48 research outputs found
Multi-performance optimisation framework for the selection of structural alternatives based on sustainable qualities
In recent years, the increasing demand for innovative sustainable policies in building engineering has shifted the decision rationale from traditional performance-based systems towards systems augmented by life-cycle sustainability notions. This paper investigates a novel optimisation framework, which supports the selection of buildings’ structural alternatives at concept stage by applying multiple performance, sustainable requirements. The established model explores ways to effectively compute and process expert knowledge across different stakeholders groups into a consolidated decision-making platform supported by Lean Theory. A systematic procedure based on the Quality Function Deployment is utilised to successfully translate 16 sustainability requirements into 27 corresponding engineering design requirements. The theoretical and mathematical principles of Analytic Network Process are applied on a pilot study to build general decision clusters, identify feedback links amongst the various engineering criteria and determine their inner dependences
Evaluation of websites for biomedical postgraduate courses in Spanish
El objeto de este trabajo es la creación de una herramienta para la evaluación de la calidad de la información contenida en los
sitios web de Postgrado de ámbito biosanitario en las universidades españolas. Se ha diseñado y desarrollado una hoja de
evaluación (checklist) que ha sido validada y aplicada a los 131 sitios web de Postgrado con Mención de Calidad de tema
biosanitario de las universidades españolas. Se han analizado las valoraciones obtenidas por los sitios web y se han aplicado
técnicas de clustering y de análisis de componentes principales. Los datos recogidos por la checklist permiten establecer un
ranking según la calidad de la información de los sitios web. Además, se observa la existencia de tres grandes grupos de sitios
web según sus características y prestaciones. La aplicación de las herramientas diseñadas indica que los sitios web alcanzan valores
aceptables, si bien presentan algunos defectos comunes. No obstante, se constata la existencia de varios niveles de calidad de
los mismos.The aim of this work is to create a tool for assessing the quality of the information on postgraduate course websites at Spanish universities.
An evaluation checklist was developed and applied to the 131 websites of postgraduate biomedical courses with quality accreditation in
Spanish universities. The website evaluations were analysed with the application of clustering and principal component analysis techniques.
While the average of all the sites is ‘acceptable’ there remain some clear weaknesses in aspects such as accessibility, lack of an internal search
engine, or forms - for obtaining the views of current students and lecturers- and evaluation tests - for analysing the results. The tool developed
provides a new instrument for evaluating postgraduate course websites. This evaluation enables website comparison, helps identify their
strengths and weaknesses, and facilitates their improvement
Integration of Internet and web-based tools in new product development process
New product development is considered to be vital for a company's long-term survival. In today's rapidly changing production environments customers are asking for highly customised products with affordable prices. A new production era that is known as mass customisation has already started in many sectors. The customer should become an integral part of the product design process in such an environment. The integration of Internet and web-based tools for customer data collection, communication and data processing is inevitable in order to speed up the production process and cut down the costs. This paper deals with management of product development with focus on synthesising new technology based concepts related to product development, and discusses their use in the various stages of product development process. It also provides guidelines for successfully implementing technology oriented new product development practices with a customisation perspective
A survey on the methods and tools of concurrent new product development and agile manufacturing
Companies in either manufacturing or servicing have to be restructured or re-organized in order to overcome with challenges of the 21st century in which customers are not only satisfied but also delighted. In this competitive environment, organizations should use a flexible, adaptive and responsive paradigm that can be entitled by a unique term: agile manufacturing (AM). An AM system is able to develop a variety of product at low cost and in a short time period. For this, it has some of useful enabling technologies and physical tools. Among these, concurrent engineering (CE) is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of product and their related processes, including manufacture and support. It is then a useful and beneficial approach to reduce the development time and manufacturing cost, while simultaneously improving the quality of a product in order to better respond to the customer expectations. The aim of this study is to underline the synergistic impact of new product development (NPD) and CE, (which can be called CNPD), and to survey their methods and tools in association with the AM