Supply Lead Time Uncertainty in a Sustainable Order Quantity Inventory Model

Abstract Transport plays a key role in inventory management since it affects logistic costs as well as environmental performance of the supply chain. Expected value and variability of supply lead time depend on the transportation means adopted, and influence the optimal values of order quantity, reorder level, and safety stock to be adopted. Fast transportation means allow reducing expected value of the lead time; they are characterized by the highest costs of externalities (i.e. air pollutant emission, noise, congestion, accidents). On the contrary, slow transportation means require high inventory level due to large order quantity; in this case costs of externalities tend to decrease. The Sustainable Order Quantity (SOQ) [1] allows identifying optimal order quantity, reorder level, safety stock as well as transportation means which minimize the sum of the logistic and environmental costs in case of stochastic variability of product demand. In this paper, the authors propose a new SOQ analytical model considering stochastic variability of supply lead time (LT). A solution procedure is suggested for solving the proposed model. The approach is applied to a real industrial case study in order to evaluate the benefits of applying it if compared with the traditional one

A Control Strategy for Smart Energy Charging of Warehouse Material Handling Equipment

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An analytical framework for assessing cognitive capacity and processing speed of operators in industry 4.0

Abstract The fourth industrial revolution introduced a new paradigm in manufacturing systems. The digital network is at the basis of the smart manufacturing and the physical context is strictly related to the artificial intelligence. This new manufacturing context drastically changed the role of the operator since the increasing adoption of innovative devices in manufacturing process modified the work activities and the operator is employed in more cognitive than physical tasks. Therefore, the purpose of this paper consists in developing an analytical framework to assess the human cognitive capacity occupancy and the human processing time of correct information known as the quality performance. The analytical framework presented allows to assess the human mental workload imposed by the task and how the processing speed of correct information changes when quality performance varies

Does Adiponectin Act as an Antiangiogenic Factor in B-Cell Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia?

Angiogenesis is involved in the pathogenesis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and high microvascular density has been found in CLL to be associated with a poor prognosis. In this study, we assessed serum levels of adiponectin in 69 patients with Binet stage A B-CLL, and these values were retrospectively correlated with bone marrow (BM) microvessel area and serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2), angiogenin, PECAM-1 (CD31), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9), interleukin-8 (IL-8), syndecan-1, and the percentage of CD38+ or ZAP-70+ CLL cells. The positive correlation between serum levels of adiponectin and VEGF (P = .03) does not translate into an increase of the extent of BM angiogenesis (P = .404), FGF-2 (P = .348), angiogenin (P = .402), and CD31 (P = .248) serum concentrations. Accordingly, IL-8 (P = .175), syndecan-1 (P = .06), and MMP-9 (P = .144) circulating levels were not likely to reflect adiponectin concentration. Furthermore, patients with higher levels of adiponectin had a more favorable biological profile as defined by a lower number of both CD38− (r = −0.294; P = .02) and ZAP-70+ (r = −0.285; P = .04). Finally, we evaluated the presence of adiponectin in B-CLL cells at gene expression level. RMA intensity values for adiponectin gene transcript denote a homogeneous low expression in B-CLL cells, whereas VEGF transcript was highly expressed with a degree of interpatient variability. Overall, these data seem to indicate that adiponectin could be involved as an antiangiogenic factor in B-CLL

Improving predictive maintenance benefits from online monitoring of spindles: case study in woodworking machine tool

Objective: This article aims to present a case study of the application of an online monitoring system for spindles in a furniture industry, analyzing the benefits to predictive maintenance and business. Methodology/approach: A literature review was carried out followed by a case study Originality/Relevance: Focusing the development of maintenance techniques, especially predictive maintenance and those supported by enabling technologies from Industry 4.0, such as Internet of Things (IoT), it may be possible to carry out online monitoring of spindles with a focus on reducing catastrophic or unplanned events. Main results: The main results are to know the normal behavior of the machine, the possibility of obtaining information in real time, managerial data for sight management, and the possibility of identifying spindle failure before it becomes a catastrophic failure, thus reducing the costs of maintaining the spindles. Theoretical contributions: As a contribution, we discuss the development of the system to digitize the data through the operation available in an outsourced cloud environment. This data can then be returned to the company in the form of dashboards for cash management, developing agility in decision making to facilitate the predictive maintenance in addition to validating the online monitoring system for spindle management in furniture industry processes

Cleaner Production Initiatives in a DieselEngines Factory

This paper presents a case study conducted in a Diesel engines manufacturer, which ad-opted a Cold Test machine to perform the final check of engines in the assembly line. The overall aim of this investigation was evaluating the economic and environmental advantages obtained by the adoption of the Cold Test machine. The results showed cost saving of USD 558,012.67 per year. The investment required, USD 2.1millions, returned in three years and ten months. The environmental assessment identified the reduction of the mass intensity per abiotic, biotic, water and air compartments, total of 178,420,306.06 kg resources conserva-tion per year

Clinicoprognostic implications of increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblastic growth factor in early B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

To assess the relative merit of increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblastic growth factor in predicting the risk of disease progression of patients with early B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia we analyzed 81 Binet stage A patients whose sera were taken at the time of diagnosis and evaluated for the presence of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor positively correlated with Rai sub-stages (P=0.03), peripheral blood lymphocytosis (P=0.03), bone marrow histology (P=0.04) and β2-microglobulin (β2-m) (P=0.006). When dealing with basic fibroblast growth factor only a correlation with Rai sub-stages (P=0.02) could be found. Different cut-offs set on the basis of a stratification in quartiles, failed to demonstrate any correlation between serum levels of basic fibroblast growth factor and disease progression. In contrast, patients with increased serum levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (above median value, 203 pg ml−1) had a three times increased risk of disease progression, although, in multivariate analysis only Rai sub-stages (P=0.0001) and lymphocyte doubling time (P=0.002) retained their prognostic significance. Low levels of vascular endothelial growth factor were indicative of good clinical outcome in the subgroup of patients with either low (P=0.02) or high (P=0.03) β2-m concentration. Finally, the highest prognostic power was obtained when serum vascular endothelial growth factor and β2-m were examined in combination. Median of progression-free survival of patients who had both serum vascular endothelial growth factor and β2-m higher than median value was only 13 months, in contrast median progression-free survival of patients with one marker increased (i.e. above the 50th percentile) was 40 months. Patients with both markers below the median experienced the best clinical outcome (median progression-free survival not reached at 40 months). In conclusion, serum levels of either vascular endothelial growth factor or basic fibroblast growth factor are high in patients with early chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, however, only vascular endothelial growth factor predicts behaviour of disease and helps to refine the prognosis of stage A patients