25 research outputs found
Set-Based Concurrent Engineering Model for Automotive Electronic/Software Systems Development
Organised by: Cranfield UniversityThis paper is presenting a proposal of a novel approach to automotive electronic/software systems
development. It is based on the combination of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering, a Toyota approach to
product development, with the standard V-Model of software development. Automotive industry currently
faces the problem of growing complexity of electronic/software systems. This issue is especially visible at
the level of integration of these systems which is difficult and error-prone. The presented conceptual
proposal is to establish better processes that could handle the electronic/software systems design and
development in a more integrated and consistent manner.Mori Seiki â The Machine Tool Compan
A3 thinking approach to support knowledge-driven design
Problem solving is a crucial skill in product development. Any lack of effective decision making at an early design stage will affect productivity and increase costs and the lead time for the other stages of the product development life cycle. This could be improved by the use of a simple and informative approach which allows the designers and engineers to make decisions in product design by providing useful knowledge. This paper presents a novel A3 thinking approach to problem solving in product design, and provides a new A3 template which is structured from a combination of customised elements (e.g. the 8 Disciplines approach) and reflection practice. This approach was validated using a case study in the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) design issue for an automotive electrical sub-assembly product. The main advantage of the developed approach is to create and capture the useful knowledge in a simple manner. Moreover, the approach provides a reflection section allowing the designers to turn their experience of design problem solving into proper learning and to represent their understanding of the design solution. These will be systematically structured (e.g. as a design checklist) to be circulated and shared as a reference for future design projects. Thus, the recurrence of similar design problems will be prevented and will aid the designers in adopting the expected EMC test results
Identifying factors influencing the leadership performance of Saudi's healthcare sector
The purpose of this article is to identify the aspects that relate to performance level; including enablers and inhibitors that influence leadership performance in the healthcare sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A grounded research methodology and an action research approach that was âissue focusedâ were used to gain the perceptions of the participants from the organisational culture as empirical data. The overall trends observed in the collected data emphasize the important role of culture in shaping performance level. In addition, the domination of factors related to the national culture and Islamic values has appeared the greatest factor affecting leaders' decisions; it also forms their relations with subordinates as well as their commitment to the organization. Viewed through this study, the effect of culture aspects on the performance level in this important sector can be understood and new and integrated solutions to overcome potential negative outcomes. Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further. The paper discusses the implications of the study findings for healthcare sector managers in different levels. This paper fulfils an identified need to study how culture can influence workforce practices in healthcare organizations and to what extent can that affect the quality of services delivered to the patients
Towards the ontology-based consolidation of production-centric standards
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the International Journal of Production Research [© Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207543.2011.627885.Production-Âcentric
international
standards
are
intended
to
serve
as
an
important
route
towards
information
sharing
across
manufacturing
decision
support
systems.
As
a
consequence
of
textual-Âbased
definitions
of
concepts
acknowledged
within
these
standards,
their
inability
to
fully
interoperate
becomes
an
issue
especially
since
a
multitude
of
standards
are
required
to
cover
the
needs
of
extensive
domains
such
as
manufacturing
industries.
To
help
reinforce
the
current
understanding
to
support
the
consolidation
of
production-Âcentric
standards
for
improved
information
sharing,
this
article
explores
the
specification
of
well-defined
core
concepts
which
can
be
used
as
a
basis
for
capturing
tailored
semantic
definitions.
The
potentials
of
two
heavyweight
ontological
approaches,
notably
Common
Logic
(CL)
and
the
Web
Ontology
Language
(OWL)
as
candidates
for
the
task,
are
also
exposed.
An
important
finding
regarding
these
two
methods
is
that
while
an
OWL-Âbased
approach
shows
capabilities
towards
applications
which
may
require
flexible
hierarchies
of
concepts,
a
CL-Âbased
method
represents
a
favoured
contender
for
scoped
and
facts-Âdriven
manufacturing
applications
Knowledge based environment to support product design validation
A knowledge-based environment to support product design validation of refresh projects (projects with minor changes in comparison with previous ones) has been developed. This was achieved by capturing the relation between the design change of refresh projects with their required physical tests and the historical data of previous projects. The refresh projects constitute the majority, around 60%, of the total number of projects in the collaborating company. The knowledge-based environment framework (Knowledge-Based Environment to Support Product Design Validation - KBE-ProVal) has been implemented on the Product Lifecycle Management Platform, called Teamcenter. The KBE-ProVal development was based on the standardisation of the existing related documents while maintaining the traceability of the decision making process. This implementation will avoid repeating unnecessary and costly physical product tests, thus reducing time and costs for these refresh project