Learning Operations Management with Web Based Manufacturing Simulation

Traditional learning methods in operations management are not ideally suited for externalising knowledge. In this paper, an iterative, gaming-like learning approach for practicing OM issues by using discrete event simulation model is proposed. The approach is utilising an existing learning environment called Delfoi Planner EDU. Its web-based architecture supports distance learning that is an asset in the Finnish University culture. The article also describes the current learning content. The environment enables adding new tasks and exercises easily and is designed to support 3rd party simulation models thereby facilitating learning content exchange between content producers. The initial evaluation with a pilot class suggest that the benefits of gaming have been realised but also underlines the importance of a tested, stable environment as a prerequisite for learning

Joint Procurements in Building National Defence : Why Are There So Few?

Economic benefits of joint procurement arise from increased bargaining power relative to the contractor and from economies of scale in production. There is, however, a puzzle: why are such procurements so few? This paper introduces a bargaining model with forward-looking expectations about the scale of delivery contracts. It is shown that the price sensitivity of the scale of acquisition is favourable for the buying partnership as it tends to depress the bargaining price. Several explanations are proposed for why it is hard to align the buyers’ incentives. First, the preferences concerning the properties of the products are country- specific with divergent implications for national security. Second, a country with a low valuation of the product has more bargaining power than a country with a high valuation and may expect a side payment from the partner of the procurement, while the latter may not have sufficient incentives to pay. Third, the gains from cooperative procurement in terms of economies of scale for the producer may not be sufficient to compensate for the conflicting preferences among the contractors. Fourth, while the future unpredictability of technologies or the future risks of deteriorating national security might support longer-term joint procurements, short-term opportunism tends to prevent long-term commitments

Cooperative Procurement in Building National Defence : Why Are There So Few?

The economic benefits of cooperative procurement derive from, at minimum, increased bargaining power relative to contractors and from economies of scale in production. There is, however, a puzzle: why is this kind of procurement so rare? This paper introduces a bargaining model with forward-looking expectations about the scale of procurement. It is shown that the price sensitivity of the scale of acquisition is favourable for the buying partnership, as it tends to push down the bargaining price. We propose several explanations for why it is hard to align buyers' incentives: First, preferences for the properties of the products are country-specific, with divergent implications for national security. Second, countries that place a low value on the product have more bargaining power than those that value it highly, and may require a side payment in order to enter a partnership, while the partner may not have sufficient incentives to make such a payment. Third, the gains from cooperative procurement for the producer may not be sufficient to compensate for conflicting preferences among contractors. Fourth, while the future unpredictability of technologies or the future risks of deteriorating national security might support longer-term cooperative procurement, short-term opportunism tends to prevent long-term commitments.Peer reviewe

Stand-alone slurry hydroprocessing of lignocellulosic bio-oils with unsupported catalysts – catalyst and process development

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Designing resilient military logistics with additive manufacturing

Purpose In this study, the authors explore how novel and relevant technologies can change the overall design of systems, and which factors influence the design of resilient systems in particular. After evaluating the effects of these factors, the authors describe the potential role of AM-supported maintenance operations in military logistics and draw broader conclusions regarding designing for resilience. Design/methodology/approach The authors build a simulation model of the AM-supported maintenance capability of a mechanised battalion to analyse factors affecting its resilience. AM production capacity specifically refers to metal printing and was verified by data generated from 3D printing of the actual APC parts. Findings The current AM speed is not able to increase resilience at the depot level, so at present, increasing the spare parts inventory is a better way to improve resilience. However, with future improvements in speed the AM may become feasible in battlefield maintenance. Practical implications AM holds great promise in increasing resilience of especially the spare part logistics. At present technology, it is not yet fully realised in the case. Originality/value The authors suggest a concrete system performance measure, where reaching a concrete limit, system resilience is lost. The authors present arguments for a definition of resilience where pre-disruption activities are not part of resilience. The authors maintain that simulation, with its ability to include detail, is well-suited in design-for-resilience because supply chains are context dependent and disruptions unexpected

Optimization of the first coating layer on TOC-based coil coatings

Traditional coil coated steel product consists of two layers of coating, which are applied on top of a pretreated hot-dip-galvanized steel coil. In other fields of industry the TOC coating method is quite widely used and it has attracted attentions also in the coil coating industry. The economically and environmentally sound alternative designed to replace the traditional pretreatment and the base coating layer has increased research and development of the TOC method. Thin organic coatings in coil coating applications have been studied quite scarcely in SSAB. This thesis is a part of the HYBRIDS – Hybrid Materials program, which studies among other subjects the potential of the TOC-method. In this thesis the goal was to optimize a coating layer on top of two separate TOC-substrates. The objective of the thesis was to find the most suitable binder, film thickness and curing cycle combination for the first coating layer of the TOC based product. The chemistry of the studied binders was mainly based on polyester and PVdF chemistry. With isocyanate crosslinked binder system, a polyurethane-chemistry based binder was also introduced to the studies. With all of the previously mentioned binder systems, the film thicknesses and curing cycles were varied to test a wide variety of property combinations. The optimization started with the results of the accelerated environment exposure testing, with which the first elimination of binders was based. The mechanical testing data was analyzed with statistical method ANOVA. With the statistical analyzing method the most potential binder, film thickness and curing cycle for each TOC was selected from both of the binder categories. The final products were compared to reference samples, which were treated with the same paint process. The samples used for the references were traditionally pretreated and untreated HDG-steels. The final conclusions on the optimized products were done based on accelerated environment exposure testing and mechanical testing. With the optimization process a clear indication was observed, that the film thickness variations and binder selection affects the properties of the product significantly. The thickest dry films performed with best results. A significant difference was not observed with the curing cycles, but marginally better results were observed with double curing with the TOC 2 substrate. 70 % PVdF / 30 % PMMA ratio binders performed with best results with both of the TOC substrates. TOC 2 had significant difficulties with polyester-chemistry, which led to a series of separate studies. Isocyanate (instead of melamine) crosslinked binder worked perfectly with the said substrate. Accelerated humidity exposure testing results and mechanical resistance testing results reveal a significant importance of the pretreatment or TOC-layer. HDG steel with any sort of binder suffers a significant amount of damage and deterioration during exposure to humidity in elevated temperatures. Mechanical resistance results show a similar trend. The traditionally pretreated samples and TOC based samples, when compared against each other, showed notable but not significant differences on behalf of the TOC based samples. A conclusion from the testing in this thesis is that the TOC based product can perform at least as well as the traditionally pretreated product. Although the results are quite encouraging and positive for the TOC based products, the results are not unequivocal and can only be considered as a guideline towards future studies and research projects

Ilves Toxoplasma gondii -loisen pääisäntänä

Toxoplasma gondii on solunsisäinen alkueläin, jota esiintyy käytännössä kaikkialla maailmassa. Toksoplasman pääisäntinä toimivat kissaeläimet ja väli-isäntinään se voi hyödyntää lähes kaikkia tasalämpöisiä eläimiä. Se kykenee käyttämään parateenisina isäntinä myös vaihtolämpöisiä eläimiä kuten nilviäisiä. Parateenista isäntää loinen ei varsinaisesti infektoi eikä se lisäänny parateenisen isännänelimistössä, mutta tällainen isäntä voi edesauttaa loisen leviämistä. Pääisännissä muodostuu loisen suvullisen lisääntymisen johdosta ookystia, jotka leviävät runsaissa määrin ulosteen mukana ympäristöön. Sekä pää- että väli-isännissä loinen voi muodostaa kudoskystia, joiden kautta se voi levitä eteenpäin isännän tullessa syödyksi. Toxoplasma gondii on zoonoottinen loinen, ja se voi aiheuttaa vakaviakin seurauksia erityisesti raskaana oleville naisille sekä ihmisille, joiden immuunipuolustus on heikentynyt. Ihmisille tartuntalähteenä voivat toimia muiden muassa kotikissat sekä riittämättömästi kypsennetty liha. Ilveksiä havaitaan nykyisin ihmisasutuksen läheisyydessä, joten loisen on mahdollista levitä myös kotikissojen ja luonnonvaraisten eläinten välillä. Niin ikään metsästettyjen ilvesten käsittely voi altistaa ihmisen loistartunnalle. Lisensiaatin tutkielma koostuu kirjallisuuskatsauksesta sekä kokeellisesta osuudesta. Kirjallisuuskatsaus käsittelee Toxoplasma gondii -alkueläintä, ilvestä (Lynx lynx) sen pääisäntänä sekä diagnostiikassa yleisimmin käytettyjä menetelmiä. Kokeellisessa osuudessa hyödynnettiin nested-PCR-menetelmää, jolla voidaan havaita T. gondii:n perimän esiintyminen näytteessä. Näytteinä tutkimuksessa oli 21 Suomessa metsästetyn ilveksen sydäntä. Kyseiset ilvekset oli aiemmin todettu serologisin menetelmin positiivisiksi T. gondii:n osalta. Käytetyllä nested-PCR-menetelmällä ei tässä tutkimuksessa havaittu toksoplasman perimää yhdenkään ilveksen sydänlihaksessa. Loinen voi muodostaa kudoskystia useisiin kudoksiin, joten pelkän sydämen tutkimisella ei todennäköisesti saada oikeaa kuvaa kudoskystien esiintymisestä yksilössä

Maatalouden rakennekehitys vuoteen 2008

Maatilojen lukumäärän puolittumista vaikea estää Väheneminen tapahtuu maatalouspolitiikan linjan valinnasta riippuen joko tilakoon nopean kasvun tai tuotannon supistumisen kautta Kilpailukyvyn parantaminen Suomen maataloudessa edellyttää tilakoon kasvua. Sillä voidaan alentaa tuotantokustannuksia ja turvata tuotannon taloudelliset edellytykset. Tilakoon kasvua tarvitaan riippumatta Agenda 2000 -neuvottelujen lopputuloksesta. Tällä hetkellä Suomessa on runsaat 70 000 keskeisimpiin tuotantosuuntiin erikoistunutta tilaa. Maatalouden taloudellisessa tutkimuslaitoksessa valmistuneen tutkimuksen mukaan lukumäärä vähenee alle puoleen nykyisestä vuoteen 2008 mennessä. Väheneminen tapahtuu joko tilakoon kasvun tai tuotannon nopean supistumisen kautta. Tutkimus kohdistuu lähinnä päätoimisen toimeentulon antaviin maatiloihin. Maaseudun pienyritystoiminta ja mahdollisuudet palkkatuloihin ratkaisevat lopulta sen, kuinka suureksi aktiivitilojen lukumäärä muodostuu. Ilman maatalouspolitiikan uudistuksia maataloustulo alenisi lähes 20 % vuosina 1997-2008. Tutkimus osoittaa, että kotimaisen ruuan saatavuus turvataan vain, jos maatilojen koko kasvaa selvästi. Kehityksen jarruttaminen ei kannata, sillä hidas tilakoon kasvu johtaisi pitkällä aikavälillä kilpailukyvyn heikentymiseen, tuotannon ja maataloustulon laskuun ja sitä kautta maatilojen määrän voimakkaaseen vähenemiseen. Maidontuotannon arvioidaan vähenevän 2,1 mrd. kiloon nykyisestä 2,3 mrd. kilosta vuoteen 2008 mennessä. Tällöin keskimääräisen tilakoon tulee kasvaa nykyisestä lähes 15 lehmästä 21 lehmään. Jos Agenda 2000 toteutuisi ilman Suomen maitotaloutta koskevia erityistoimenpiteitä, maitoa tuotettaisiin 1,7 mrd. kg vuonna 2008. Mikäli keskikoko jäisi 18 lehmään vuonna 2008, maidontuotanto vähenisi 1,6 mrd. kiloon jopa nykyisellä hinta- ja tukitasolla. Vaihtoehtoisten hinta- ja tukioletusten vallitessa maitotilojen lukumäärä vähenee nykyisestä 25 000 tilasta 12 000 - 15 000 tilaan. Tuotannon ja tilalukumäärän väheneminen on suurinta Sisä-Suomen alueella. Naudanlihantuotannon arvioidaan vähentyvän nykyisestä 95 milj. kilosta 60-70 milj. kiloon vuoteen 2008 mennessä lehmämäärän vähenemisen ja teuraspainojen alenemisen seurauksena. Kotimaista kulutusta vastaava sianlihan tuotanto voidaan ylläpitää, jos tilakoko kasvaa merkittävästi. Sikatilojen lukumäärä vähenee tällöin alle puoleen nykyisestä. Maatalouden tulotuet muodostavat perustan maataloustuotannon säilymiselle eri alueilla. Tarpeen oleva rakennekehitys edellyttää, että julkisen sektorin varoja ohjataan myös jatkossa sekä maatalouden investointien edistämiseen että tuotannosta luopumisen kirjaamiseen.This study analyses the recent changes in the Finnish farm structures and the need for structural development to the year 2008. It also evaluates the effects of the Agenda 2000 CAP reforms on agricultural production, farmers income, and structural development by assuming different scenarios for the development of factor productivity. The analysis is based on the dynamic regional sector model of Finnish agriculture (DREMFIA). The model treats domestic and foreign products as imperfect substitutes, takes into account the asset-fixity in agriculture, and restricts the short-term changes of production according to the technical and biological constraints. In the model Finland is divided into four main regions and 14 different production regions on the basis of the agricultural support system. The average size of farms has increased and the number of farms has decreased during the first years of the EU membership. The exit of farms has been relatively the fastest in the Northern and Eastern Finland. Good general economic development has encouraged the migration to the growing cities. At the same time, however, some farms have invested heavily, partly because of the extensive investment aid programmes. An important objective of agricultural policy is to rapidly increase the size of farm enterprises in order to improve future competitiveness. The highest investment activity is concentrated to the Southern Finland. The projections of the study show that the rate of technical change and the consequent increase in total factor productivity must be high, if Finland wants to maintain the current production volumes in agriculture. Thus, the trend towards fewer but larger farm enterprises will continue and even increase in many production sectors. The proposed CAP reform will have a minor effect on the total number of farms until 2008, but a great effect on the production volume and farm income. Furthermore, the reform would lower the incentives for productivity growth. A considerable increase in the farm size is needed in order to cut the production costs. Necessary conditions in this process are large investments and sufficient labour mobility, which permits the increase in the farm size and prevents the decrease of average farm incomes.vokMTT Taloustutkimu