Lean and complex systems : a case study of materials handling at an on-land warehouse facility supporting subsea gas operations

Commonly warehouse management is subject to deterministic planning procedures within the organizational scope of supply chain management. Lately lean principles have become more widespread and also adapted to develop materials handling within warehouses. Several facets of analysis are considered in this case study on outsourced warehousing in the Norwegian petroleum industry. This study reveals empirically how outsourced warehousing as service provision involves an organization problem with waste found both at the service management and at the process levels. Analysis points to how lean principles of process improvement may be combined with complex systems thinking. The case reveals examples of how warehouse management and its operations are full of complexities leading to waste. While lean usually is used hands on to manage these wastes through manual incremental development, another organisation of continuous innovation is suggested here. Lean is suggested be developed as organizational context of complex systems information warehouse management system software. Following lean principles evokes many types of process waste at the studied warehouse. Instead on following the manual stepwise and continuous process improvement approach of lean in all areas of organization, a more radical change to complex systems evident in information system design to support warehousing processes is proposed with lean as its organizational context. Keywords: case study, complex systems, lean, material handling, Norwegian petroleum industry, services industry, Warehouse managementpublishedVersio

Systemic Chemical Desensitization of Peptidergic Sensory Neurons with Resiniferatoxin Inhibits Experimental Periodontitis

Background and objective: The immune system is an important player in the pathophysiology of periodontitis. The brain controls immune responses via neural and hormonal pathways, and brain-neuro-endocrine dysregulation may be a central determinant for pathogenesis. Our current knowledge also emphasizes the central role of sensory nerves. In line with this, we wanted to investigate how desensitization of peptidergic sensory neurons influences the progression of ligatureinduced periodontitis, and, furthermore, how selected cytokine and stress hormone responses to Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation are affected. Material and methods: Resiniferatoxin (RTX; 50 μg/kg) or vehicle was injected subcutaneously on days 1, 2, and 3 in stress high responding and periodontitis-susceptible Fischer 344 rats. Periodontitis was induced 2 days thereafter. Progression of the disease was assessed after the ligatures had been in place for 20 days. Two h before decapitation all rats received LPS (150 μg/kg i.p.) to induce a robust immune and stress response. Results: Desensitization with RTX significantly reduced bone loss as measured by digital X-rays. LPS provoked a significantly higher increase in serum levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-, but lower serum levels of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 and the stress hormone corticosterone. Conclusions: In this model RTX-induced chemical desensitization of sensory peptidergic neurons attenuated ligatureinduced periodontitis and promoted a shift towards stronger pro-inflammatory cytokine and weaker stress hormone responses to LPS. The results may partly be explained by the attenuated transmission of immuno-inflammatory signals to the brain. In turn, this may weaken the anti-inflammatory brain-derived pathways