'Pro' and 'hands-on' approach in business project delivery

The delivery of Business Project module to Applied Engineering & Management students across different programmes is carried over two terms in two years. During this time students are exposed to a variety of subjects and topics covering all aspects of business from basic theoretical principles to real life application including Economics, Entrepreneurship, Product Development, Innovation, Law, Social & Corporate Responsibility, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, etc. The delivery of such a multi-content module by a single person would mean: (i) a stale delivery by-the-book and/or (ii) that the students do not get the best experience in all offered topics. Considering the above and following reflection into enhancing and flavouring students’ experience it was decided to utilise ‘PRO’ approach in delivering Business Project module, which meant that each week the lecture on a specific topic was delivered by a specialist in the field. Additionally, students were expected to obtain ‘HANDS-ON’ experience and become exposed to Group Business Project (GBP), where second year students formed a company and employed first year students, to work collaboratively for a real client and the business project they offered to students. The client would effectively be an external company or organisation, which in many cases was an SME based in Kent or London, and keen to collaborate with local students who potentially can become their interns and employees. Students have found these changes ‘beneficial and encouraging’, lectures ‘much more interesting’ and agreed that GBP is providing them with ‘confidence of securing graduate employment in their area of interest’

An overview of Smart manufacturing for competitive and digital global supply chains

This research study aims to examine and review the key advantages of smart manufacturing to achieve and improve performance within global supply chain environments. In recent years supply chain has been arisen as one of the major areas to gain a competitive edge in manufacturing industries. The current business methodologies of short product life cycle, increased outsourcing, expanding product variety, improved customer focus and improved technologies has led supply chain to be some challenging and complex tasks. Smart Manufacturing has been considered as a successful advancement in industrial revolution featuring resource efficiency, adaptability, agitability with wide application of internet and other innovative engineering technologies integrating of customers and business value processes creating a better manufacturing environment. The research is at its preliminary stages and will aim to examine and evaluate existing literature within the areas of smart and digital manufacturing and compare examples of best practices and methods towards creating a detailed comprehensive and systematic finding of the key research studies. This paper is a literature review which aims to review the benefits of smart manufacturing and its influence to achieve an improved performance in supply chain

Study of energy savings and sustainable practices adoption in telecommunication services

The concerted efforts of keeping up with the environment and mitigating the consequences of climate change should focus more towards reducing carbon oxides and other greenhouse gases emissions within stipulated regulations. One of the ways to achieve this is through adoption of sustainable practices within industries and organisations by encouraging more of energy saving practices and reduction of carbon footprint within all production, commercial and service related functions. Nigeria, an emerging economy nation, is identified with higher emission of greenhouse gases due to downstream gas flaring combined with rapid industrialisation, urbanisation and commercialisation activities. This research paper examines the potential impacts of energy saving within Nigerian telecommunications industry, and highlights how the cell sites base stations within the industry have great challenges and threats towards the climate change from the amount of energy generated and used within the system. The paper conducts a literature study on general energy overview, usage, impacts and concepts towards the benefits of energy saving practices. The overview, concepts and benefits of energy savings and renewable energy technology were also reviewed. Further investigations within the concept of energy saving towards using sustainable methods for addressing the climate change issues was also carried out. The research used a sustainability ranking procedure with both economic and environmental analysis to conduct a sustainability assessment on some identified renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar, geothermal. The result of the analysis of the research was able to come up with about €16.4Billion of potential energy savings cost within the fifteen years of operation if the recommended alternative energy could be used. This sustainability assessment had been conducted towards providing recommendations for more sustainable, suitable, alternative and affordable strategies for replacing or complementing conventional methods of powering telecoms industries in future

Case study analysis of sustainable supply chain redesign linking with new product development

This research seeks to investigate the new product development (NPD) approaches and the supply chain redesign strategies as part of the sustainable development. A systematic approach of literature review will be undertaken in order for effective gathering a set of structured data to act as a basis for the further discussions. The case of Boeing Dreamliner provides with a qualitative research method in order for critical analysis of the main concepts of the research. According to the inclusive Dreamliner’s development programme and the risks and threats associated with supply chain redesign, this paper defines a comprehensive framework in order to minimise the potential failures and delays within the future aircraft development approaches. The paper studies the supply chain redesign of NPD programme within the aircraft industry; therefore, there is a need for other types of industries to be investigated due to their different features and necessities. The systematic review of Dreamliner case provides an opportunity for creating a well-defined framework addressing supply chain sustainability and NPD project management challenges. All the supply chain entities especially within aircraft industries would benefit from the paper results in order to receive the best advantages from NPD practices and global supply chain methods

Bridging new product development with sustainable supply chain management practices

This paper proposes a novel method linking new product development (NPD) strategies and the supply chain management practices considering sustainability approaches. The paper highlights the first stage of research study through current literature and a critical review which are based on a systematic approach by gathering a set of structured data as inputs of research findings. Using a descriptive research method and qualitative analysis, the study involves Boeing Company’s evaluation of Dreamliner development. Given the comprehensive literature regarding the Dreamliner’s development program, its weaknesses and supply chain restructuring risks, the paper establishes coherent strategies and a well-defined framework towards minimising the potential risks associated with the future series of aircraft manufacturing practices. Paper investigates the Dreamliner’s case that only represents aircraft manufacturing industry, whereas the characteristics of other industries might necessitate different approaches. Besides, minimising the environmental impacts of aircraft manufacturing industry, a full life-cycle analysis is required. Effective NPD approaches would be considered by all the businesses desiring to make innovation and alter their supply chain and advanced project management practices in order for their profitability enhancement. The research aims to develop an early understanding of systematic review of Dreamliner’s case towards emerging a clear framework addressing project management and sustainability issues. The paper would be considered by the industrial entities especially Aircraft industries which tends to receive the highest advantages from redesigning their global supply chain adoption methods

An evaluation of demand focused chain contribution to industrial sustainability

Due to variable customer expectations; it is required to highlight the existing gaps in “demand” patterns where the stakeholders observe the end consumers over a focused viewpoint. A systematic critical review is conducted to identify and address the literature gaps in a methodical manner. Given the lack of life-cycle analysis (LCA) in many manufacturing industries, the research presents the use of appropriate strategies for designing new eco-friendly products utilising engineering knowledge and R&D innovation. However, a comprehensive LCA would be carried out in future stages of the research to enable industrial designers to critique the performance and identify the potential environmental impacts associated with the product lifecycle. The research proposes to develop a novel framework for an effective linkage between supply-demand chain approaches and the new product development (NPD) processes considering innovative environmental practices. The results of this study can be utilised by researchers and practitioners researching within similar context

Development of NPD portfolio management in project based environments

This paper focuses towards examining the initial phases of new product development portfolio management supervising set of projects managed by a company. It also explores the selection of the most suitable projects from a series of candidates through a prioritisation criteria based on the available resources, the strategic objectives and the features of each product within the product lifecycle. Utilising a mixed methodology, the research proposes to develop a novel framework named project portfolio management practice (PPMP) within small and mid-sized project-based manufacturing companies, therefore providing a system that helps them increasing their product sales volume by ten-percent and improving the NPD-SCM alignment with PPM. Indeed, more empirical sources should be selected, with the aim of expanding the visions within any given product development environment. This generalisation aims to cover other industries, including manufacturing, service and product based environments to identify the proper measures for any type of project

Case study analysis of sustainable supply chain redesign linking with new product development

This research seeks to investigate the new product development (NPD) approaches and the supply chain redesign strategies as part of the sustainable development. A systematic approach of literature review will be undertaken in order for effective gathering a set of structured data to act as a basis for the further discussions. The case of Boeing Dreamliner provides with a qualitative research method in order for critical analysis of the main concepts of the research. According to the inclusive Dreamliner’s development programme and the risks and threats associated with supply chain redesign, this paper defines a comprehensive framework in order to minimise the potential failures and delays within the future aircraft development approaches. The paper studies the supply chain redesign of NPD programme within the aircraft industry; therefore, there is a need for other types of industries to be investigated due to their different features and necessities. The systematic review of Dreamliner case provides an opportunity for creating a well-defined framework addressing supply chain sustainability and NPD project management challenges. All the supply chain entities especially within aircraft industries would benefit from the paper results in order to receive the best advantages from NPD practices and global supply chain methods

The role of sustainable new product development in demand driven chains

In current global and competitive environments, innovation is considered as a key success factor towards growth and meeting customer demands and expectations within the product development processes. The research paper aims to explore the concept of sustainable new product development practices within demand-driven supply chain environments. It will investigate the early stages of the research study within this domain through the findings from literature focusing on demand chain and new product development and the use of sustainable practices within manufacturing. The researcher’s focus is to further develop the understanding to propose a novel framework of NPD (New Product Development) to DCM (Demand Chain Management) to utilize the research findings. The study has identified the incorporation of NPD-DCM considering all the business ecosystem entities and the flow of information, finances and materials within the supply chain structure. The results of this study can be utilized by researchers and practitioners researching within similar context and environments

An examination of product development approaches within demand driven supply chains

Purpose – Innovation has been considered as the most important factor in today’s global and competitive environments for meeting growth, customer demands and expectations for any product development environment. This research study examines the concepts of sustainable development, its practices and impacts within demand driven supply chain environments. This paper is part of a wider project and within later stages of the study, a novel framework will be developed in order to link new product development (NPD) and demand chain management (DCM) aspects from the analysis of the research findings. Design/methodology/approach – This research has adopted the approach of descriptive method which tends to examine demand chain concept and its evolution through recent years, while having a particular focus into NPD projects. Findings – The paper investigates early study models through key findings of the literature that focuses on demand chain and NPD for the use and implementation of sustainability measures within manufacturing environments. The research study highlights the need for incorporation of NPD-DCM through the entire business ecosystem entities and also through the flow of information, materials and resources within the structure of the supply chain. The study finds out the key hurdles of the companies towards adoption of demand-driven supply chains in NPD environments, such as lack of cross-organisational association and lack of innovative demand chain frameworks. Originality/value – The novelty of the research is to develop an early understanding within demand driven supply chains, considering the product development programmes particularly focused on marketing activities. The study provides future researchers with a platform to undertake studies within similar function of demand driven supply chain environment