Using Quality Mechanisms to Solve a Practice Service Business Problem of Reducing Delinquent Payments

This study focuses on the problem of small service business debt collection from delinquent customer accounts and the ways in which quality control methods can be applied to analyzing the occurrence of past due payments. Small businesses like Helthkare Products, LLC are particularly vulnerable to the risk of lower finances because of a limited source of revenue. Their customer bases tend to be smaller and therefore cannot afford to have too much outstanding debt from its customers because it puts them in a position of having a reduced working capital. The use of quality control can help small businesses understand their customers as well as their own internal business processes to make them more efficient so as to avoid and reduce delinquent payments

An Environmental Evaluation Tool for Engineers

The objective of this study is to explore / analyze and evaluate environmental tools and propose a tool that manages various environmental resources such as air, water, energy, land, mineral etc. The study is broadly classified into two categories. First step provides a background of the environmental issues while second step proposes a computer program tailored for environmental resource management. The focus of this study is to develop an environmental evaluation tool for engineers. This can be achieved with the help of the computer program or computational tools. In environmental process design calculations are very complex in nature. The steps are repeated and it follows to the same procedure. The procedure when carried out manually is time consuming. Computer applications are proven to be useful for finding solutions due to their rapid computational ability and providing accurate results. It has shown its utility in all respects of computational work not only to save the time but also to give satisfactory accurate results. It has been accepted as one of the most efficient methods when dealing with the tedious calculations and complexity that an environment engineer has to face in real world

Reverse Logistics of Pharmaceutical Products

As an attempt to minimize the environmental damage, the number of counterfeit medications, the potential hazard to human health, this study presents a framework for managing end-of-life pharmaceutical products. Establishing such an infrastructure capable of conducting proper EOL processing options would have numerous advantages when the environment, public health, and financial benefits are considered. Furthermore, a framework that includes environmental, economical and physical concerns for the reverse logistics operations of pharmaceutical products is proposed. Required Information Technology (IT) infrastructure is also provided

Design and Evaluation of a Logistics Network for Tire Recovery in Turkey

Tire remanufacturing, commonly known as tire retreading, and tire recycling are very profitable, yet many companies who reprocess used tires mostly conduct either only recycling or only retreading in Turkey. In this study, the profitability of adding a tire retreading facility into the logistics network for a company in Turkey who currently conducts recycling operations only is investigated. The problem is formulated and solved as a mixed integer programming (MIP) model to find the optimal design that maximizes the overall profit. Numerical experimentations are conducted to see the effects of changing return parameters on the optimal design and profit

A Goal Programming Approach to the Remanufacturing Supply Chain Model

Copyright 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.The current trend of depletion of natural resources due to an ever-increasing number of consumer goods manufactured has led to an increase in the quantity of used and outdated products discarded. From an environmental point of view, it is not only desirable to disassemble, reuse, remanufacture and/or recycle the discarded products, in many cases it can also be economically justified. This situation being the motive, in recent years there have been several studies reported on disassembly, remanufacturing and/or recycling environments. Since “environmentally conscious manufacturing" is a relatively new concept that brings new costs and profits into consideration, its analysis cannot be provided by readily available techniques. This paper presents a quantitative methodology to determine the allowable tolerance limits of planned/unplanned inventory in a remanufacturing supply chain environment based on the decision-maker’s unique preferences. To this end, an integer goal-programming model that provides a unique solution for the allowable inventory level is presented. The objective of the supply-chain model is to determine the number of a variety of components to be kept in the inventory while economically fulfilling the demand of a multitude of components, and yet have an environmentally benign policy of minimizing waste generation.A numerical example is presented to illustrate the methodology.http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.41726

Evaluating the Efficiency of Candidates for Graduate Study via Data Envelopment Analysis

© ASEE 2007In this paper, we present a DEA approach to measure the relative efficiency of applicants to the graduate programs in engineering. The proposed performance criteria are determined depending on the current evaluation criteria in the School of Engineering at the University of Bridgeport. The steps and implementation of the proposed methodology are explained with the help of a numerical example for the Fall 2004 semester

Sustainability Focused Pre-college Engineering Education for Building a STEM Pipeline

Inspiring young minds through relatable, exciting, hands-on activities is an important component for building a STEM pipeline. We developed a new approach to active learning for STEM education as part of our “SuSTEMability” project where we embedded STEM learning within sustainability focused activities. This work was made possible by E2 Energy to Educate Grant offered by Constellation Energy during spring of 2022. The project engaged Fairfield’s School of Engineering students and faculty with students and educators from Bridgeport’s Cesar Batalla School and Wakeman Boys and Girls Club. SuSTEMability addressed two fundamental challenges to a sustainable energy future. First, ongoing research highlighted the importance of creating sustainable systems to reduce energy usage and environmental deterioration. However, promising technologies and methods that aim at creating such systems, including alternative energy technologies, carbon footprint reduction, and life cycle analysis, are rarely visible to younger generations due to their complexity. Second, the population most at risk to the dangers of climate change are those who are already under-represented in STEM careers. Engagement in high-quality science education is critical to attract students to the sciences, yet these enrichment opportunities are rarely accessible to populations presently underrepresented in STEM. SuSTEMability addressed these issues by providing over two hundred students from diverse backgrounds an understanding of sustainable engineering through age-appropriate activities that illustrate our role as individuals and as a community in building a climate-safe renewable future. Engineering students from the university helped build an identity by offering to serve as SuSTEMability Fellows. They provided instruction and guidance to students through lessons and activities on building circuits, energy conversion, alternative energy sources, gear rotation, force and torque. The outcome of this outreach was studied through oral survey of middle school students, science teachers, and its Fellows. We found that the project enabled Fellows to learn the art and science of teaching by communicating with these youth. Furthermore, we created a replicable model that uses renewable energy and sustainability to engage secondary school students in scientific investigations. This approach prepared underserved student populations to further pursue the scientific and technological issues surrounding sustainable energy sources and apply what they learned to real-life issues that are relevant to themselves and their communities. We also found that local teachers were excited to develop new instructional approaches around sustainability which allowed them to explore the potential of the next generation of engineers for shaping the energy transition. This approach also fits well with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals “to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all”. An eighth grader when asked said, “Creating the circuit and building the (solar) car was very fun to do. Even though it was sometimes difficult, it taught me that if I kept trying I could do it”. Their teacher stated, “It was so rewarding to see the students’ discoveries and their reactions to changing colors of light”. Educational projects best succeed when the participants have an on-going commitment from the community and its educational leaders and it is currently being pursued

A Genetic Algorithm for Disassembly Process Planning

Copyright 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.When a product reaches it’s end-of-life, there are several options available for processing it including reuse, remanufacturing, recycling, and disposing (the least desirable option). In almost all cases, a certain level of disassembly may be necessary. Thus, finding an optimal (or near optimal) disassembly sequence is crucial to increasing the efficiency of the process. Disassembly operations are labor intensive, can be costly, have unique characteristics and cannot be considered as reverse of assembly operations. Since the complexity of determining the best disassembly sequence increases with the increase in the number of parts of the product, it is extremely crucial that an efficient methodology for disassembly process planning be developed. In this paper, we present a genetic algorithm for disassembly process planning. A case example is considered to demonstrate the functionality of the algorithm.http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.45526

A Hybrid Approach to Evaluate the Performance of Engineering Schools

© ASEE 2009Science and engineering (S&E) are two disciplines that are highly receptive to the changes in demand for products and services. These disciplines can either be leading in nature, viz., they create the demand in the market (push) for new products and/or services, or can adopt the changes caused by the varying market conditions (pull). Regardless of the reason, both science and engineering have the responsibility to be compatible with the emerging needs of the market. This fact is also true for the institutions awarding science and engineering degrees. Such higher education institutions also require continuous monitoring and evaluation to be able to remain competitive in the educational arena. Generally, educational institutions are evaluated for their (i) academic affairs, and (2) administrative and financial operations. Academic affairs are monitored by outside authorities such as professional accrediting agencies, State Departments of Higher Education, and the regional accrediting bodies (i.e., NEASC), whereas outcome assessment for administrative and financial operations are handled by the Board of Trustees and the regional accrediting body. In addition, educational institutions also have internal assessment processes conducted to (1) ensure the ability to meet and/or exceed the national educational standards, (2) to be compatible with the mission and vision statements of the organization, and (3) to guarantee the continuous improvement of students, academic and administrative personnel. This internal assessment process embodies a broad spectrum of performance criteria such as curriculum development and revision, contributions to the literature, ethnicity/gender profiles, budget allocation, and student and personnel development. Therefore, several factors that are tangible and intangible in nature have to be considered during internal reviews, thus creating a complex problem environment for the evaluators/decision makers. This being the motivation, this paper proposes a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to compare each department in the School of Engineering at the University of Bridgeport with each other and with the School. Data and case studies are provided to demonstrate the functionality of the proposed model