Alternative Technologies for Controlling CO2 Emissions and Energy Costs Minimization in Manufacturing Processes

Provided that energy consumption goes together with CO2 emissions and high production costs, multinational companies seek perpetually to implement the best practices in an effort to satisfy customers not in terms of fair prices, quality and quantity delivered but also in terms of delivering products that respect environmental regulations. It seems that it is no longer optional for companies to opt for environmental practices, while having two major reasons to remain cost efficient and customer seductive: their production processes will no more tolerate waste in energy and their customers are consciously more than ever seeking eco-friendly products. In this paper, we conduct a cost analysis based on a comparison traditional with eco-friendly technologies in manufacturing detergent products based on different sources of energy

Preparation of Hybrid Proton Exchange Membranes Based on HPA/Clay Complexes and Thermoplastic Polymers

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Fabrication of proton exchange membranes using melt processing technologies

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Non-Fluorinated Proton Exchange Membranes Based on Melt Extruded SEBS/HDPE Blends

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

Study of azoles as bifunctional additives for proton exchange membranes melt-processing from LSC and SSC perfluorosulfonic acid ionomers

This work investigates the potential use of azoles as bifunctional additives for proton exchange membranes (PEM) manufacturing through direct melt-processing of acidic ionomers. The development of high-volume manufacturing processes to prototype PEM fuel cell components with a reduced number of steps is vital to reduce system cost and complexity, and to meet the demands of high volume production and durability requirements especially for automotive applications. The strong ionic associations in ionomers act generally as physical cross-links, increasing by several orders of magnitude both melt-viscosities and relaxation times, resulting in ionomeric materials that are very difficult to melt-process with high shear rate processes such as melt-casting or melt-blowing. The strength of the ionic interactions in ionomers, and hence their physical and mechanical properties, depends on the acidity of the pendent anion. Polymers modified with the stronger acid, such as sulfonic acid (pKa~1), exhibit more dramatic changes in thermal, viscoelastic, and rheological properties than those modified with the weaker carboxylic acid (pKa~4-5). However, most ionomers may be melt-processed in very low shear rate operations such as compression-molding, which reveals that these ionic associations are not permanent cross-links and can be reversibly disrupted under suitable conditions. The approach investigated is based on the use of selected bi-functional additives that act as a SO3H groups protec\uadtion and a melt-processing aid.[1] The additives selected are highly polar additives with relatively high boiling points that are expected to interact with the ion-rich aggregates that compose the nanophase separation in ionomers and act as plasticizers which expectantly improve the viscoelastic behavior during melt processing. Additives from the azole family, imidazole, 1,2,4-triazole and benzimidazole have been investigated as potential bifunctional additives. This presentation, will discuss the results obtained with four commercial PFSA ionomers Nafion\uae DE-2020 and NR-40 with long side chain (LSC), and Aquivion\uae D83-24B and D79-20BS with short side chain (SSC).Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

High throughput low-cost technologies for the manufacturing of PEMs with reduced in-plane swelling

NRC publication: Ye

Refonte stratégique de la supply chain des produits pharmaceutiques destinés au secteur public au Maroc

Cette recherche a pour objectif la refonte de la supply chain des produits pharmaceutiques destinés au secteur public au niveau stratégique en prenant en considération l’accessibilité des citoyens au système de santé. Elle a été tirée de la nécessité de repenser la chaîne d’approvisionnement des produits pharmaceutiques au Maroc. Ainsi, les principales actions recommandées pour atteindre les objectifs de cette recherche ont été résumées dans les axes principaux suivants. Nous avons commencé par l’étude et l’analyse de la supply chain existante et le développement de décisions stratégiques en relation avec la structure du réseau de distribution. La contribution de ce travail consiste à proposer une application de l’analyse de décision multicritères pour évaluer un ensemble de réseaux de distribution alternatifs pour les produits pharmaceutiques et sélectionner le plus approprié. Les résultats finaux montrent que le réseau de distribution décentralisé est le réseau le plus approprié selon les préférences des parties prenantes du ministère de la Santé. Le deuxième axe concerne la détermination des emplacements d’entrepôt optimaux pour le réseau décentralisé. Nous avons présenté un modèle de localisation des installations qui est une variante du problème de couverture qui prend en compte les caractéristiques spécifiques d’un pays émergent. Les résultats montrent comment le type d’infrastructure routière et la distribution de la demande affectent le nombre d’entrepôts et leurs emplacements. Le troisième axe aborde l’étude de la faisabilité de l’externalisation de la logistique. L’un des résultats de cette partie de la dissertation est un processus d’aide à la décision pour l’internalisation et l’externalisation stratégique au sein d’une organisation. Il vise à guider les acteurs de différents domaines dans le processus de prise de décision en ce qui concerne leurs fonctions logistiques. Dans le cadre de ce cadre décisionnel, l’évaluation des risques contribue dans une large mesure à l’évaluation de la faisabilité de l’externalisation. Nous avons pu élaborer une approche d’évaluation des risques qui nous aidera à évaluer la criticité des risques. Le modèle permet aux chercheurs et aux praticiens de comprendre l’importance de mener une évaluation des risques appropriée lors de la mise en oeuvre des initiatives d’externalisation.This research is aimed to redesign the supply chain of pharmaceuticals on the strategic level as a result of taking into consideration the issues related to citizen’s right to healthcare. It has been drawn from the need to redesign the supply chain of pharmaceuticals in Morocco. Thus, the main actions recommended in order to achieve the objectives of this research were summarized in the following main axes. We started with the study and analysis of the supply chain existing on the physical infrastructure and the development of strategic decisions in relation to the structure of the distribution network. The contribution of this work lays in proposing an application of multi-criteria decision analysis to evaluate a set of alternative distribution networks for pharmaceuticals and select the most appropriate one. Final results show that decentralized distribution network is the most appropriate network according to the Ministry of Health stakeholder’s preferences. The second axis deals with the determination of optimal warehouse locations for the decentralized network. We presented a facility location model which is a variant of the set covering problem that takes into consideration specific characteristics of an emerging market. The results show how the road infrastructure type and demand dispersion affect the number of warehouses and their locations. The third axis tackles the investigation of the feasibility of outsourcing logistics. One of the outputs of this part of the dissertation is a decision aid process for strategic insourcing/outsourcing within an organization. It aims at guiding stakeholders from different domains in the process of decision making with regards to their logistics functions. As part of this decision framework, risk assessment contributes to a large extent in the evaluation of the feasibility of outsourcing. We were able to elaborate an approach for risk evaluation that will help us evaluate the criticality of risks. The model enables researchers and practitioners understand the importance of conducting appropriate risk assessment when implementing outsourcing initiatives

A fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis approach for risk evaluation in healthcare logistics outsourcing : case of Morocco

Public–private partnerships in emerging countries are gradually considered a tool for growth development. One particular public–private partnership is that of outsourcing logistics in the healthcare sector. These partnerships provide several benefits for both private and public sectors but are generally associated with numerous risks that must be evaluated and subsequently managed. The aim in this paper is to develop a risk evaluation approach to rank risks when decision makers’ judgment is taken into consideration and where traditional risk evaluation techniques become less applicable. The proposed approach makes use of fuzzy multi-criteria decision analysis methods since they are efficient techniques to rank alternatives based on selected evaluation criteria and can accommodate human judgment and preferences. The approach treats predetermined risks like alternatives, and evaluation criteria are represented by areas of impact of the risks. To validate the approach, we applied it to a real case of logistics outsourcing to private service providers in a Moroccan public pharmaceutical supply chain. The ranking results obtained show that the two methods lead to some differences in ranking but are highly correlated. The obtained results support healthcare policy makers in setting priorities to effectively deploy preventive and mitigation efforts

A decision-support tool for policy makers in healthcare supply chains to balance between perceived risk in logistics outsourcing and cost-efficiency

In recent years, governments are increasingly interested in developing public-private partnerships such as outsourcing logistics to service providers to benefit from better performance. A major obstacle to developing such partnerships is the lack of decision-support tools to investigate supply chain and outsourcing decisions, taking into account perceived risk that arises from such partnerships. This paper develops a decision-support tool for policy makers to quantify perceived risk and jointly optimize network design and logistics outsourcing. It is based on a multi-phase approach which quantifies perceived risk as a function of outsourcing decisions using policy makers judgment, solves a multi-objective optimization problem, and constructs efficient frontiers that balance total supply chain cost and perceived risk. The proposed approach is applied to the real case study of the Moroccan supply chain of pharmaceuticals. Several outsourcing strategies are investigated and corresponding efficient frontiers are constructed. Our analysis shows that outsourcing cost-efficiency and the degree of perceived risk have a great impact on the optimal distribution network design and outsourcing strategies

A tailored aggregation strategy for inventory pooling in healthcare: evidence from an emerging market

Pharmaceutical consumption in hospitals and healthcare centers is characterized by demand uncertainty, particularly during unusual events, e.g., pandemics and other crises. Unlike other industries, healthcare management has been slow in implementing effective business logistics concepts, e.g., inventory pooling, i.e., aggregation, and extant literature on this topic is scant. Inspired by a public pharmaceutical supply chain, this study aims to investigate the feasibility and relevance of hospitals and other health care facilities collaborating through inventory pooling. While important savings could be achieved through aggregation, this strategy comes at a cost. In this study, we present a model that captures the costs of inventory pooling in an emerging market setting to find the optimal tailored aggregation, set of demand points, and products to aggregate so that inventory pooling costs and savings are balanced. The problem has been formulated as a mixed-integer conic quadratic program to minimize the total cost of pooling and hold safety stocks in the supply network, subject to budget constraints. We applied the proposed model to a real case study of pharmaceutical distribution in Morocco and analyzed inventory pooling schemes under different budget allocations to investigate how regional and product disparities affect costs and inventory pooling decisions. The findings reveal that when changing the pooling budget, the best customized aggregation varies substantially and is influenced by product type, regional population density, income per capita, and urbanization rate