Quality management in the industry 4.0 era

In the current competitive scenario, manufacturing companies are facing various challenges related to an increasing level of variability. This variability means different sets of dimensions such as demand, volume, process, technology, quality, customer behavior and supplier attitude, and transform the industrial systems engineering domain. A new paradigm tries to solve these challenges and solutions such as "the fourth industrial revolution" or "Industry 4.0" refers to new production patterns, including new technologies, productive factors and labor organizations, which are completely changing the production processes and developing high-efficiency production systems that make it possible to minimize production costs and improve production and product quality. Manufacturing companies need to achieve a substantial improvement in performance by manufacturing high-quality products and creating highly flexible systems that make it possible to maintain their efficiency even when demand varies dramatically. Tools for the management and optimization of quality are vitally important. In this way the adoption of highly flexible cyber physical production units permits the implementation of production processes capable of guaranteeing high-quality standards in the finished product, even in the case of small production lots. Industry 4.0 provides promising opportunities for quality management therefore, the purpose of this paper is to focus on the quality management and industry 4.0 concepts and analyze the current state of literature trying to understand the implications and opportunities for quality management in the industry 4.0 era

Digitalization technologies for industrial sustainability

Digital technologies are shown to perform a potential role in developing a resource efficient industrial base. The effective adoption of them can help to deliver reduced costs and improve the flexibility and sustainability of manufacturing systems. However, these positive benefits are far from guaranteed and the way in which digital technologies favor the transition towards sustainable manufacturing systems has not been analyzed in detail yet, so more conceptual and empirical investigations are required in this field. This paper develops a conceptual framework, which explains the potential significance of using digital technologies toward efficiency, resilience and sustainability. It also includes evidence from various case studies, which illustrate the core technologies which can potentiality contribute to a sustainable industrial future. The findings show some impressive results concerning the sustainable implications of the digitalization of manufacturing processes. If the predicted benefits can be achieved through digital technologies, they could massively impact on sustainability. \ua9 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V

A Design Methodology for MPEG-21 based Digital Policy Management Systems

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A Novel Methodology for Manufacturing Firms Value Modeling and Mapping to Improve Operational Performance in the Industry 4.0 Era

Abstract In recent years there has been appreciable academic activity in manufacturing value creation resulting in that the ability to create value is based on the competence to make decisions and implement strategies; even though this evidence it is still difficult to understand where the company's weak points are located so value modeling approaching is arising. In this study Authors first report a qualitative review on value creation and modeling based on the identification, selection and analysis of about 100 papers, then specify the value concept within manufacturing companies. Within this context the Authors describe a novel methodology for manufacturing value modeling from strategic level down to operational improvements. The methodology and the related mapping and analysis tools have been co-developed with Siemens MES division within Industry 4.0 context. The Manufacturing Value Modeling Methodology (MVMM) is based on 5 steps: Value Map, Maturity Model, Gap and Process Analysis, Validation and Improvement Areas Definition. Through this methodological approach, a series of structured interviews allowing to construct the value map accordingly to the current company maturity model and the relationships between the strategic objectives and operational practices, capabilities, and methods. Combining the assessments interview with the Company' resources, infrastructure and IT structures, it is possible to establish a current level of the company. The mapping step is followed by a gap and process analysis, assessing most relevant areas for the creation of value aiming at constructing an interventions roadmap, setting out priorities and activities to be improved. The selection of the improvement areas defines process initiatives, KPIs and interventions to improve business alignment. To provide a practical view of the methodology a sample of the Value Modeler tool is presented and discussed

Generation of Antibunched Light by Excited Molecules in a Microcavity Trap

The active microcavity is adopted as an efficient source of non-classical light. By this device, excited by a mode-locked laser at a rate of 100 MHz, single-photons are generated over a single field mode with a nonclassical sub-poissonian distribution. The process of adiabatic recycling within a multi-step Franck-Condon molecular optical-pumping mechanism, characterized in our case by a quantum efficiency very close to one, implies a pump self-regularization process leading to a striking n-squeezing effect. By a replication of the basic single-atom excitation process a beam of quantum photon (Fock states) can be created. The new process represents a significant advance in the modern fields of basic quantum-mechanical investigation, quantum communication and quantum cryptography

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) in supply chain management: From foundations to practical implementation

Since 2015 developments such as Industry 4.0 and cyber-physical production systems on the technology side, and approaches such as flexible and smart manufacturing systems hold great potential. These in turn give rise to special requirements that the production planning, control and monitoring, among others, needing a paradigm shift to exploit the full potential of these methods and techniques. Starting from foundations in Cyber Physical Systems (CPS), building upon definitions and findings reported by literature, a practical example of innovative Cyber Physical Supply Chain Planning System (CPS2) is provided. The paper clarifies the advantages of cyber-physical systems in the production planning, controlling and monitoring perspective with respect to manufacturing, logistics and related planning practices. A set of basic features of CPS2 systems are discussed and addressed by contextualizing service orientation architecture and microservices components with respect to supply chain management collaboration and cooperation practices. The identification of specific technologies behind those functions, within the developed research, provides some practical insight if the interesting CPS2 potential

A Review of Production Planning Models: Emerging features and limitations compared to practical implementation

In the last few decades, thanks to the interest of industry and academia, production planning (PP) models have shown significant growth. Several structured literature reviews highlighted the evolution of PP and guided the work of scholars providing in-depth reviews of optimization models. Building on these works, the contribution of this paper is an update and detailed analysis of PP optimization models. The present review allows to analyze the development of PP models by considering: i) problem type, ii) modeling approach, iii) development tools, iv) industry-specific solutions. Specifically, to this last point, a proposed industrial solution is compared to emerging features and limitations, which shows a practical evolution of such a system

Closed-Loop Manufacturing for Aerospace Industry: An Integrated PLM-MOM Solution to Support the Wing Box Assembly Process

The aim of this research is to provide an example of the importance that integrated Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) and Manufacturing Operation Management (MOM) systems have in realizing the Digital Manufacturing. The research first examines what the Digital Manufacturing involves and then identifies Digital Twin and the related Digital Thread as key elements. PLM and MOM solutions support the Digital Twin and the Digital Thread allowing the exchange of product-related information between the digital manufacturing model and the physical manufacturing execution. A Digital Twin of a wing box and its assembly process is created in PLM by building the bill of material and bill of process. Then it is shown how in MOM system the production phase is facilitated by managing production operations, advanced scheduling and supporting the execution of the processes and how the analysis of the manufacturing performance is possible. The result integrating these systems is to have the right information at the right place at the right time along with the related benefits in terms of costs, time and quality. The activity has been developed in Siemens Industry Software under the European Project AirGreen 2, an integrated research action of the REG IADP (Regional Innovative Aircraft Demonstration Platform) part of the Joint Technical Programme, the steering and coordination of LEONARDO Aircraft. The AirGreen 2 project is an Innovation Action funded by the Clean Sky 2 Joint Undertaking under the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, under Grant Agreement N\ub0807089 REG IADP)

Introduction to the proceedings of the Piccola Impresa/Small Business 5th Workshop: “Beyond the crisis: what is the future for small businesses? Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned”

In this volume, we are pleased to present the proceedings of the 5th Workshop organised by the journal Piccola Impresa/Small Business in collaboration with the Association for the study of small enterprises (ASPI), the Research Center on Entrepreneurship and Small-medium firms (CRIMPI), the Italian Academy of Business Economics (AIDEA) and the European Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ECSB). The workshop title was “Beyond the crisis: what is the future for small businesses? Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned”, and it took place online on December 4-5, 2021. The aim of the conference was to bring together scholars of entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises, to discuss the emerging issues following the Covid-19 pandemic. As we have highlighted in the call for papers of the workshop and a previous editorial published in the journal mentioned above (Pencarelli et al. 2021), the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered the largest public health crisis in living memory, with serious—and still unpredictable—consequences for the global economy. Available data clearly shows that SMEs have particularly suffered from economic downturn: their inherent weaknesses have amplified and accelerated the effects of the crisis compared to larger firms (Cowling et al., 2020; OECD, 2020). Notably, in Italy, the Covid-19 outbreak has challenged SMEs’ survival after a decade of a slow and incomplete recovery (CERVED, 2020, 2021)

Food industry digitalization: from challenges and trends to opportunities and solutions

Over the last years, manufacturing companies have to face several challenges, mainly related to the volatility of the demand and to the continuously changing requirements, both from the customers and suppliers. In the meantime, new technological roadmaps and suggested interventions in manufacturing systems have been implemented. These solutions aim to exploit the high innovation and economic potential resulting from the continuing impact of rapidly advancing information and communication technology (ICT) in industry. This paper explores these topics focusing on the food sector. Indeed, companies belonging to this industry are facing global challenges, which can be met with the support of the information technologies (IT). The overall goal of this study is to help food companies toward digitalization, with a particular focus on the design and manufacturing processes. From the methodological point of view, Case Study has been used as research method. Furthermore, a questionnaire characterized by the different elements of the Manufacturing Value Modelling Methodology (MVMM) has been developed and used to gather information from companies. A framework for the digitalization process in the food industry has been developed basing on the results of a preliminary literature review and of different focus groups. On completion of the aforementioned framework, a list of enabling technologies has been discussed. These represent the technological solutions for the specific food issues highlighted by the framework. Finally, a case study has been accomplished in order to test and validate the contents\u2019 framework