presentation of the specifications is based on fundamental determinants for the content and composition of models, which are as follow: practice requirements, existing methodological assumptions and methods for applied decision

PROPOSAL FOR A COMPREHENSIVE AND INTEGRATED MODEL OF SUPPORT FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW PRODUCTS

The development of new products (NPD) is crucial for the existence of companies, source of competitive advantage and determinant of their business success. Several factors, both operational and organizational or even strategic, contribute to the innovation process that supports NPD. The holistic assessment of all these factors as a whole has not been the subject of research leading to the proposal for an integrated and systemic model. In this way, this article aims to propose a comprehensive conceptual model that integrates the strategic, organizational and procedural levels, as well as the set of factors to be taken into account in NPD projects. Based on the literature review, a comprehensive and integrated conceptual model of NPD support (MAIDNP) is deductive-inductive. This model can therefore be a tool for evaluating processes, projects and products, dedicated to companies that innovate, design and develop new products