Internal and External Involvements in Integrated Product Development: A Two-Step Clustering Approach

© 2017 The Authors. The term Integrated Product Development (IPD) has been introduced as a focus for cross-disciplinary research and can have several forms, or manifestations, with regard to the existing disciplines such as concurrent engineering and design for manufacturing. Of central importance to IPD is the interpretation of the term "integration", particularly with regard to internal and external elements. However, there is not yet an explicit understanding of an appropriate degree of integration, or involvement, with respect to its different forms, that can assure successful implementation of IPD frameworks in practice. Through a review and clustering of the literature, this paper aims to address this challenge

Analytical Investigation of Mobile NFC Adaption with SWOT-AHP Approach: A Case of Italian Telecom

The purpose of this study is to appraise the critical factors in near field communication (NFC) adoption process and to utilize findings in order to support launching NFC implementations in Italy, by means of applying a combination of SWOT and AHP approaches. Hence, a set of twenty SWOT factors is identified qualitatively through extended interviews with telecommunication experts as well as exploratory studies on case which are supported by quantitative investigation through pair-wise comparisons matrices as an application of AHP approach. However, this combined methodology enables us to describe NFC adoption process, providing guidance to clarify the critical factors during adoption process. As the first application of joint SWOT and AHP approaches in telecommunication networks, managerial perceptions are promising either for policy makers concerning NFC or further academic researches on NFC application and full scale deployment in market

Connectivity as the capacity to improve an organization’s decision-making

This paper describes the development of a new computational model to predict the desirability of decision consequences in an organization, and the development of a prototype tool to enable real-time interaction and decision support when changes occur simultaneously. A tool, called Decision Propagation System, is developed in response to the needs of BT Group plc in understanding the most effective set of interventions in the organization where the high degree of connectivity between system components and the uncertainty in connectivity data are two critical issues. Designed on a case study of the Fields Operations Engineering, this research demonstrates that a knowledge of overlapping decision propagation paths can direct the organizational decisions towards mitigating the risk of unintended consequences

Sensitivity analysis of dynamic cell formation problem through meta-heuristic

In spite of many researches in literature investigating dynamic of cell formation (CF) problem, further research needs to be elaborated to assay hidden aspects of cellular manufacturing system (CMS), due to inherent complexity and uncertainty on optimizing this problem. In this paper, sensitivity analysis of modified self-adaptive differential evolution (MSDE) algorithm is proposed for basic parameters of CF problem, considering to the graphical representation supported by statistical analysis. Hence, a dynamic integer model of CF problem is first presented as the NP-hard problem. Then, the two basic test CF problems are introduced thereby the performance of MSDE algorithm assessed by diverse problems sizes through 140 runs from aspects of the average runtime of algorithm and the best local optimum objective function. Finally, statistical analysis is implemented on behavior of objective function values in order to validate our computational results graphically as well as statistically, giving some insights related to importance of CF parameters on designing CMS

Managing Sociotechnical Complexity in Engineering Design Projects

Design project management is witnessing an increasing need for practitioners to rely on tools that reflect the integrated nature of the social and technical characteristics of design processes, as opposed to considering the two as separate concepts. For practitioners, this integration has the potential value of predicting the future behavior of design processes by allowing them to understand what task to do next, whom to assign a task given the availability of resource, and the levels of knowledge and expertise required. In response to these challenges, this paper contributes to the development of a new process modeling method, called actor-based signposting (ABS), that looks at the early stages of the product development processes from the perspective of integrated sociotechnical systems. The objective is to support managers and decision-makers on both typical planning issues, such as scheduling and resource allocation, and less conventional issues relating to the organizational planning of a design project, such as identification of criticalities, matching required skills and expertise, and factors of influence. Ultimately, the aim is to support organizations to be more adaptive in responding to change and uncertainty. Two case studies in the automotive and aerospace industries with different properties and modeling objectives were selected to demonstrate the utility of the proposed method. Experimental analysis of these cases led to a range of insights regarding the future of modeling for academia as well as the decision-making capabilities for managers and practitioners.</jats:p

Modelling change with an integrated approach to manufacturing system design

This paper proposes a model that integrates information from product, process and organisation domains with a view to help manage these complex interrelationships with multiple layers of interaction. This model incorporates an integrated mechanism that simulates change effects during the design of complex manufacturing system by populating a Multi-layered Domain Matrix (MDM) and applying a Change Prediction Model (CPM) propagation mechanism to interconnected elements

Neotethyan Subduction Ignited the Iran Arc and Backarc Differently

Most arcs show systematic temporal and spatial variations in magmatism with clear shifts in igneous rock compositions between those of the magmatic front (MF) and those in the backarc (BA). It is unclear if similar magmatic polarity is seen for extensional continental arcs. Herein, we use geochemical and isotopic characteristics coupled with zircon U‐Pb geochronology to identify the different magmatic style of the Iran convergent margin, an extensional system that evolved over 100 Myr. Our new and compiled U‐Pb ages indicate that major magmatic episodes for the NE Iran BA occurred at 110–80, 75–50, 50–35, 35–20, and 15–10 Ma. In contrast to NE Iran BA magmatic episodes, compiled data from MF display two main magmatic episodes at 95–75 and 55–5 Ma, indicating more continuous magmatism for the MF than for the BA. We show that Paleogene Iran serves as a useful example of a continental arc under extension. Our data also suggest that there is not a clear relationship between the subduction velocity of Neotethyan Ocean beneath Iran and magmatic activity in Iran. Our results imply that the isotopic compositions of Iran BA igneous rocks do not directly correspond to the changes in tectonic processes or geodynamics, but other parameters such as the composition of lithosphere and melt source(s) should be considered. In addition, changes in subduction zone dynamics and contractional versus extensional tectonic regimes influenced the composition of MF and BA magmatic rocks. These controls diminished the geochemical and isotopic variations between the magmatic front and backarc

Functionality of structured models on supporting management of design processes: A two-phase integrated framework

Nowadays, the ever-increasing complexity of systems with highly interconnected activities makes it difficult to manage the uncertainty that is inherent to engineering design processes. This leads to the necessity of structured models supporting process modeling. However, what is still missing is a general theoretical model that may potentially be able to provide multi-perspective knowledge on design processes, i.e., the possibility of supporting model interpretation from different aspects. In this paper, we propose an "integrated theoretical framework" with the aim to provide management with detailed knowledge on a given design process. The approach is composed of two phases that are implemented within four steps. First, an "inspiration triangle" of product lifecycle layers, areas of relevant factors with dependencies, and essentiality-effect matrix provides a basis on which an "integrated reference model" can be established. The framework is exemplified for a hypothetical case of an activity-based design process, with a focus on the role of uncertainty on dependencies. Finally, some managerial insights for process modeling are given

Utilizing the Modified Self-Adaptive Differential Evolution Algorithm in Dynamic Cellular Manufacturing System

Today, Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMS) have been introduced as a mixture of work-shop manufactur- ing and line-production systems for keeping ef ciency and exibility synchronously. One of the dif cult steps of designing CMS is the Cell Formation (CF) problem in which parts with similar processes are made in one cell. Solving a dynamic integer model of CF with three sub-objective functions is considered using evolution- ary algorithms. Due to the fact that CF is a NP-hard problem, solving the model using classical optimization methods needs long computational time. In this paper, a nonlinear integer model of CF is presented and then solved by proposed Modi ed Self-adaptive Differential Evolution (MSDE) and Modi ed Genetic Algorithm (MGA) using a set of 25 test problems. The results are compared with the optimal solution, and the ef ciency of MSDE algorithm is discussed

A normative approach for identifying decision propagation paths in complex systems

In real-world, making the right decision at the right time is very challenging. Additional complexity is related to the fact that, a change in one part may propagate across multiple subsystems and therefore, it is very difficult to predict how decisions behave. To respond this need, this paper contributes a conceptual framework to present a novel perspective on modelling decisions, so-called Decision Propagation System – DPS. It is an intelligent approach to reflect how organisational dynamics and information dependencies can affect decision propagations, thus helping make Smart decisions